Jacksonville won their 4th-straight game with a 19-7 victory at Cleveland last Sunday. Arizona fell 31-21 at Houston last week.
The Jaguars are averaging only 22 ppg during their current winning streak but that has been enough to get wins. When your defense is allowing 8 ppg during the same time frame, you don’t need to score a bushel of points. RB Leonard Fournette had his 4th 100-yard game of the season and look for him to be the go-to guy again this week. The Cardinals run defense has been sound in 2017 (3.7 ypc, 101.3 ypg) but they’ll have their hands full with Fournette and the rest of the Jacksonville backs. QB Blake Bortles is continuing his maturation as a game manager by limiting TOs and making a few plays in the passing game. WRs Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee will probably struggle when they are playing across from Pro Bowl CB Patrick Peterson but the other player will likely benefit from that. TE Marcedes Lewis had another TD catch last week and is a legit threat in the red zone. Bortles has been sacked 16 times on the season while Arizona has notched 24 sacks on the year but was kept in check by a mediocre Texans line last week.
The Cardinals turn to QB Blaine Gabbert again this week. He did throw 3 TD passes last week but faces the No.1 pass defense in the NFL in 2017. Only Pittsburgh’s WR Antonio Brown has reached the 80-yard mark in receiving this season against this secondary so WR Larry Fitzgerald can expect some tough sledding on Sunday. Gabbert was drafted in the 1st round by the Jaguars in 2011 and it clearly didn’t work out. While he’d like to get some revenge on the team that dumped him, I don’t expect him to have a lot of success this week. The Jaguars have picked off 13 passes and yielded only 7 TD passes. They also have 40 sacks, led by long-time former Arizona DE Calais Campbell’s 11.5. Cardinals QB’s have been dumped 28 times this year and I feel they will have trouble containing this vaunted pass rush. RB Adrian Peterson had a good start to his Arizona career but has been held to only 55 yards on 35 attempts over the past 2 games. The Jags run defense has been their lone blemish on the D in 2017 but they have improved in recent weeks.
Public Money Consensus
The Jags are taking the lion’s share of the tickets with some books stating 70% of the points spread wagers are landing on the visitor. The total for this game is a low 38 points, but that’s not stopping the public leaning to the UNDER with 54% of the total bets falling on that side of the line.
