It has not been a good start for both the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Texans are highlighted by changing their quarterback depth chart multiple times in the first five games of the season, switching from Ryan Mallet and Brian Hoyer. Their instability at quarterback has them at 1-4 after five games. Not much better can be said about the Jaguars either, dropping a big opportunity in Indianapolis for the lead in the AFC South and a poor-performing defense against the Buccaneers showed the team's lack of consistency and reasons why they are 1-4, as well.
For the Jacksonville Jaguars, their offense has been looking good over the past two weeks, especially in the passing game. The Jaguars passing game is 12th in the NFL, so far this season, averaging about 247 yards a game through the air. Most of the expectations at the beginning of the year had tight end Julius Thomas helping second-year quarterback Blake Bortles with becoming a better football player, however, Thomas has only been around for last week's game. Much of the credit for Bortles' high productivity to start the season has to go to his two leading targets, Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson. Both Hurns and Robinson's productivity makes up 64 percent of the Jaguars passing offense, the highest by any duo in the league so far this season.
The Jaguars defense is another story, however. After being forced back into their own territory on many occasions last week from poor special teams play, the defense could not hold their own last week against the Buccaneers. The defense allowed 183 rushing yards, the most they had allowed all season. Multiple missed tackles and the missing presence of team captain and inside linebacker Paul Posluszny were vital to the loss. However, he will be back this week after an ankle injury forced him to miss last week's game, and the Jaguars will be getting their best defensive player back for the first time this season, defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks. The addition of Marks should improve a lackluster pass rush, give more depth along the defensive line and help improve a poor turnover differential (-3), highlighted by only three forced turnovers this season.
As for the Houston Texans, they've already put together some mighty fine stats for themselves, as well. They are fourth in the NFL in passing offense, as well as fifth in the NFL in total offense. They were forced to pass the ball a lot in the first four weeks of the season, but now running back Arian Foster practiced fully for the first time on Thursday and seems to be 100 percent, after a stagnant performance last week with 51 yards on 27 carries against the Colts. They want to take advantage of the Jaguars rushing defense because of Doug Martin's performance last week, as he gained over 150 yards from scrimmage against them last week, especially since you have a wide receiver with the most receiving yards coming into week six in DeAndre Hopkins (578 yards).
The problems with the Texans defense was pointed to missed assignments by defensive players, leading to multiple mistakes in their games. These were highlighted by allowing a 172 rushing yard performance by the Carolina Panthers, a 135 rushing yard performance against the Atlanta Falcons, as well as a 110 rushing yard performance by the Colts, highlighted by 32-year-old running back Frank Gore. They have only taken away the ball from their opponents twice so far this season, which is last in the NFL. That will be a key for them this Sunday as the Jaguars are currently tied for seventh in the least amount of giveaways on the season.
It is a crucial divisional rivalry Sunday, as each team hopes for a victory. For the Texans, they would have to win this game to help salvage their season with the Miami Dolphins and then the Tennessee Titans two weeks after this Sunday's matchup. As for the Jaguars, they will travel to London on Monday after this game to have their third game in the UK against the Buffalo Bills. Tensions are high and season's will be on the line early on to see which of these AFC South teams can escape the cellar of the division to live another day in the league and see where each of their representative seasons will go on out from here.