It is now Week 12 of the NFL season, and the Jaguars are back on the road with a giant AFC South matchup.
The Jaguars will travel to Houston to take on the Texans at NRG Stadium, in a matchup between the AFC South’s two best teams.
Recommended Videos
The Jaguars are currently one game ahead of the Texans in the division, but Houston already have one head-to-head win against the Jaguars in Week 3. Jacksonville still has a bad taste in its mouth from the 37-17 beating the team took at home earlier in the season.
So, this game will have a huge impact on the winning team’s rest of the season. Some media members are calling it “the biggest matchup ever” between the two teams, and it really might be.
The winner will hold first place in the AFC South and control their own destiny with six games remaining in the regular season.
This is 44th matchup ever between the Texans and Jaguars, Houston currently leads the series 29-14.
Jacksonville is 7-3 coming off its best performance at home and likely one of its best performances all season long, beating the rival Tennessee Titans 34-14 last week at EverBank Stadium.
The Texans are 6-4 coming off of a big win last week as well, hanging on to beat the Arizona Cardinals 21-16 in Houston.
Houston has been one of the biggest surprises in the league this season, the Texans have already doubled their win total from last season and are currently on a three-game winning streak for the first time since 2018.
Texans first year head coach DeMeco Ryans talked to the media earlier in the week about what it means for the team right now to be playing “meaningful” football.
“For us, credit to our guys for putting us in the position to be where we are, to be able to compete,” Ryans said. “That’s all I asked our guys from day one was to continue to improve, continue to focus on getting better. If we’re playing meaningful football late in the season, that shows the growth. That shows that everybody is doing what they are supposed to do.”
One of the reasons for the Texans quick turnaround this season is the play of their rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
In his first nine career games, Stroud is the only NFL quarterback in history to throw for more than 2,500 yards, more than 15 touchdowns and have fewer than five interceptions.
Stroud’s 2,962 yards passing through his first 10 games is also the fourth-most in the NFL through 10 games. He joined Joe Burrow as the only other rookie in NFL history with 300 or more yards passing in three straight games.
And his 1,695 passing yards in five home games so far this season is the most through a player’s first five home games in NFL history.
The second overall pick is currently the front runner for NFL Rookie of the Year honor and has recently emerged as an MVP candidate. But Stroud doesn’t care about personal accolades, he is just looking forward to Sunday’s opportunity against Jacksonville.
“Now that we have put ourselves in a great position to go play for the division, it’s really special,” Stroud said. “This week is going to mean a lot. Have to go practice really hard and put another great week in practice. Around Thanksgiving you want to be playing your best football and I feel like we’re doing that.”
One of Stroud’s favorite targets and another Texans rookie making big plays is third-round wide receiver Tank Dell.
Dell had a season high 149 yards on eight catches in the Texans 21-16 victory last week and set a franchise rookie record with his sixth touchdown of the season.
The wideout is currently second on the team with 659 receiving yards, despite missing a game with a concussion.
Stroud knows how hard his teammate has worked and is happy to see it paying off.
“I’m super proud to see the fruits of his labor pay off and he’s going to continue to do great things,” Stroud said. “He’s definitely a superstar in this league. He’s going to continue to show that. I’m really proud of that dude. He works his tail off every day.”
Dell is also excited to be a part of the Texans turnaround this season.
“Very excited just knowing this organization is turning around and getting an opportunity to fight for first place,” Dell said. “And knowing what kind of teammates I have, we’re going to go out, first off it’s going to start tomorrow, preparation throughout the week and on to the next.”
In the running game, Houston has recently been relaying on one of its newest players, running back Devin Singletary who came over from the Bills.
Singletary has stepped up recently in the absence of running back Dameon Pierce, who has missed the past three games due to an ankle issue.
In the last two games, Singletary has had back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances. The Jacksonville defense has been stellar against the run throughout the season and Singletary knows it will be a challenge on Sunday.
“It’s going to be big, it’s going to be a dog fight,” Singletary said. “You know those guys are going to be coming ready to play but for us we just have to take it week by week. Have a good week of practice, keep finding ways to execute, finding ways to get a win. That’s what it comes down to.”
Singletary also talked about the team’s collective effort to win games.
“Good rhythm,” Singletary said. “Everybody’s getting in a groove. Everybody’s on the same page, trusting each other and communicating well. It’s all 11 of us just doing our job. That’s the biggest thing.”
If there is one thing the Texans want to clean up this week it would be turnovers. Stroud threw a season-high three interceptions in last week’s win against Arizona.
Stroud threw for 336 yards and two scores and the team was able to overcome those mistakes to beat the Cardinals.
“Steph Curry don’t ever stop shooting, you know,” Stroud said. “I mean, I don’t have no shame in my game. I’ve definitely got to be smarter, but no confidence is taken away from me and I’m going to keep letting it fly.”
The Jaguars defense has been a turnover machine this season, currently leading the league with 20 takeaways. The unit is definitely looking to confuse the rookie quarterback in their second meeting.
Jacksonville will also be the first team that gets to face Stroud for a second time this season, so the defense will look to use that to their advantage. Ryans talked about the recent turnovers and emphasized the importance of his quarterback’s mindset.
“The only way you continue to get better. You learn from your mistakes, and you continue to attack it,” Ryans said. “And that’s how I want C.J. to approach the game. I want him to approach the game with an ‘attack first’ mindset, and we’re not going to hold back just because he made mistakes.”
One player the Texans will be without is rookie defensive end Dylan Horton. On Wednesday, Horton and the team announced that Horton would be stepping away indefinitely as he deals with a personal health matter.
“I’m currently dealing with a personal health matter that will keep me away from the team for an indefinite period of time,” Horton said. “I want to thank my family, my teammates and the entire Houston Texans organization for the support and care they have already provided me. I will provide updates from time to time, but main focus right now is on my health and recovery. Thank you and God bless.”
Horton has played in every game this season for Houston.
Ryans knows Horton’s presence will be missed, but the team’s approach remains the same and there is only one focus.
“Our approach to practice, it shouldn’t change,” Ryans said. “It’s the same approach we had last week. It’s just being focused on yourself, first and foremost. Cleaning up the mistakes you had in this last game. That’s been the focus.”
While Ryans will try to follow the same approach when it comes to practice, he knows every game will not be the same.
“Each game is different,” Ryans said. “It doesn’t matter what happened in our first game versus Jacksonville — it really doesn’t matter. They’ve grown, they’ve changed over the past few weeks, and we have as well, so each game I take it as it’s a new game, it’s a new approach each and every time we play an opponent.”
Ryans also spoke about the importance of his team playing together.
“For us as a team, we have each other’s back,” Ryans said. “That’s what it’s all about... Everybody playing together, everybody being tight. That’s what it’s about. That’s how you become a really good team.”