The Houston Texans (5-6) are on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars (6-5), a team they lost to 31-24 in week three.  These teams match up pretty evenly, and both offenses will find some success like they did in week three.  I expect Matt Schaub to have similar outing as the week 3 game, where he threw for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Texans will be without RB Steve Slaton, who was effective last time against the Jags rushing for 76 yards on 12 carries.  That means Chris Brown will probably get all of the carries and they will need a better effort than the 19 yards on 8 carries that he had in their last match-up.  If the Texans can get a good game out of Brown, they will probably win.

The Texans defense has not been very good this year at getting to quarterbacks, and when Jaguars’ quarterback David Garrard has time he is very accurate.  The Texans need to get some pressure on him and he will make mistakes.  The focus should be on Maurice Jones-Drew though, who killed the Texans last time for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns.  They cannot let him have a repeat performance or they will be on the losing end again.  I do think they will do a better job containing Jones-Drew this time, but he will still be effective no matter what they do, as they aren’t the strongest defense.  Neither defense is really that good, and I think the Texans have a better offense, so I think they can outscore the Jags this time around.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Houston Texans 28, Jacksonville Jaguars 21

The Houston Texans (5-5) are looking for revenge against the Indianapolis Colts (10-0) who barely beat them three weeks ago in Indianapolis.  The Texans should have sent that game into overtime if not for a missed field goal by their kicker Kris Brown with only seconds left.  The Texans will need a big game out of Matt Schaub if they want to win this one, and he needs to make sure he takes care of the ball like last week where he did not throw any interceptions.  It was the first time he did that since week two, and this will probably be another close game so they cannot afford any turnovers.  The running game has not been producing enough this year, and Steve Slaton is battling a neck injury, so that means even more pressure is on Schaub.

The Texans defense is going to have its hands full with Peyton Manning.  Manning has been great all season for the Colts, and this game will probably be no different.  Manning does have an injured glute though, so he may not be as effective as he usually is.  He will still be Peyton Manning though, and even without a good running game (only 85 rushing yards per game), Manning has lead the Colts this far without a loss.  It should be a close game, but I’m going to go with Manning and the Colts in this one.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Houston Texans 17, Indianapolis Colts 24

The Houston Texans (5-4) are hosting the Tennessee Titans (3-6) for Monday Night Football.  The Texans need to be ready for a solid football team, as the Titans have turned their team around ever since Vince Young became the quarterback.  They have won three straight games and have been led by running back Chris Johnson.  Johnson is averaging 165 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Titans past three games and has been very hard to bring down.  The Texans need to shut him down and they will shut down the Titans.  That is a tough task though, as Vince Young can also take off and run with the ball.  He does a good job not turning the ball over either, with just one interception.

The Texans offense should be able to get a lot of yards through the air.  The Titans give up 270 passing yards per game and Matt Schaub has been leading the Texans’ offense to 280 passing yards per game.  Schaub has been having problems turning the ball over lately though, as he has 4 interceptions in the Texans’ past 2 games.  The Titans are going to try and keep the ball out of Schaubs’ hands as long as possible though, so if they can’t stop the Titans running game Schaub may not have enough opportunities, so I am taking the Titans in a close game.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Tennessee Titans 34, Houston Texans 28

The Houston Texans (3-3) are at home Sunday taking on the San Francisco 49ers (3-2).  The 49ers are coming off a big 45-10 loss to Atlanta, and have lost two of their last three.  They have been without their star running back Frank Gore though, and he will be returning from an ankle injury this week.  The last time Gore was healthy he ran for 207 yards, so the Texans defense will need to be ready to stop the run like they were last week.  They did a great job limiting the NFL’s leading rusher at the time, Cedric Benson.  Benson only got 44 yards on 16 carries (2.75 avg).  The Texans are still giving up an average of 125 rushing yards per game, so Frank Gore may do some damage in this contest.  They also need to be aware of Shaun Hill scrambling since the 49ers’ quarterback rushed for 53 yards last week.

The Texans offense should be able to put some points on the board against this 49ers’ defense.  After a great start to the season, the 49ers defense has slowed down a bit and are prone to giving up some big plays.  Matt Schaub should look to attack them deep since he has found a lot of success doing that lately.  Running back Steve Slaton needs to make sure he holds on to the ball.  He could be considered a good running back if were not for all his fumbles.  He has five already this season and eight in his short two year career.  The Texans coaching staff said stopping Slaton’s fumbles have been a point of emphasis in practice this week, so we will see if it pays off.  I really like the Texans’ passing game and although this will probably be a close game, I think the Texans will win by a touchdown.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Houston Texans 31, San Francisco 49ers 24

The Houston Texans (1-1) are hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2) this week at Reliant Stadium.  The Texans are looking to build off a big win against the Tennessee Titans last week and the Jaguars are still looking for the first win of the year.  The Texans passing offense has been great and quarterback Matt Schaub has been leading that attack extremely well.  After only amounting 166 passing yards in their week one loss to the New York Jets, Schaub put up 357 yards and four touchdowns on the Titans defense in their week two win.

The Jaguars defense has been pretty bad so far this season, as they have failed to get any pressure on the quarterbacks and have been missing tackles left and right.  Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner was able to break the completion percentage record last week as he went 24-26 against the Jaguars.  This is a great thing for the Texans, because when Schaub has time he has proven he is a good quarterback, and the Texans offensive line should not have a problem protecting him.

The Texans defense has been just as bad as the Jaguars though, as they have given up 55 points in two games and are last in total defense as they have given up an average of 455.5 yards a game.  Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has not really gotten it going yet this year, but he is probably going to do some damage this game against the weak Texans defense.  Garrard hasn’t done anything yet this  year either, and has fumbled three times already.  So, if the Texans can get some pressure on Garrard he may cough it up.

This will probably be a high scoring battle, with the offenses shooting it out against each other.  I think the Texans have a more explosive offense and Schaub proved he can put up some big numbers, so I think the Texans are going to be able to outscore the Jaguars and win this game.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Texans 38, Jaguars 31