Jaguars Texans Rivalry

[Jay Z]

We have had a few posts on rivalries lately. How about a look at some of the weaker rivalries?

Jaguars and Texans have been in the same division since the Texans were created, 2002. So they have played 43 game against each other. Historically, going into those games the two teams have combined for a winning percentage of .393 in the seasons those games were played. This is the most number of games in a rivalry with a winning percentage less than .400.

I have a measure called Marquee Matchups. To be a Marquee Matchup, each team must have at least 3 wins in the season and more wins than losses. Now this obviously excludes early season games, so I may tweak this formula to consider prior season records for this measure. Regardless, the Jaguars and Texans have has one Marquee Matchup out of 43 games. In 2007 the 3-2 Texans visited the 3-1 Jaguars. It did not wind up being a very good game, as the Jaguars pulled away in the 4th quarter for a 37-17 win. Now when I tweak the Marquee Matchup measure, it won't help the Jaguars and Texans, because they've never both made the playoffs in the same season. So no matching up good teams from the prior year.

But wait, the Jaguars are 6-2 this year! And the Texans are 4-4! And they play in 3 weeks! Maybe better things are in store for this rivalry.

I think this is historically the worst rivalry of teams currently in the same division. There are some other interesting ones intra conference.

When I say Cardinals vs Buccaneers, do you think of the 1977 season ender where the Buccaneers got their second win? Name another game between these two teams. In the 22 matchups, that is the ONLY one where the Cardinals went into the game with a winning record. Buccaneers have managed it three times. No marquee matchups here, and the .324 winning percentage is the worst for any existing rivalry with 10 or more games. Best game likely was the 4-2 Buccaneers beating the 3-3 Cardinals in 2010. No playoff games between the two.

Buccaneers-Redskins is bad for teams which both have multiple SB wins. 22 games, only one marquee matchup. 5-3 Buccaneers beat 5-3 Redskins in 2005 36-35. Seems like a good game. Teams only played each other 3 times from 1977 to 1992. Never in the playoffs in the same season.

Colts-Jets is a funny one. We all remember the first one, SB III. But they were duds as division mates. 2 Marquee Matchups in 72 games, both in the year 2000. By the time both teams got good, they realigned and were no longer in the same division. Played 3 times in the regular season from 2002-2010, and 3 times in the playoffs. Surprisingly the Jets beat the Manning Colts 2 out of 3 games.

[Brian wolf]

Stroud has taken this team from laughingstock to division contender. He has as much leverage for MVP talk as anyone.
Only one interception and has beaten the Steelers, Saints, Jags and Bucs with unknown receivers and a bad running game.

Jags have a big game coming up with SF. Can they give them their fourth straight loss? Division games coming up afterward.