(08-13-2017, 10:19 AM)NYC4jags Wrote:

(08-13-2017, 08:10 AM)SeldomRite Wrote: The texans supposedly have a great defensive line, but a lot of that belief is about people thinking JJ Watt will be the same guy this year after major back injuries last year, but there are plenty of guys that never fully came back from that kind of thing. We'll see how they hold up against the run come week 1, but my guess is they won't be as imposing as everyone thinks they will be. 

The tinhorns have a pretty good defensive line even without Watt, IMO. 
Mercilus gets pressure consistently from the edge or by shooting the A or B gap, and they move him around pretty wisely. 
Clowney has finally acclimated to the NFL game and could be even better in 2017 than he was in his "breakout" year. 
Their interior guys are quality players as well. The unit finished 12th against the run, second against the pass and 11th overall in points allowed -- with watt only playing in two games. 

They do have some young players in their interior intended rotation that may or may not show some weakness in their game at times  - and I'd look for the Jags to attempt to focus there in their ground attack.

I think their defense is great in certain situations, and it happens that it matched up very well with the Jaguars of the last few years. I'm not sure it will match up well this year.

Their run defense was adequate, but by no means exceptional, and inserting a severely weakened JJ Watt may actually hurt it if he's not the same guy he was.

The main reason their defense was so imposing to the Jaguars in years past is because the Jaguars weren't focusing on running the ball at all, and except for Ivory last year didn't have anyone worth a damn to run it anyway, so instead of running it and winning games 13-9 they'd put the game on Bortles' shoulders, and the line couldn't hold up against the pass rush very well at all.

Like I said, we'll see how it works out, but if the Jaguars can either teach Jack to play MLB, or admit the mistake and insert Poz back into it to start the season I could see them taking out the texans in a low scoring affair. Of course if Jack is in there and missing tons of tackles and taking bad angles then the Jaguars might lose badly in spite of the running game being effective against the texans.

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