JACKSONVILLE (vs. Houston)
The Jaguars look like contenders for top-10 offensive numbers this week. They've been better than expected, and they're at home against what appears to be a bottom-10 defense. Houston has ...
... allowed only 9 TDs (just over 2 per week) but three of their games have been against struggling offenses: Colts, Broncos, Bears. ... It looks like a great week for James Robinson. He's having a good year, with touchdown runs over 10 yards in three straight games at one point. Only one other running back in the league has done that in the last 10 years. The Eagles held him to 29 rushing yards on Sunday, but that's a really good run defense. Robinson ran for at least 64 yards in all of his other games. Here he's working against one of the worst run defenses in the league. The Texans have let runners go over 155 yards in two of their four games. That kind of production is out of range, particularly with Robinson yielding a good portion of the workload to Travis Etienne, but he looks like a possible top-10 runner. Thus far Robinson is averaging 65 rushing and 9 receiving yards, with 3 TDs. Etienne is averaging 36 rushing and 20 receiving yards, with no touchdowns. (Both should come in well above those levels.) ... Trevor Lawrence looks like a mid-level quarterback this week. If Houston continues to have trouble ...
This report is taken from today's Week 5 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 16 pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... defending the run, it probably won't be a pass-crazy game. But he's been decent so far, averaging 237 passing yards, with 8 TDs. The Texans allowed only 106 passing yards against Justin Fields, but with how he's playing, he hardly counts. Houston let both Matt Ryan and Justin Herbert pass for at least 340 yards. So about 250 yards and a couple of touchdowns for Lawrence makes sense. He's mobile but hasn't been looking to make that a big part of his game. ... We're putting the wide receivers in their usual kind of spots. Christian Kirk has been the clear No. 1 option, averaging 82 receiving yards, and he's caught 3 of their 8 TD passes. The Texans have let a wide receiver go over 120 yards in all of their non-Chicago games -- Michael Pittman, Courtland Sutton and Mike Williams. Zay Jones (ankle) missed the Eagles game but practiced some late last week, indicating he'll likely return. Jones averaged 58 receiving yards in the first three weeks, with one touchdown. Marvin Jones got shut out at Philadelphia and was held under 40 yards in each of the first three games. With Jamal Agnew having caught 4 passes for 50 yards and 2 TDs against the Eagles, it's reasonable to wonder if they might consider elevating him above Marvin Jones. ... Evan Engram hasn't been a big factor. He's caught 13 passes for 99 yards in four games. But he looks like a decent possibility for a touchdown. Two weeks ago against the Chargers, he caught a 2-point conversion and had a touchdown overturned by a replay. And he caught a touchdown in the preseason. Of the 4 TD passes allowed so far by the Texans, half have gone to tight ends. ... With the Jaguars looking like a safe pick to win this game comfortably, Riley Patterson has a high probability of being a top-10 kicker. The Texans have allowed multiple field goals in every game. ... The Jaguars Defense looks like an above-average option. Davis Mills did a good job of protecting the ball last year (with just 5 interceptions in his last nine games) but he's thrown 2 picks in each of his last two games, and he's also been sacked 11 times. Jacksonville so far has only 9 sacks, but with 7 interceptions. It also has Jamal Agnew returning punts and kickoffs.