A meaningless game? Not for the Jaguars, who still have several targets in mind when they take the field against the Texans on Sunday. Here's a closer look.
For Houston, the franchise looks to earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season after taking down the Titans last week in Nashville. "There’s never a meaningless game. Never, ever, ever.
You play to win every game. The only way I restplayers is if they’re hurt and can’t go," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said Wednesday.The Jaguars have broken quite a few streaks this year. They were able to defeat the Titans in Nashville for the first time since 2013, earned a victory over a west coast team other than the then-Oakland Raiders, broke an 18-game road-game losing streak and most recently broke an NFL-record 20-game losing streak against NFC teams. Now, the Jaguars look to take down another streak — a nine-game losing streak against the Texans that dates back to the 2018 season. The last time Jacksonville defeated the Texans was in 2017, their last postseason appearance. The Jaguars are 13-28 all-time against the Texans. They've won just two times in the team's last 17 meetings. Prior to sweeping the Texans in 2017, the Jaguars last defeated Houston on Dec. 5, 2013.motivation to play well against Houston , especially after throwing a costly interception in the red zone against the team in Week 5. The motivation of the game being a divisional matchup is all that's needed, along with the fact that the team hasn't won there in a while. "We lost to this team … so getting a chance to play them again at their stadium, haven’t beat this team in a while," Lawrence said Wednesday."I’ve never beat the Texans in the last two years, three games. For me, it’s a game I definitely want to win. Our whole team feels that way." Many players have looked back to the team's loss against Detroit as something they don't want to repeat. The Jaguars were coming off of an emotional victory against the Baltimore Ravens the previous week and suffered their worst loss of the season against the Lions a week after. For Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun, getting a win against the Texans after what they lost in Week 5 is incredibly important. "You don't ever want to put bad film on tape," Oluokun said Thursday."Just seeing that we lost to them earlier, I didn't like how we lost to them, kind of a dogfight we ended up losing it. So, we got a lot to prove. In order to you know keep momentum, we got to keep creating momentum, I 100 percent believe in that."Though Jacksonville faced off only against Davis Mills in Week 5, the team will have to prepare for multiple quarterbacks Sunday against the Texans. Both Mills and seven-year QB Jeff Driskel have taken meaningful snaps over the past three weeks. Over the last two games, Driskel has played an average of 28 percent of the snaps, while he played a 50 percent of the snaps in the team's close loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14. This year, the veteran QB has completed 9-of-14 passes for 86 yards, while running the ball 15 times for 61 yards. Mills has played the majority of the snaps for the Texans this year. He's completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 2,618 yards, 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He is 2-0 against Jacksonville. Oddly enough, Driskel caught a pass this season, a four-yard gain against the Titans last week. So, the threat of two quarterbacks coming in and playing different roles will be one aspect of the game that's necessary to watch. Houston is without top running back Dameon Pierce, who is on injured reserve, so much of the focus is likely to be on the QB position and the Texans' passing game.The Jaguars will have plenty of distractions before during and after this week's contest against the Texans. There's an obvious pivotal matchup against the Titans in Week 18 at TIAA Bank Field. That game will decide if the team makes the playoffs as a division winner. While this week's contest is still important from a playoff perspective — particularly a potential Wild Card position — it has no bearing on what happens within the division. In essence, the Jaguars can lose this game and suffer minimal ramifications from it. But, momentum and the ability to head into Week 18 on a high note are still at the forefront of their minds. Jaguars receiver Zay Jones says that it will take a certain level of discipline for the team not to look ahead. The key this week will be the team's leadership.The key will be to try to make mundane things fun. "It can get redundant after a while; trying to create the feeling like you never really arrived," Jones elaborated. "I would say, whatever your approach has been so far, don't drastically start changing or doing something different whether it be looking ahead of whatever the case is." So, it needs to be status-quo, with a bit of urgency out of Jacksonville this week. Two incredibly important matchups sit in front of them, with their first coming against the Texans on Sunday.Both Jaguars outside linebacker Travon Walker and defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi are on track to play Sunday, Pederson said Friday. Both players entered the week after missing the team's contest against the New York Jets with ankle injuries. Walker missed the previous matchup against the Dallas Cowboys as well. The two front-line players are officially listed as questionable as the team gets set to depart to Houston. Other players officially listed as questionable include Lawrence , offensive lineman Brandon Scherff , safety Andrew Wingard and long snapper Ross Matiscik .
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Jaguars potential home playoff game tickets on sale for general public FridayThe Jaguars are so close to a playoff spot, with only two games left in the regular season. Fans have a chance to claim tickets to a potential playoff game at 10 a.m. Friday.
Read more »
Christian Kirk's work ethic, versatility for Jaguars leading him to first 1,000-yard seasonJaguars' Christian Kirk has quickly become the team's leading receiver and a reliable weapon to Lawrence. He's nearing his first-career 1,000-yard season.
Read more »
NFL Week 17: Jaguars-Texans — Four Things To Watch ForIn the last half decade or so, we've seen the AFC South won by teams quarterbacked by Brian Hoyer, Brock Osweiler, Blake Bortles, and Ryan Tannehill. It's not been a great division. In a few of those years, a 9-7 record was good enough to get the job done. So...
Read more »
Week 17 staff predictions: Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston TexansOur experts are in lock step for the Jaguars at Texans game Sunday, and a winner has already been declared for the top picker of 2022.
Read more »
Texans vs. Jaguars: Week 17 staff predictionsThe Houston Chronicle's football writers and columnists make their predictions for the Texans' Week 17 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Read more »
Fan Friday: Answering your questions about the Jaguars ahead of Week 17 vs. TexansAnswering questions about the Jaguars and the team's Week 17 matchup against the Texans as the team looks to beat Houston for the first time since 2017.
Read more »