This is it, one last game for the Jaguars to pull off a win, tanking be damned. If you want to know why I abhor tanking, READ HERE. This is also the last ditch effort for our three divisional teams to make the play-offs or move up in seeding. Here’s the AFCS Week 17 game previews – TV areas, stats, injury reports, & passing charts.
SUNDAY 1:00
Jaguars (5-10) vs Texans (10-5) CBS
As usual, here’s the refs which I include because we should keep track of the crap since the NFL doesn’t seem to care.
Referee Crew:
Sad to say, but I won’t miss seeing Leonard Fournette. This season, he’s had two games that were ok, the rest were snoozes. Let’s bring on Dave Williams. It’s good to see DJ Chark back. People hate on Jalen Ramsey, but that dude has played almost the entire season hurt and yet Jax’s secondary is still tops.
Have written before, I don’t trust Bill O’Brian’s injury reports, so just ignore them.
Blake Bortles is baaaack, will he play the entire game is the question? They’re dressing out Tanner Lee, so we can guess they’d like to give him reps and if that happens, assume we’re getting creamed.
I’m posting just the cumulative passing charts because Bortles hadn’t started in a few weeks. Clearly, Deshaun Watson is having a good season even if he’s not among the top passing leaders. He’s judicious with the ball and compliments their run game.
As a slight defense of Borltes, his OL has been atrocious, he didn’t have his number one wide receiver, tight end or running back, plus the OC was fired. Not exactly what is scripted for bringing out the best in QB’s.
A quick recap of the last match-up: Bortles fumbled twice which allowed Houston to get a FG and a TD. Cody Kessler played the second half and lobbed in a TD. Yeldon let a pass bounce off him for an interception.
The Texans had less than 300 total yards, they won from sloppy play by Jax. If the Jags truly want to win, they’ll need their defense to do it for them. To do that, they’ll need to sack Watson more than once. Most importantly, they must play a clean game.
Limit penalties, don’t turn the ball over, create turnovers.
Watson only threw 139 yards that day, I could see that again, but the offense must show up. Houston is ranked 29th vs the pass. They’ve allowed 28 TD’s, but they’ve got 43 sacks and with this OL, it’s tough to see that number not jumping a bunch.
Jacksonville has not been good against the rush, that’s the concern. Even though Houston has DeAndre Hopkins (IMHO the best WR in the NFL this season), the Jags may be best to double him and force Watson to throw everywhere else.
Encourage the pass over the run because it makes their time of possession smaller which will be critical for the Jacksonville offense. One, they’re terribly inefficient and will need more chances to score and two, passing keeps our defense fresher.
Houston’s run game is mid pack as well as their passing, but as everyone knows, stats only tell half the story. How and when you get your yards and scoring is what matters. The Jaguars need to have the Texans pass between the 30’s and run in the red zone. With only ten rushing TD’s this is where they are vulnerable.
As far as Houston, all they need to do is play their defense because the Jag’s offense is putrid. The offensive line is a mess, the tight ends are non-existent, Dede Westbrook is the only receiver (although with DJ Chark back, he could help) and with them down to Yeldon and Williams, who knows what the run game looks like?
The keys are:
Jax: Play smart. Sack Watson. Make him throw to anyone, but Hopkins.
Houston: Show up.
8:20 NBC
Colts (9-6) vs Titans (9-6)
Referee Crew:
Marcus Mariota won’t be playing. Not that he’s had a good year (he hasn’t), but he’s been able to run to keep drives going, plus he’s much better than Blaine Gabbert at reading defenses.
With the Colts being in bad shape health-wise, they need a break and not having to spy on Mariota is that chance – not that Gabbert won’t run, but he’s not a dual-threat.
There isn’t a cumulative chart for Gabbert, but his stats are: 7 games, 3 TDS, 2 INTS, on 72 attempts. His rating is 80.8 with a 59.7 completion rate. He’s tried to run 6 times, but has zero yards. His most attempts is 22 and most yards is 118.
The Colts won’t have to worry abut Gabbert tearing them up with his legs or arm. Their concern will be stopping the run and having enough offensive weapons to overcome the Titans 7th ranked defense.
Luck has used tight ends like a magician, it’s an area Tennessee has struggled against (as has most defenses), so while Eric Ebron and Ryan Hewitt are beat-up, he does have Mo Allie-Cox.
What’s of concern is their secondary, but with Gabbert playing, it may be a wash. Inman and Hilton also being hobbled is a huge concern. The Titans are third against the pass, not the best time to have hobbled tight ends and wide receivers.
Marlon Mack will most likely be the cog for Indy today. Tennessee is third vs rushing TD’s, but mid-pack elsewhere. If Indy can rely on him to carry the load between the 30’s and use Luck in the red zone, they could do ok.
Obviously, this will be a run and defense day, not only because of injuries, but the game is outside. The Colts are really good at limiting rushing yards, but only so-so in stopping scores. Against the pass, they’re only two TD’s behind the Titans and with Gabbert at the helm, that shouldn’t change.
These two teams are so close in what you see and get. They’re built differently, but they find ways to win. How injured Indianapolis really is, will be the difference. If it’s just normal bumps and bruises, they should win with Mack and Luck leading the way and just enough defense to stop Tennessee.
If the Colts are as bruised as their injury reports suggests and the Titans can get to Luck, it will be a long day. Both teams have 38 sacks which could be a big key for both teams. If Indy can get to Gabbert, game over, he’s not the calmest guy under pressure.
Andrew Luck is getting rid of the ball much faster this season, which has helped his great OL keep him at a league low of 17 sacks (wow). That will be the Titan’s task: sack Luck or at least cover his receivers long enough he has to hold on to the ball.
