Game Time: 1:00 pm ET, Sunday, August 12, 2021

Venue:  NRG Stadium, Houston Texas

Where to Watch: CBS

DraftKings:  Spread:  Jags -3; Over/Under:  44.5 points

BetMGM:  Spread:  Jags -3:  Over/Under:  45 points

PointsBet:  Spread:  Jags -3; Over/Under:  45 points

 

Jacksonville: 0-0, First game of the season, do you have goosebumps for Trevor yet?

Texans:  0-0, First game of the season, it’s all downhill from here>

 

Larry ended the preseason with a 3-1 NFLX Week 3 and is now primed for NFL Week 1.  Get Larry Ness’s SNF MAGIC “BEST BET” pick... It's available right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.

 

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The Jaguars finished 2020 with a 1-15 record, and that 1 that they got was an absolute fluke 27-20 win against a confused Indianapolis Colts team.

 

The Texans finished 2020 with a 4-12 record. The superstar quarterback on the team apologized to the aging superstar defensive player for “wasting one of your years”... then that quarterback wrecked his own entire career.

 

Here he comes!  Here he comes!  For a few years now football prognosticators and Tv Talking heads have been telling us about a rookie QB that would arrive one day to change football as we know it!  They have been saying the kid out of Clemson was so good… such a strong arm, such an amazing head on his shoulders, he would be a guaranteed LOCK for perennial winner and future hall of famer!  Well, here it is.  Trevor Lawrence is in the NFL…. and he is on the Jacksonville Jaguars.  A team that for years people have been saying “who?”... “Really? Florida has another team?’... “Haven’t they moved to England?”  “Can we turn the channel?”.  Trevor has been tasked with the impossible task of changing it all!  Will the jags be a different team this Sep?  Have they fixed all their woes by taking Trevor with the first overall pick in the NFL draft in the offseason?.. No, of course not.  They are in a place where finishing the season 5-12 would be a 4 game improvement.  Smart bettors and Las Vegas know not to fall in love with potential over results.

 

Houston played awful in the 2020 season and 2021 NFL preseason. All opponents lined up to take an easy win from a Texans team whose only bright spot was then 24 year old superstar quarterback DeShaun Watson.  He ran the offensive side of the ball with a league high 4823 passing yards, 33 TD’s, and 7 Int… the best young quarterback.  He will never suit up for the Texans again and depending on how a lawsuit of 30+ women accusing him of sexual assault breaks down… he may never suit up in the NFL again.  He certainly won’t be getting endorsements.  In his absence Houston is lost.  They have nothing on offense worth even writing about… They will be this year’s Jacksonville Jaguars and they will be drafting whoever goes first in the next NFL draft.  They have listed Tyrod Taylor as their starter and I sure like Tyrod, but he is limited.  He will be especially limited on a team with few weapons outside of Mark Ingram II and Brandin Cooks… and playing behind a lousy offensive line.

 

Jacksonville was in last place or bottom 3 in every defensive category in 2020. They stunk up the scene.  The two big additions to the defense were cornerback Shaquill Griffin and DT Malcolm Brown.  They will be joining a team that was 30th in rushing yards allowed 153.2 per game and 27th in passing yards allowed 264.4 per game… the big stat though is 31st in points allowed 30.8.  Fortunately this defense will get to open with the Texans because unless Malcolm and Shaquilll brought 9 more guys with them they will be soft against everybody else.

 

The Texans were also flat out lousy on defense last year.  They were 27th in points allowed with 29 points a game, 32nd in rushing yards allowed 160.2 yards per game.  The difference between the two clubs is Houston was forced to sign a defensive guys that fit the old, unknown, not much of an upgrade category so they wouldn’t commit to too much change until the DeShaun Watson scandal works it’s way through and allows them to either trade DeShaun or send him postcards in prison.  Houston hasn’t gotten better on that side of the ball and may not be able to until the draft.

 

Our Prediction for the Sunday, September 12th game is Jaguars 24 - Texans 10

 

This is a battle of the hopeful versus the hopeless.  The horrible Jacksonville team from last year added an exciting rookie quarterback who has done nothing yet… the horrible Houston team from last year has lost a great young quarterback who did everything. 

 

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Jacksonville won 7 of 16 games last season ATS.  
Jacksonville had 8 Overs and 8 Unders in 2020.
Houston had 8 Overs and 8 Unders in 2020.
Houston won 6 of 16 games last season ATS.

 

 

Jacksonville:  WR Tavon Austin (quad) Questionable, RB Travis Etienne Jr. (foot) questionable

Houston:  No one reported yet that might miss the game.

 

Jags:  Trevor Lawrence!  Are you kidding me that you would be watching someone else?  His debut will highlight the eventual 30 FOR 30 done on him.  He will either be the second coming of Montana and Aikman rolled into one… or a flame-out basket case sob story…...  He could just be a good quarterback who has an above average touchdowns to interception rate.  He could win a majority of games and compete admirably in the AFC South… but that doesn’t make great copy.  That is not what the talking heads have been telling me. 

 

Texans: Mark Ingram II.  Mark signed with Houston in the offseason because he had limited options after 2020 gave him a down year.  In eight seasons in New Orleans and two in Baltimore.  Mark was reliable for tough yardage and lots of fantasy points.  He will be trying to prove last season was a fluke.  He will more likely prove it’s time to hang up the spurs and give the starting job back to David Johnson.  10 seasons makes an old man out of every running back.  (except Frank Gore… remember that guy trucking through the league in years 12 and 13… wheesh!)

 

 

"Everyone was considered… That was part of the [considerations, such as] production, let's start talking about this, and also is he vaccinated or not? Can I say that that was a decision maker? It was certainly in consideration." -Urban Meyer, touching off a firestorm of criticism from little babies.

 

“Everyone has us dead last in this league, so it’s really just proving the naysayers wrong,” -David Johnson, Texans Running Back when confronted with the idea that everyone from Vegas to my Aunt Sally (and she’s been dead a few years) knows the Texans may go completely without winning.  

 

Jaguars:  QB Trevor Lawrence, RB James Robinson, WR DJ Chark Jr, WR Marvin Jones Jr, WR Laviska Shenault Jr, TE Chris Manhertz (c’mon with that name and all the available puns!), LT Cam Robinson, LG Andrew Norwell, C Brandon Linder, RG A.J. Cann, RT Jawaan Taylor

Texans:  QB Tyrod Taylor, RB Mark Ingram II, WR Brandin Cooks, WR Chris Conley, WR Anthony Miller, TE Jordan Akins, LT Jeremy Tunsil, LG Max Sharping, C Justin Britt, RG Justin McCray, RT Tytus Howard

 

Texans:  Deshaun Watson, though technically still on the team, won't be playing.

Jags:  Gardner Minshew II… No longer on the team.

 

Coaches:

Jaguars:  Urban Meyer.  The mighty college coach has come up to the NFL to coach a college kid who has also come up to the NFL.  What could go wrong?

 

Texans:  David Culley.  A one-year deal to coach the worst team in pro-football.  I can hear the clock ticking.  They might as well call him “Interim Coach”... obviously the horrible GM and Owner will heap the horrible losses to come on this poor sap and when things start turning around because of all the high draft picks… They’ll hire someone else.  Give em’ hell Culley!

 

Hot and Sunny.  Houston doesn’t play!, 93* and 55% humidity.  I’ll be hiding deep in my man-cave.  You couldn’t pay me to go to that game in those conditions.