FANTASY FOOTBALL IN-SEASON FEATURES

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Prediction: JAC 10, HOU 34 (Line: HOU by 16)

Players to Watch: Arian Foster is all that really matters

The Battle of the Inverses. The 1-8 Jaguars are on a six game losing streak head to Houston to face the 8-1 Texans. This is a replay of week two when the Texans won 27-7 in Jacksonville. Sign you are not respected - the Jaguars are 16 point underdogs.

Pregame Notes: The six game losing streak is not likely to end going to Houston this week and by this point there may not be any more games where they are favored this year. They have the lowest scoring offense in the NFL with right at 14 points per game. The new ownership wants to build a winning franchise but there may not be the pieces here to get the job done. Particularly if Maurice Jones-Drew ends up on another team in 2013.

Blaine Gabbert injured his shoulder again last week but is expected back and HC Mike Mularkey once again is solid in backing his starter. Gabbert injured his non-throwing shoulder in Oakland and again against the Colts. Chad Henne came in and threw for 121 yards and one score in relief of Gabbert but Mularkey is not looking for "a spark". Gabbert's passed for nine touchdowns this year but topped 220 yards just one since the season opener.

Maurice Jones-Drew remains out and he's stated that he thought he'd be out for maybe another week or so. In other interviews he is so vague that you'd swear he was practicing to become a politician. Rashad Jennings has done no one any favors these last two weeks with only 52 total yards in the loss to the Lions and then 27 yards total versus the Colts. If he only gains 27 yards in a home game against the Colts, it boggles the mind what a road game in Houston might produce.

Cecil Shorts continued his hot streak with 105 yards and a score last Thursday and that gives him four scores total on the year - no other receiver has more than one. He's also the only receiver with a 100 yard game thanks to converting a bomb into a touchdown twice. Laurent Robinson erupted last week with a season high nine catches for 77 yards and his 15 targets were six more than any other game. Justin Blackmon continues to look like a first round flop though he scored in week nine for the first and only time.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Chad Henne, JAC	@TEN	0	0	0	0	0	200	1	2
Henne already racked up 261 yards and two scores on the Titans who have been good for at least one or two passing scores to every opponent. Losing Shorts this week won't help though nor will a road game. Can't expect more than moderate yardage and one score.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Montell Owens, JAC	@TEN	40	1	1	10	0	0	0	0
Owens has been a decent fantasy start for being a waiver wire find a few weeks back but he has really been ineffective in his two road games with never more than 50 total yards and never scoring. The Titans are not great against the run and allowed even Jennings to score once on them. The yardage is not likely to be much here but Owens has a very good shot to score once against a defense that has already allowed 18 touchdowns to running backs this year.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Justin Blackmon, JAC	@TEN	0	0	6	80	1	0	0	0
Blackmon posted 5-62 and one score against the Titans before but now Shorts will be gone. That could mean lots more passes for Blackmon or just more defensive coverage dedicated to him. He's as good as any Jaguar to score though and has enough upside to merit some consideration this week.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Jordan Shipley, JAC	@TEN	0	0	5	70	0	0	0	0
Shipley could see more work with Shorts out but nothing that would merit a fantasy start this week.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Marcedes Lewis, JAC	@TEN	0	0	5	40	0	0	0	0
Lewis gained 56 yards on four catches versus the Titans last time and the loss of Shorts could end up with more work for him. But he has only scored in one of the last 11 games and fell below 30 yards in each of his last three games.

	Opp	fga	FGM	xpa	XPM	ConFac
K Josh Scobee, JAC	@TEN	2	1	2	2
Never worthy of a fantasy start.

Pregame Notes: The Texans left Chicago now confident they can prevail even going toe-to-toe with another great defense on their turf in the freezing rain. Games like that are when the move to so many passing offenses are questioned and it is nice to have a dominating ground attack. The Texans currently have a one game lead over the Ravens for the #1 seed and that is likely a difference that won't change. Having already beaten the Ravens 43-13, the Texans even have a tie breaker. Schaub only passed for 195 yards and no score in the first game with the Jags.

