NFL 2018: Top 3 Matchups from Week 7

#3 Houston Texans (3-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (3-3)

The Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to be tied for the lead in the division at this point, but not in this way. The Houston Texans beat the Dallas Cowboys who beat Jacksonville Jaguars who beat New England Patriots who beat the Texans and Kansas City Chiefs who beat the Jaguars. See the transitive relation is out of the window when it comes to assessing these two teams.

This AFC South matchup is going to be key to decide the champion since both the Jaguars and Texans lost to the Titans who are currently in the lead due to that tiebreaker. The winner will have a significant advantage to take over the Titans.

Texans O-Line issues, Jaguars Offensive Offense

The Texans and the Jaguars are both having issues on the offensive side of the ball. The Jaguars are plagued with ineffective quarterback play from the Blake Bortles. Lack of quality receivers and injuries to Running Back Leonard Fournette and the multiple offensive linemen isn't helping the Jaguars.

Meanwhile, the Texans are putting the talented quarterback Deshaun Watson in unnecessary pressure due to the league-worst offensive line play. Watson has already been hit 66 times and was sacked 25 times in just 6 games this season. He and this unit will be facing another dominant defence in the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The running game for the Texans isn't working out well either. They rank right in the middle of the pack with just above 100 yards a game. Thanks, to Watson's playmaking ability out of the pocket and continued success of DeAndre Hopkins, combined with newfound success on the defence is what keeping Texans still in the Playoff hunt.

The Texans defence look pretty much like the 2016 version with JJ Watt coming back to his old self. He is currently tied for the league lead in sacks and is making the pitch for the Comeback Player of the Year Award. Jadeveon Clowney, who is on his contract year is also having a great year. This defence who got fortunate to face Nathan Peterman in week 6 will play another turnover machine in Blake Bortles. Kareem Jackson, The Texans safety is also having a great season who has two picks to his name this season.

The Jaguars defence, on the other hand, has been leaking points in the last few weeks. Giving up 30+ points to Mahomes led Chiefs offence is one thing, but they gave 40 points to Dak Prescott and the Cowboys last week, who struggled to put up 20 points against the Texans defence. Most of that stems to the short field positions set up by the turnovers by the offence but still giving up 40 to an offence like Cowboys is alarming.

Fantasy Outlook

Must Start:

Texans Defense: Texans defense should be a must start for the remainder of the season. They look dominant and do not face any good offenses or quarterbacks until week 16 against the defending Superbowl Champions the Philadelphia Eagles. This week matchup is an absolute must start because of the turnover machine in Blake Bortles.

Under the Radar:

Keke Coutee, WR Texans: Coutee had a good start to his career by putting up big numbers in the first two games. With Hopkins and Fuller to be taken care of by the 1-2 punch of Bouye and Ramsey in the secondary look for Coutee getting more targets out of the slot position.

Jaguars Defense: This defense had a rough stretch in the last couple of weeks and face another threatening quarterback Watson, but Watson is also prone to make mistakes especially in redzone. He has interceptions in all the game he played this season.

Caution:

Skill Position Players: This game has defense written all over it. It will be tough for either offenses to make any kind of big contribution may be for one or two Watson-Hopkins connections. It is going to be a good game for the kickers.

Prediction

The Texans have a slight edge over the Jaguars because of the quarterback and the offence. The Jaguars defence has given up back to back big games, though might not give up 30+ points to the Texans, look for Texans to go after the banged-up Jalen Ramsey for a couple of big plays and JJ Watt will use this game to pad his sack numbers to remain on top. Jaguars need Leonard Fournette

Texans 17 Jaguars 10