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Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars Week 4 NFL Point Spread & Predictions

Written September 26, 2008 by Jimmy Boyd

The Houston Texans head to Jacksonville in search of their first win of the NFL season this Sunday. Odds makers feel pretty strongly that they will leave Jacksonville still winless by installing the Texans as touchdown underdogs and setting the total at 42.5. Jimmy has taken a look at both sides below to help you better handicap this matchup, but you can check out his picks page to get the winning side of this game in his Sunday NFL 5-pack.

The Jacksonville Jaguars got a big monkey off their back by defeating Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts last week. The Jags are hoping that last week’s big win will carry over to another solid performance against another AFC South opponent.

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The Jags are currently tied for second place in the division with Indianapolis at 1-2 behind the undefeated Titans and the Texans are currently in the basement.

Jacksonville’s key to victory last week was the running back tandem of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The duo combined for 228 yards and you can expect head coach Jack Del Rio to go with a heavy dose of the two again this week.

The Jags have reason to be a little concerned with QB David Garrard, who recently inked a big contract. Hopefully the team did not act to soon on that deal. The QB was very efficient in 2007 but has been picked off at least once in every game thus far this season. This is troubling considering that he only has three picks all of last year. The Jags ranked just 25th in passing offense at 156 yards per game.

Perhaps a date with last place Houston will get Garrard back on track. The Texans defense allowed 343 total yards in a 31-12 loss to division rival Tennessee last Sunday.

A tough defense has become a staple of this Jaguars team under Del Rio and the front four of John Henderson, Rob Meier, Paul Spicer, and Reggie Hayward figure to give the Texans all kinds of trouble in the trench-battle. Bet the Jaguars at -7 at Bookmaker if you think they can cover the number against the winless Texans.

Texans QB Matt Schaub was supposed to come over from Atlanta and become the face of the Texans. That did not happen in last year’s injury-plagued season and now it is beginning to look like it may never happen. Schaub is on the hot seat and his numbers tell the story. The signal-caller has a terrible 50.3 passer rating in the early going and has just one touchdown toss against five picks.

Backup QB Sage Rosenfels stepped in nicely for Schaub a season ago and helped lead the Texans to an 8-8 record, but head coach Gary Kubiak is still going with Schaub for now.

While Schaub has not yet played himself out of a starting roll, rookie running back Steve Slaton has played himself into one. Slaton busted out for 116 yards and a touchdown last week. This week will be a true test for him however, as he faces one of the NFL’s best run defenses.

The Texans do have history on their side this week. The Texans lead the all-time series 7-5 and earned a split with the Jags a season ago. Kubiak is an impressive 3-1 against both Del Rio and the Jags as a head coach. Bet the Texans to pull off the upset this week at +7 at Bookmaker.

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