The Jacksonville Jaguars lost in Week 2, but enter their second home game of the 2023 season as a significant favorite.
With the rebuilding, 0-2 Houston Texans coming to EverBank Stadium, the Jaguars should get back in the win column Sunday. The easy games are not always that easy, though.
Buy Jaguars TicketsLast season, the Texans — who finished 3-13-1 — came to Duval in October and handed a bumbling Jaguars team a 13-6 loss.
Here are five things the Jaguars need to do Sunday to avoid a similar fate in Week 3:
Put the pressure on C.J. Stroud
The Texans’ new franchise quarterback has looked the part through two weeks. The 21-year old has thrown for 626 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions through his first two regular season games.
Keeping him clean has been a challenge for Houston, though.
Stroud has been sacked 11 times, which led the league until Daniel Jones’ sack total hit 12 on Thursday night.
According to PFF, Stroud has completed 51.7 percent of his passes while under pressure and 69.4 percent when kept clean. It’ll primarily be up to Josh Allen and Travon Walker to keep that trend rolling.
Don't miss tackles
Last season, Texans running back Dameon Pierce broke 27 tackles as a rookie. A third came in one dominant performance at EverBank Stadium.
Pierce bulldozed through nine tackle attempts en route to 131 rushing yards (79 after contact) as well as a game-winning touchdown against the Jaguars in October.
Jacksonville will obviously need a much cleaner tackling performance when they host the Texans this time around.
Eat the middle of the Texans secondary
There will be a lot of eyes on Shaquill Griffin when he steps into Houston’s starting lineup in his return to Jacksonville, but the more consequential injury may be the broken hand suffered by Tavierre Thomas.
The Texans’ slot corner was the highest graded player on the team’s defense on PFF through the first two weeks with a 90.0 coverage grade and an 87.5 defensive grade.
With Thomas out of action, the Texans will turn to fourth-year defensive back Grayland Arnold in the slot. On paper, there looks to be a big drop off there as Arnold has played only 23 snaps in the last three years. That could mean big things for tight end Evan Engram and wide receiver Christian Kirk.
Grind up the middle
The Texans are still in the early stages of rebuilding the roster to fit DeMeco Ryans’ defensive vision. Like the San Francisco 49ers, Houston has employed a Wide-9 defensive approach under Ryans with Will Anderson Jr. rushing off the edge.
A significant disadvantage of that defense are the running lanes it opens in the middle.
There are some big run stuffers in the middle of the Texans defensive line in Hassan Ridgeway and Sheldon Rankins. But if the Jaguars can control the line of scrimmage, they could avoid long distance downs.
Clean up the execution
The Jaguars should win Sunday and almost certainly will if they just stop shooting themselves in the foot.
Little mistakes cost them last year against the Texans and the execution certainly wasn’t smooth in the Week 2 loss to the Chiefs. Just take care of business.