Matt Schaub has pretty much just been whatever the Texans needed for that week. That leads to some inconsistency with two efforts that never scored and yet as good as 290 yards and four touchdowns in Denver. In fantasy terms, he's just a moderate play with more risk to be bad than good thanks to the rushing of Arian Foster.

Foster's been plenty successful in yardage with 872 yards to rank #3 in the league but he shines in scoring. Nine games in, Foster has scored in every single game and his 12 touchdowns on the year are four more than anyone else. He's been phased out as a receiver this year and rarely catches more than one pass. But he always scores. Foster gained 147 total yards and scored once in Jacksonville back in week two.

Owen Daniels was held out last week but made it to pre-game warmups before they decided to rest him one more week. His hip is expected to be better this time and let the Texans highest scoring receiver play. Daniels scored five times over the last six games that he played though his yardage generally stalls out around 70 or so. He's a big part of the passing equation and will come to matter more in matchups tougher than this one. Daniels only gained 47 yards on six catches in the last meeting with the Jaguars.

Andre Johnson is still the only wideout of any significance but he has not scored since week two. He's been good for eight catches and 75+ yards in the last three home games though he only ended with 21 yards earlier in Jacksonville.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
QB Matt Schaub, HOU	@IND	0	0	0	0	0	250	2	1
Two weeks ago Schaub threw for 261 and 1 against the Colts. He may be asked to do a bit more of the heavy lifting with Arian Foster coming back from an irregular heartbeat. And Houston still has something to play for, as a win would salt away the top seed and home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Arian Foster, HOU	@IND	80	1	3	20	0	0	0	0
Foster rolled the Colts for 165 yards on 27 carries a couple weeks back, and he's been cleared by doctors following last week's irregular heartbeat incident. But with the playoffs looming and Ben Tate healthy, not to mention the whole heartbeat thing, that seems like an aggressive workload against Indy. Settle for "good", but he'll likely share too much with Tate to hit "great".

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
RB Ben Tate, HOU	@IND	40	0	3	20	0	0	0	0
Indy has allowed 100-plus rushing yards in five of the last six games, including 178 to the Texans in Week 15. Arian Foster accounted for most of that, but Tate's healthier now and after Foster left last week's game with an irregular heartbeat it wouldn't be a shock to see Tate handle a bigger share of the work this week.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR Andre Johnson, HOU	@IND	0	0	7	100	1	0	0	0
Johnson took the Colts for 11-151-1 a couple weeks back, so he should have no trouble collecting the 43 yards he needs to reach the 1,500-yard mark. And with double-digit targets in four straight (and five of six, and eight of the last 10) he'll be the guy Matt Schaub leans on if the ground game can't get going--or if the Texans find themselves playing catch-up to Andrew Luck.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
WR DeVier Posey, HOU	@IND	0	0	2	30	0	0	0	0
Is Posey taking over the wingman job from Kevin Walter? Maybe, but he hasn't done enough to turn that gig into something warranting fantasy attention just yet.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Owen Daniels, HOU	@IND	0	0	4	40	1	0	0	0
Daniels didn't do much against Indy a couple weeks back, and with James Casey and Garrett Graham stealing the occasional touchdown he's a tough start in TD-heavy scoring systems. He's still the lead dog in the Texans' tight end rotation, but that doesn't carry as much weight as it used to.

	Opp	RuYD	RuTD	Rec	ReYD	ReTD	PaYD	PaTD	Int	ConFac
TE Garrett Graham, HOU	@IND	0	0	2	20	0	0	0	0
Graham's biggest fantasy impact is stealing just enough from Owen Daniels' plate to render him a lesser fantasy entity. He's not doing enough on his own on a consistent basis to warrant a fantasy start.

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