The keys:
Indy: Protect Luck. Rush Gabbert. Stop the run.
Tennessee: Derrick Henry must ball out. Sack Luck. Stop Mack.
This concludes the AFCS Week 17 game previews. Hope everyone has a good New Year’s, and none of our hated rivals get a play off win.
On Friday, Marcus Mariota was added to the injury report, a place he seems to live on. Will it matter? Probably not unless they need to rely on a passing game. With an ab injury, it means he’ll need to muscle throws in. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, so my guess is, any tight window throws beyond five yards will be an issue.
For the Giants, who are so healthy it should be a crime, Odell Beckham is the concern. However, Sterling Shepard has shown he’s a weapon, too.
When it comes to passing, Manning is throwing some slow flying ducks, but they’ve found ways around it, one of which is using Saquon Barkley. Pat Shumur is showing why he was chosen to be a head coach as the team is starting to click.
For some reason, there isn’t a cumulative chart for Mariota, but I looked it up. He’s 11/8, 2,330 yards, 69.1% completion, with a rating of 93.4. Fairly close to Manning which kind of makes sense in that his arm strength is off from injuries, so they have to use him differently, too.
The Giants are 16th in scoring points, the Titans 27th. Tennessee would have the same rushing TD’s as NY if not for the Jaguars showing they forgot how to stop the run and allowed Derrick Henry to do what he wanted.
Could he do it again vs the Giants? Sure because they’re not very good stopping the run, they’re down in the 20’s for rushing yards and TD’s. Tennessee is 5th for not allowing TD’s. Tennessee is also far superior against the pass, for yards, but for points? Only one TD separates them.
The key to the game is the run for the Titans. Whether it’s a tailback or Mariota, they’re going to need to run the ball for several reasons:
The Redskins make me feel sorry them and that’s a big thing considering how beat up our team is. If the Jags don’t win, it’s one of three things: bad coaching, coaches are bad, the coaches’ game plan.
It’s a shocker, but the OL will be missing two. I hope Kessler has been doing wind sprints because I believe the OL is down to the bag boys from Publix.
I’m not posting passing charts for these quarterbacks because they look like what a Pop Warner Midget game would show, plus they have 2 games, combined. Based on what we don’t know about Cody Kessler and Josh Johnson, let’s look at rushing and defenses.
It’s tough to imagine either team will try to put the game in their QB’s hands, but one should. In case you didn’t know, the Jags’ run game has been poor. Between an OL that spends more time at the ER than the games and Fournette who was out for weeks, they’re ranked in a tie for dead last for TD’s.
Washington has twice as many at 12 and an average 4.4 yards per carry to Jacksonville’s 4.1. They also average 114 yards a game to Jax’s 104. Not exactly the stats a run-first team should have.
Since Jacksonville is supposed to have a stout defense, I’m sure stopping the run must be good, right? Looks at Derrick Henry and sighs. Jax has allowed 14 TD’s to Washington’s 11. SO, there is a little light. Maybe Fournette, Hyde and Yeldon can do something.
Both teams are allowing 4.5 a rush. That’s just so pitiful I want to punch something. Moving on to rainbows. As much crap as the national media wants to throw at Jalen Ramsey and the secondary, they seem to overlook that when it comes to stopping the pass, no one is better.
They are tied with Minnesota in only allowing 15. Washington is 18th in allowing 23. Dearest wide receivers, CATCH THE DANG BALL and you will win. They’re allowing a 66.8 completion percentage. Do your jobs and make that number so.
Neither team looks all that healthy, it may be a wash, except, Andrew Luck has had a good season because this OL has done a great job protecting him. Quenton Nelson has a back issue and that could allow him to get run over.
Dak Prescott is too erratic for me to think he’s a QB I’d bet on to win a game. He throws a few elite passes a game to make people forget all the boneheaded ones. His passing charts can’t show those. They do show he’s thrown less TD’s than he’s played games.
Meanwhile, Andrew Luck is throwing almost 2x times as many (Jags put a wrench in his record).
This game should be a good one. Dallas defense vs Indy offense. Jacksonville showed how it can be done, but the Cowboys don’t have the same talent. Remember, Jax also kept Mahones from throwing a TD.
Indy and Dallas both have allowed the same number of passing TD’s – 19. That gives the advantage to Luck since he’s thrown more than their average and Prescott has thrown less. When it comes to air yards, there’s a .2 difference between them. Both teams allow a 97 passer rating, advantage Indy, again. So, when it comes to passing, the game is Indy’s to lose.
Both teams have the same amount defensive sacks (35); however, when it comes to taking sacks, Prescott has gone down 48 times for a staggering 293 lost yards.
As far as rushing defense, Indy has allowed 10 TD’s to Dallas’s seven. .2 yards also separate them for rushing yards per play. Overall, Dallas is better at stopping the run on all levels, but not by much. Which may not matter for Dallas since Indy doesn’t run a whole lot; however, Dallas does. Their offense is built off of it. Dallas has 11 to Indy’s 8 rushing TD’s.
The bottom line is, the Colts are a better team. In order for Dallas to win, they will need their secondary to find a way to stop Luck and keep them from scoring because the boys lag far behind in that category.
Indy is scoring one more TD a game than Dallas. That’s where their run game can help – keep Luck off the field.
For Indy, the answer is to get after Dak. Sacking him shouldn’t be too difficult. If they can contain the edges, all the better because he’s better on the run than from the pocket.
Obviously, Elliot is the weapon and they can only do so much, but flustering Prescott will force three and outs. Indy’s best defense is Luck throwing TDs. If Luck stays to form, they win. I’ll take his passing game over Dallas’s run game.
Until next week…