Texans get trampled in Jacksonville

Football Betting Lines

10/16/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Texans knew what they were up against this past weekend in Jacksonville, but still couldn't find a way to stop it.

The Texans suffered a 37-17 loss to the AFC South-rival Jaguars Sunday at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, as they received an unhealthy dose of running backs Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor. Houston couldn't stop the duo, especially Jones-Drew, and surrendered 244 of Jacksonville's 457 total yards on the ground.

Perhaps Texans second-year linebacker DeMeco Ryans said it best.

"It makes me sick to my stomach," Ryans said of the Jags' 244 rushing yards. "If you'd told me before the game we were going to give up that many yards, I would have said you were crazy.

"We got sloppy. Penalties killed us. They kept drives alive. We got a couple of turnovers, but we still didn't get off the field on third down."

Houston finished just 2-of-10 offensively on third down and allowed Jacksonville to convert 5-of-10 third-down chances. Jones-Drew ended with 125 yards and two touchdowns, including a 57-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter that extended the Jaguars' lead to 37-9. He averaged 10.4 yards per carry against Houston's 19th-ranked run defense and finished with 260 all- purpose yards.

Taylor chipped in 90 rushing yards on six carries, including a 76-yard scamper.

Over the first four games of the 2007 campaign, the Texans gave up an average of 80 yards rushing. However, in their last two games the Texans have allowed an average of 190.5 rushing yards against Miami and Jacksonville.

Houston couldn't even fight back with the return of running back Ahman Green, who was limited to just 44 yards on 16 carries. Green missed the last two weeks because of a bruised knee and appeared as if he was still inactive on Sunday. The veteran averaged 2.8 yards per carry in the game and had just 16 yards on seven touches in the second half.

"I didn't want no setbacks," Green noted. "And there were no setbacks in terms of myself physically. Now we just have to get the offense rolling a little bit better than we did today."

The Texans were up against a Jacksonville defense that hasn't allowed a 100- yard rusher since Chris Brown of the Tennessee Titans racked up 175 yards on the ground in a Week 1 victory over the Jaguars. No Houston player has rushed for 100 yards in a game this season.

Houston must find a way to regroup fast, since the Titans are next on the schedule. Tennessee boasts the No. 1 run defense in the NFL, holding opponents to just under 64 yards rushing per game.

SCHAUB, OFFENSE SPUTTER IN JACKSONVILLE

Texans quarterback Matt Schaub battled through a rough outing this past Sunday, throwing for 259 yards on 19-of-31 passing with no touchdowns and an interception. Schaub has been picked off twice in the last two weeks and hasn't thrown a TD pass since a Week 4 loss at Atlanta.

After Schaub failed to lead the Texans to a touchdown in four trips to the red zone, backup Sage Rosenfels took over and completed 11 of his 12 passes for 82 yards and a score. Rosenfels' one-yard touchdown strike to Vonta Leach was the only time the Texans reached the end zone. Kicker Kris Brown was busy again, as he nailed three field goals one week after making five in a victory over Miami.

"We put together some good drives, but we were disappointed not to get seven points," Schaub said after the game. "We have to find a way to finish drives and finish games."

Schaub also coughed up the football when he was sacked by Jacksonville defensive end Paul Spicer in the fourth quarter, with Jags linebacker Daryl Smith picking up the loose ball and rumbling 77 yards for a score. He was earlier intercepted by cornerback Brian Williams, with the pick leading to a 57-yard touchdown run by Jones-Drew.

Schaub almost had a touchdown pass on Houston's second series of the game, when he connected with wide receiver Andre Davis on what would have been a 10- yard scoring strike. However, Jaguars safety Sammy Knight quickly knocked the ball out of the hands of a stretching Davis and through the end zone for a touchback.

Texans fans shouldn't get too upset with Schaub, though, because he has been solid so far this season. Even though Houston is last in the AFC South with a 3-3 record, Schaub has the team in better position than former starter David Carr ever did.

ANDRE JOHNSON UPDATE

Texans star wide receiver Andre Johnson is expected to miss Sunday's game against Tennessee because of his injured left knee.

Johnson went down in a Week 2 win over Carolina and hasn't played since. In a season-opening victory against Kansas City, the wideout had 142 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. He then caught seven more passes for 120 yards and a pair of scores versus the Panthers.

Johnson is certainly missed in Houston, but Davis and Kevin Walter are still at Schaub's disposal. Walter ended with 160 yards on 12 receptions in Sunday's loss at Jacksonville, while tight end Owen Daniels hauled in five passes for 79 yards.

UP NEXT: TITANS COME TO TOWN

The Texans will host the AFC South-rival Tennessee Titans this Sunday at Reliant Stadium. Houston hasn't defeated the Titans since sweeping the season series in 2004. In fact, those are the only two wins in the Texans' 10 all-time matchups with Tennessee.

If Texans head coach Gary Kubiak is planning on running the football this Sunday, he better go back to the drawing board. The Titans sport the best run defense in the NFL, yielding an average of 63.8 yards per game.

Tennessee is hungry for a win after a suffering a 13-10 loss at Tampa Bay on a last-second field goal. The team also lost star quarterback Vince Young to a leg injury in the process, but he should be good to go this weekend.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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