Jaguars at Texans
THE STORY: The AFC South is up for grabs and the Jacksonville Jaguars could make it a three-team race with an upset victory over the host Houston Texans on Sunday. The Texans snapped out of their offensive funk with a 41-7 win at Tennessee last week to take a half-game lead on the Titans. The Jaguars halted a five-game losing streak – their longest in eight years – with a 12-7 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday. Jacksonville’s No. 6 defense by yardage will take on Houston’s No. 7 offense, which will be without wide receiver Andre Johnson (hamstring) for a fourth straight game. Texans running back Arian Foster makes up for Johnson’s absence, though. He had a combined 234 yards rushing and receiving last week as the Texans ran for a season-high 222 yards.
TV: CBS, 1 p.m. ET. LINE: Texans -9.5, O/U 40.5
ABOUT THE TEXANS (4-3): Foster had two rushing touchdowns and one receiving against the Titans and appears over the hamstring injury which caused him to miss two games and part of another. The key to the Texans’ success this season has been rushing yards. Houston averages 176.8 yards in its victories and 91 in its losses. The Texans had averaged only 17 points in their previous three games prior to last week’s outburst. Houston, which has won three straight against the AFC South, has 19 sacks to share the AFC lead with Baltimore. Without Johnson, quarterback Matt Schaub's favorite target is tight end Owen Daniels, who has 27 catches and three touchdowns.
ABOUT THE JAGUARS (2-5): Jacksonville is second-to-last in scoring at 12 points per game as rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert continues to go through growing pains. Gabbert, who won his first game in his fifth start last week, has completed only 48.3 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Running back Maurice Jones-Drew is second in the NFL in rushing yards with 677 (Adrian Peterson, 712) on a league-high 148 carries. Jones-Drew, though, has six fumbles (lost three), which matches a career high. He fumbled three times Monday and lost one.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Jacksonville is 2-6 in its last eight trips to Houston, but hasn’t lost back-to-back games to Houston since 2006.
2. Schaub has completed 71.1 percent of his passes for 1,640 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions in six career starts against Jacksonville.
3. Jacksonville kicker Josh Scobee is 14 for 14 this season, including five from more than 50 yards. Three of those came Monday.