Jaguars face the Texans: 5 Questions with Toro Times

Week 2 of the NFL season has the Jacksonville Jaguars traveling to Houston for an AFC South showdown with the Texans.

The Houston Texans dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars last year in two games that exposed the issues in Jacksonville both internally and on the field.

The Jaguars hope the 2019 version of this football team is more equipped to deal with the on-field matters. The inner workings of the team, with the front office and player personnel, appear to be on the mend as this squad prepares for their second game of the season.

The staff here at Black and Teal had a chance to talk with Toro Times, FanSided’s site for everything about the Houston Texans. A big shoutout to Stephen Forsha for answering a few questions for us ahead of the game today in Houston.

What has been the atmosphere surrounding the Texans with the changes it made with its roster prior to the start of the 2019 season? – There was some good and bad in the roster changes for the Texans. The good was finally adding the sought-after left tackle Laremy Tunsil to protect Deshaun Watson as that was much needed, and adding Kenny Stills in the trade has already proven to be a big addition with his touchdown on Monday night.

The loss of Jadeveon Clowney didn’t make the fanbase very happy with the draft pick and player gained in return, and this week the release of Aaron Colvin following the first game of the season was needed. All in all, the atmosphere still has excitement, but there is still some doubt with the loss of Clowney.

Houston owned the Jaguars last season, winning by a combines 40-10 score. What do you expect from your opponent this time around? What impressed you watching them last week? – This year, the Texans still have the chance to score points against the Jaguars as Watson is improving each game, but the biggest difference for this Sunday compared to last season is the Jaguars are healthier on defense, as that wasn’t the case in ’18. This year the Texans will be facing Leonard Fournette, and that didn’t happen last season, so there is a huge difference.

I expect this to be a much more competitive game than a year ago as the Texans do need some more work on defense, and they are without some players who were on the roster a year ago when Houston swept the Jaguars. Against the Jaguars, I expect their offense to be better than it was in ’18 as they’ve changed personnel with a new quarterback not named Blake Bortles, plus having Fournette in the lineup this year.

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What are your impressions of Gardner Minshew? The mania here is building to cult-hero status. Does the game plan change because he comes in with little experience under center? –Being able to come in and take advantage of the situation presented to him against the Chiefs showed potential by [Gardner] Minshew. Having 275 yards with two touchdowns and just one interception in a relief role as a rookie in his NFL debut is impressive.

I don’t believe the game plan changes because once again the Texans defense needs work, especially with their pass rush as it was nearly nonexistent against the Chiefs. This week is more about Houston improving rather than Minshew taking over the game in Week 2, but he seems to have the skill set to take advantage of some of the weaknesses in the Texans’ secondary.

Aside from Deshaun Watson, who is the one player on your team who must come up big if the Texans are going to win on Sunday? – I think the Texans need more from J.J Watt this week. In the season opener, Watt didn’t record a tackle or a sack and wasn’t much of a factor in the game. Not having Jadeveon Clowney affected the Texans’ pass rush, but now he’s going from one of the better teams in the league, the Saints, to facing a team working their way back to the top in the Jaguars, so it will be a different look for sure.

Watt must gain a better pass rush this weekend against Jacksonville. In their most recent meeting last December, Watt had 1.5 sacks, so this week he’s going to need to be even more productive than that for the Texans defense to play at a higher level.

Houston wins on Sunday if – Houston’s defense must be more aggressive, especially against a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start, and offensively they’ll need the offensive line to play better than they did in Week 1 when they allowed six sacks to open the season.

The Texans have a team that is capable of doing great things, but to be better in Week 2 they need to play a more consistent third quarter and not let the opponent get back into the game if they are fortunate enough to build a lead. The Texans win on Sunday if they play a full four quarters and don’t let the Jaguars get into a rhythm on Sunday.