You gotta hand it to my Jaguars.  When things go wrong, they go spectacularly wrong.  Last year, the team lost four of the five starting offensive linemen for the season by season's end.  On top of that, the team was reduced to its 4th LT for the second half of the season.  Ereck Flowers, the former bust of a first round pick of the Giants, who started last year as the Giants' RT wound up the Jaguars starting LT by midseason and for the rest of the year.  But with the start of a new year and the return to health of the offensive linemen, the Jaguars are ready to start anew...right?

Not so fast.

After the team being afraid Robinson might not be ready to return from the torn ACL he suffered against the Patriots about a year ago, his injured knee was deemed ready, only for him to hyper extend the other knee in a non contact drill days before the season opener.  His backup, former Bengals bust Ogbuehi, pulled a hamstring in the preseason.  So before a single regular season snap was had, the Jaguars were already down to their 3rd team LT, a guy who hasn't taken a regular season NFL snap and who hasn't played LT since high school.  Not to be deterred from topping that, newly signed free agent QB Nick Foles had his left clavicle broken not even a quarter into the first game of the season, to be lost a minimum of eight games.  To paraphrase a saying from an early childhood favorite Kermit the Frog, "It's not that easy being teal."

Anyway, on to the picks

Jaguars (0-1) at Texans (0-1)-To put a finer point in elaboration on the introduction above, the Jaguars are going into Houston in the Texans' home opener, with guys making their second ever starts at LT and RT, and a rookie making his first start at QB.  The analysis pretty much writes itself.  The Texans will blitz the Jaguars as soon as the team jet lands.  I think the Jaguars defense will have a better performance against Houston than they had against kansas City, but that isn't saying too much.  Watson and Hopkins are still capable of hitting big plays, and the defense has an uphill battle even if they keep the Texans' offense under reasonable control.  Texans win 23-13.

Colts (0-1) at Tacks (1-0)-In a battle of two gritty teams, the Colts continue to try to prove they are more than Andrew Luck as they go to Trashville to take on the tacks.  Tennessee has an uncanny knack for playing well when shorthanded.  Last year, they were missing both of their tackles and Mariota in early games, and they survived that stretch, beating Miami and Jacksonville on the road.  This year, missing their LT due to suspension and going up against a hungry and seemingly loaded Browns team, flat out embarrassed the trendy Browns in Cleveland.  Tennessee isn't the most glamorous team, but damn they epitomize spunk sometimes.  I suspect if I were watching this game without the utter contempt I have for these teams, I would really enjoy the game.  I am rooting for the Colts against the tacks in this game, but Tennessee wins 24-17.

Last week:  2-2
Overall:      2-2

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