Houston Texans vs Jacksonville Jaguars Pointspread Free Pick

NFL betting odds:
HOUSTON -3.5, Total 47

In the NFL football betting odds, the Texans are listed as a 3.5-point favorite

The game total is 47 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• JAX has covered two of its last nine games
• JAX has lost eight of its last nine games SU
• JAX has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
• JAX has covered two of its last six road games
• JAX has lost five of its last six road games SU
• JAX has played four of its last five road games UNDER the total
• HOU has covered seven of its last nine games
• HOU has won six of its last eight games SU
• HOU has played 15 of its last 23 games OVER the total
• HOU has covered nine of its last 13 home games
• HOU has won ten of its last 13 home games SU
• HOU has played four of its last six home games UDNER the total

Also...

• HOU has covered five of the last six meetings
• HOU has won four of its last six meetings SU
• HOU has covered six of the last seven meetings as the home team
• HOU has won five of the last six games SU as the home team

Jacksonville can not be proud of the way it defended Kurt Warner last week, allowing the Arizona quarterback to complete 24 of 26 passes, which constituted a single-game record for best completion percentage. Where is the pressure on the passer, you might ask? Well, it's nowhere.

The Jags have registered just one sack, and that was from a guy (Reggie Hayward) who is out for the year. The fact is, they are not putting enough of a rush on the passer, and that is a disappointment because of the draft choices they spent last year on Quentin Groves and Derrick Harvey.

Jacksonville management probably realizes it also made a mistake by not bringing someone in to take Fred Taylor's place as a companion back for Maurice Jones-Drew, who has averaged over five yards a carry but can't get a breather. Aside from Jones-Drew, there have been only two yards generated by the other Jaguar running backs.

If we were to see the same Matt Schaub that we got a look at last week, when he passed Tennessee silly, there would indeed be a feast, especially since the Jags are now starting a rookie, Derek Cox, at one of the corner positions. Cox is a great athlete, but coming right out of William & Mary, he's made a huge leap from FCS competition to the NFL. Last week Andre Johnson went wild, and Jacoby Jones had two catches for 73 yards. This week, Kevin Walter comes back from a hamstring injury, while Jacksonville's receiving corps is reduced by one with the loss of Troy Williamson.

This is a great "bandwagon-jumping" game for some, but it comes with a caution. What would normally worry me a little about Houston is the fact that it looks you can run the ball against them with a high degree of consistency. The Jets ball-controlled them to death in the season opener, while Chris Johnson broke some spectacular runs in Week 2 and wound up with 197 yards. This is no accident; Gary Kubiak has been concerned with this ever since the pre-season, and his offensive line has not played well enough to generate a running attack.

It seems that Jacksonville wants to run the ball, while Houston accommodates that kind of thing. The Texans have only one sack themselves, by the way. If the Jags can avoid getting well behind early, they may be able to control the line of scrimmage a little, allowing David Garrard some play-action. I look for a desperate effort by Jacksonville, and for the Jags to cover the 3.5-point spread in the BetUS NFL pro football sports betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: JACKSONVILLE +3.5 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Comments

[free bet]

I think Jacksonville has a shot to go far amidst poor play recently