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.

[ShinobiMusashi]

I remember the 2023 Jags vs Texans game and thinking about how it was really the first meaningful meeting between the two teams in the 20 plus years since they were in the same division. The Texans have seemed to have had the Jaguars number since inception, we got our first ever road win in Jacksonville and I still remember the 2008 Monday Night Football debut win against them was a great moment for the team for where they were at that time. I know there was a connection some of our best players on the expansion team were from that Jaguars 99-2001 team, also I believe Capers was Jacksonville defensive coordinator those years so the teams were practically related when Houston launched in 2002. Capers' familiarity with the Jaguars was probably big reason why Houston upset them in Jacksonville that 2002 expansion season for the Texans first ever road win.

Houston vs Jacksonville never became a thing. Houston did have a lot more meaningful games with Indy and Tennessee while not big rivalries in the grand scope of the NFL over the last 23-24 years but still some big games and memories for me. Just not anything there for Houston and Jacksonville though, never lined up for those games to mean anything in their 23 years of playing each other twice a year is strange oddball stuff.

I will say this though I have never been a fan of the AFC South division and the division itself to me is a total oddball deal in itself. I love Titans and Texans being in the same division but the other teams I'll pass. I'm sure I read this somewhere and have been echoing it for a while but the division seems to have been tailor made for Peyton Manning when they designed it in 2002. Road trips to Houston(an expansion team built to lose from the beginning that he padded his record beating twice every year from 2002 to 2005) and Jacksonville good weather, a return trip back home to Tennessee where he played college ball. Manning playing in the old AFC East would have had a faaaar tougher career through the 2000's, fewer playoff appearances, maybe no Super Bowl.

[ShinobiMusashi]

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.

That 2005 Skins/Buccs game was a banger for sure, one of the best games of that NFL season. They had a pretty heated rematch in the playoffs that year that Joe Gibbs Redskins won. There was certainly something there between those two teams that year.

I never realized the Colts/Jets ended up being such a dud of a divisional series from the merger on until the realignment. That was supposed to be a big rivalry when they put them together. Maybe they would have been better off in separate conferences, even though chances are slim imagine what a Jets vs Colts Super Bowl rematch would have been like(maybe not the same with the Colts in Indy instead of Baltimore but still).