Jacksonville Jaguars Week 1 Pre-Game

By: Noah Trombley

The NFL season is here and week 1 is already underway and it will continue this Sunday with some highly anticipated matchups. The Jaguars will open their season against the Houston Texans in Houston and there’s a lot of stories to watch during this game. 

Firstly its of course Trevor Lawrence, the rookie phenom Quarterback who was named the starter last week by head coach Urban Meyer. This will be Lawrence’s first game playing against NFL capable starters however he couldn’t have had a better team to start his NFL career against. The Texans last year were abysmal against the passing game of any team and they didn’t do much to get better on that side of the ball. Last year opposing quarterbacks went 377/541 against the Texans, that’s a 70 percent completion percentage! They also gave up over 4000 yards through the air and allowed 30 passing touchdowns to only 3 interceptions they forced. Lawrence should not have a huge challenge waiting for him as long as the offensive game plan is sound he should be fine in the pocket and able to find receivers when he needs to, however after saying all this he most likely won’t need to be a major factor during this game because of the man behind him, James Robinson. 

If you thought the Texans defense was bad at stopping the passing game then oh boy you are in for a shock. The Texans defense last year allowed over 2500 yards on the ground and allowed opposing running backs to score 24 touchdowns! So look out for James Robinson to have a big game against this defense as they also lost arguably the greatest defensive player of this generation in JJ Watt to the Arizona Cardinals. 

Both of these offensive stars should be ready to go this season and they should easily take care of the Houston Texans and start off this season like they did last year. 

Lastly the defense only needs to be decent coming into this game in order to stop Tyrod Taylor and the limp Houston offense. If it wasn’t for an amazing carry job by Deshaun Watson last year the Texans would have not even scored a win last year. All the Jags have to do is not give up any big plays and they should put in a good defensive performance this Sunday.