Jon Gruden says Texans must fix run game vs. Jaguars

Gruden took the whiteboard and had one point he kept coming back to: Houston's ground game.

Jon Gruden

@BarstoolGruden

The Texans run game needs to improve in a BIG way if they want to beat the Jags. @LucyNicotine

Gruden isn't exaggerating. Houston averages 79.0 rushing yards a game, 31st in the league. On designed runs it gets 3.2 yards a carry, the lowest in the NFL, and a 30.4% success rate, also 31st. CJ Stroud can still move it through the air. The trouble is that a defense playing Houston has no reason to respect anything else.

It gets worse. David Montgomery is out week-to-week with a groin injury, and he was at 2.7 yards a carry before that, dead last among qualified backs. That makes Woody Marks the guy. He's at 3.5 a carry, which is better but still not good. Now Marks gets the best run defense in football: through 5 weeks Jacksonville has allowed 63.8 rushing yards a game and a league-low 2.9 yards per designed run. NFL.com called the matchup "hydrogen bomb versus coughing baby," and that's fair.

Warren Sharp

@UC5Me5Jw0nSj1qF6ZfibrFMw

“I don't expect Houston to have a lot of success on the ground.”

0:44

Gruden isn't the only one saying it. That was Warren Sharp's show on October 12, right after Week 5, and the guy on that show was already saying the Texans' only real chance is Stroud going after the Jacksonville secondary. The catch is that the 4-1 Jaguars haven't been bad against the pass either.

Still, Gruden expects the Texans to play hard. At 1-4 in their own division, he calls it a must-win, and he thinks Houston will show up for it.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

Texans are in must-win mode with their backs against the wall and Coach Gruden expects that they'll show up this week against the Jaguars. @LucyNicotine

Kickoff is 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday at Wembley. Jacksonville has made London a second home, and Houston had to fly over for this one. If the Texans lose, they're 1-5 and 3 games behind the Jaguars in the AFC South. If Marks can get even a few tough yards early, Stroud gets some room to throw. If he can't, Houston is stuck throwing on every down, and the Jaguars defense will be waiting for it.