As the Houston Texans head to Jacksonville, they'll be holding a pretty large amount of chalk. They covered in Week 1, but can they do it on the road this time around against the Jaguars? You might be shocked to see who we like with our NFL picks in this one.
The Week 2 NFL odds are fress off the press, and the numbers for this game are a bit scattered. Currently the Texans are listed as 7 point favorites, but a spread of 9 is also on offer at some sites. We recommend continuing to track this movement throughout
the week, unless you have a solid lean on one side and want to jump on the
value right now.
An O/U of 41.5 is on the board as of now and that number
should be relatively the same once kickoff approaches.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Losing is never fun, but it wasn't all doom and gloom for
the Jaguars in their 26-23 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Let's look at this thing from a half-glass-full perspective.
Blaine Gabbert was significantly more productive than he was all of last
season, throwing for 260 yards and two touchdowns. He did lose a fumble, but an
overall QB rating of 96.1 is a promising sign for Gabbert in these early
stages.
The running back dilemma also seems to be done now that
Rashad Jennings is banged up.
Maurice Jones-Drew may have not started, but he carried the
rock a team-leading 19 carries and finished with 95 all-purpose yards. Though
MJD didn't seem to have his full legs under him, he still grinded out the tough
yards as only he knows how.
Enough of the positives though. The defensive effort was
lacking for Jacksonville as they made Christian Ponder seem way too
comfortable. Giving up 27 points to the Vikings is not a good start.
Houston Texans
No problems for the Texans in Week 1. They made it look easy
against the Miami Dolphins, winning 30-10.
Miami's only touchdown came off a punt return, which goes to
show just how good the Texans defense was versus rookie QB Ryan Tannehill.
Tannehill struggled throughout, hitting on only 20-of-36 passes for 219 yards,
while getting picked off and sacked three times apiece.
Arian Foster only averaged 3.0 yards a carry in the win, but
still got into the endzone twice, while Andre Johnson had eight catches for 119
yards and a score. Johnson and tight end Owen Daniels had a combined 18
targets. The offense was clicking for Houston though, as Matt Schaub had
266 yards and a touchdown and finished with a QB rating of 102.4, over 60
points more than what Tannehill posted (an abysmal 39.0)
It was an all-around great effort from the Texans in their
opener as they dominated proceedings on both sides of the ball.
NFL Pick
There's little doubt in my mind that Houston will be the
sexy pick this weekend. The Texans were already getting a lot of love from the
public before the season started and their performance against Miami should
only make that affection grow.
However, I will take the nine points and the Jaguars at
home. That's a lot of chalk and, as Week 1 showed, a lot of crazy things can
happen in the NFL.
Jacksonville should continue to improve now that Gabbert's
finding his feet, and I'm also expecting a hefty dosage of MJD throughout the
day. If Jones-Drew can get going early and keep Houston's offense off the
field, it will set the hosts up nicely to cover this large spread.
This one will mainly come down to Gabbert though. The Texans
are going to stack the box in order to limit MJD and will be happy to see if
the second-year pro can beat them through the air. His play will determine how
the Jaguars fare in Week 2.
NFL Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars +9