Jaguars at Texans
Despite lingering questions on offense, the Houston Texans enter the home stretch of the season tied for first place with Tennessee in the AFC South Division. The Texans look to maintain at least a part of the division lead with a game against Titans on the horizon when it hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars in a crucial contest on Sunday.
Although Brock Osweiler's struggles continue, the Texans' defense turned over Andrew Luck three times in a 22-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts last week to snap a three-game skid. Osweiler threw two touchdown passes and Kareem Jackson returned an interception 42 yards for a score as Houston won at Jacksonville 24-21 earlier in the season. Plagued by turnovers throughout the season, the Jaguars have lost eight straight and their two wins are the third fewest in the league. Blake Bortles has thrown a pick-six in each of his past three games against the Texans.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Texans -6. O/U: 39.5.
ABOUT THE JAGUARS (2-11): It seems just a matter of time before the Jaguars cut ties with coach Gus Bradley whose career record of 14-47 is the worst in modern NFL history. Bortles has passed for 3,187 yards and 21 touchdowns but he's second in the league in interceptions with 15 and ranks 29th in passer rating at 77.9. The Jaguars don't run the ball well either as T.J. Yeldon leads the squad with a paltry 432 yards with one touchdown. Yeldon may be the lone healthy back on the roster this week.
ABOUT THE TEXANS (7-6): With 107 yards and a score, Lamar Miller went over 1,000 for the season last week and Houston rushed for 185 yards in the game to improve to fifth in the league, averaging 126.1 yards on the ground. Otherwise, the offense has been a mess as they rank 30th in passing (190 yards per game) and is tied for 28th in scoring at 17.6 points a contest. The defense has been steady and last week it got a boost with the return of Jadeveon Clowney, whose strip- sack of Luck proved to be a game-changer at Indianapolis.
EXTRA POINTS
1. The Texans put WR Braxton Miller on injured reserve and heavily targeted tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz is questionable after being diagnosed with a concussion late in last week's game.
2. Jaguars RB Chris Ivory (hamstring) has missed the past two games and is questionable. The Jags are also without TE Julius Thomas, who was placed on injured reserve.
3. Houston has won the past five meetings and scored at least 23 points in each game.