With the Houston Texans hosting the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday at NRG Stadium, the game can be boiled down to a steel cage match in which the winner advances to become the AFC South leader going into December. Since the 2019 playoff wild card round, this is the Texans’ most significant home game. This is enjoyable!
Saying that the Texans would be the second-best team in the division in 2023 wasn’t, in my opinion, a major stretch. After all, neither the Titans nor the Colts had great expectations going into 2023. DeMeco Ryans’ ability to lead the Texans to 6-4 overall (6-2 after a 0-2 start) is impressive, though.
Week 3 saw Ryans’ first career victory in Jacksonville. On Sunday, he and his team will try to pull off a similar victory at home as 1.5-point underdogs. This season, the Texans are 2-0 as home underdogs. Now let’s go!
In what promises to be an exciting NRG Stadium on Sunday, here are a few things to look out for:
Dameon Pierce appears to be returning to the Texans this week following his ankle injury. Devin Singletary, who has run for 150 and 112 yards the past two weeks, respectively, appears to have helped the Texans find their run game while he was away. It will be interesting to see how Slowik reintegrates Pierce, hopefully without ruining Singletary’s momentum. Slowik also needs to do a better job of play calling when there is limited yardage. Mike Boone and Andrew Beck are gone!Although it took Schultz a few games to get going in 2023, he has been one of the NFL’s most productive tight ends ever since defeating Pittsburgh in Week 4. He has been a major target for Stroud in the red zone (5 touchdown catches in the last 7 games), and he is a 986 yard monster if you multiply his yardage from the previous seven games by the total number of games played! Why matters that in this particular game? That’s because Jacksonville ranks 31st in the league against tight end defense. On Sunday, Schultz might have a HUGE day.
Two weeks ago, it was great to see Derek Stingley, Jr. back on the field. Last week, he started to make some plays, recording six tackles, two passes defended, and a huge interception on a deep ball. Nick Caserio believed he was drafting THAT in 2022 when he had the third overall pick. With Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley, and Zay Jones as the Jaguars’ three wide receivers, Stingley will need to perform at the highest level once more on Sunday. That trio certainly seems frightening.
