Jaguars look to snap nine-game losing streak against Texans on Sunday at NRG Stadium

There's a ton to play for.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (7-8) are set to take on the Houston Texans (2-12-1) in their Week 17 matchup and final regular-season away game of the season. After starting the year 3-7, Jacksonville has won four of their last five contests to jump ahead of the Tennessee Titans as the AFC South division leader.

Jacksonville must defeat the Titans in Week 18 to hold onto the crown, but first, they'll travel to Houston to face off against the Texans at NRG Stadium. For Jacksonville, it'll be an opportunity for the Jaguars to get revenge on Houston after falling to the Texans in Week 5, 13-6. The game is set to kick off at 1 p.m. on CBS.

The game will be broadcast locally on WJXL 1010AM/92.5 FM on the radio.

More Jaguars coverage:

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A big deal:Christian Kirk's work ethic, versatility for Jaguars leading him to first 1,000-yard season

Fan Friday:Answering your questions about the Jaguars ahead of Week 17 vs. Texans

For Houston, the franchise looks to earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season after taking down the Titans last week in Nashville.

"There’s never a meaningless game. Never, ever, ever. You play to win every game. The only way I restplayers is if they’re hurt and can’t go," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said Wednesday.

Jaguars look to snap losing streak vs. Texans

The Jaguars have broken quite a few streaks this year. They were able to defeat the Titans in Nashville for the first time since 2013, earned a victory over a west coast team other than the then-Oakland Raiders, broke an 18-game road-game losing streak and most recently broke an NFL-record 20-game losing streak against NFC teams.

Now, the Jaguars look to take down another streak — a nine-game losing streak against the Texans that dates back to the 2018 season. The last time Jacksonville defeated the Texans was in 2017, their last postseason appearance.

The Jaguars are 13-28 all-time against the Texans. They've won just two times in the team's last 17 meetings. Prior to sweeping the Texans in 2017, the Jaguars last defeated Houston on Dec. 5, 2013.

"We definitely want to break that (losing streak)," Kirk said Monday.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence also has the motivation to play well against Houston, especially after throwing a costly interception in the red zone against the team in Week 5. The motivation of the game being a divisional matchup is all that's needed, along with the fact that the team hasn't won there in a while.

"We lost to this team … so getting a chance to play them again at their stadium, haven’t beat this team in a while," Lawrence said Wednesday. "I’ve never beat the Texans in the last two years, three games. For me, it’s a game I definitely want to win. Our whole team feels that way."

Many players have looked back to the team's loss against Detroit as something they don't want to repeat. The Jaguars were coming off of an emotional victory against the Baltimore Ravens the previous week and suffered their worst loss of the season against the Lions a week after.

For Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun, getting a win against the Texans after what they lost in Week 5 is incredibly important.

"You don't ever want to put bad film on tape," Oluokun said Thursday. "Just seeing that we lost to them earlier, I didn't like how we lost to them, kind of a dogfight we ended up losing it. So, we got a lot to prove. In order to you know keep momentum, we got to keep creating momentum, I 100 percent believe in that."

Texans present unique challenge at QB position

Though Jacksonville faced off only against Davis Mills in Week 5, the team will have to prepare for multiple quarterbacks Sunday against the Texans. Both Mills and seven-year QB Jeff Driskel have taken meaningful snaps over the past three weeks.

Over the last two games, Driskel has played an average of 28 percent of the snaps, while he played a 50 percent of the snaps in the team's close loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14.

This year, the veteran QB has completed 9-of-14 passes for 86 yards, while running the ball 15 times for 61 yards.

Mills has played the majority of the snaps for the Texans this year. He's completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 2,618 yards, 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He is 2-0 against Jacksonville.

Oddly enough, Driskel caught a pass this season, a four-yard gain against the Titans last week. So, the threat of two quarterbacks coming in and playing different roles will be one aspect of the game that's necessary to watch.

Houston is without top running back Dameon Pierce, who is on injured reserve, so much of the focus is likely to be on the QB position and the Texans' passing game.

Focus will be paramount with Week 18 looming

The Jaguars will have plenty of distractions before during and after this week's contest against the Texans. There's an obvious pivotal matchup against the Titans in Week 18 at TIAA Bank Field. That game will decide if the team makes the playoffs as a division winner.

While this week's contest is still important from a playoff perspective — particularly a potential Wild Card position — it has no bearing on what happens within the division. In essence, the Jaguars can lose this game and suffer minimal ramifications from it.

But, momentum and the ability to head into Week 18 on a high note are still at the forefront of their minds.

Jaguars receiver Zay Jones says that it will take a certain level of discipline for the team not to look ahead. The key this week will be the team's leadership.

"As high as you can go, the next week is as low as you can go as well," Jones said.

The key will be to try to make mundane things fun.

"It can get redundant after a while; trying to create the feeling like you never really arrived," Jones elaborated.

"I would say, whatever your approach has been so far, don't drastically start changing or doing something different whether it be looking ahead of whatever the case is."

So, it needs to be status-quo, with a bit of urgency out of Jacksonville this week. Two incredibly important matchups sit in front of them, with their first coming against the Texans on Sunday.

Travon Walker, Foley Fatukasi on track to suit up Sunday

Both Jaguars outside linebacker Travon Walker and defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi are on track to play Sunday, Pederson said Friday. Both players entered the week after missing the team's contest against the New York Jets with ankle injuries. Walker missed the previous matchup against the Dallas Cowboys as well.

The two front-line players are officially listed as questionable as the team gets set to depart to Houston.

Other players officially listed as questionable include Lawrence (toe), offensive lineman Brandon Scherff (abdomen/ankle), safety Andrew Wingard (shoulder) and long snapper Ross Matiscik (back).

Lawrence, as he has been since suiting up with the toe injury against the Titans a few weeks ago, will be fine. Wingard played against the Jets last week and Scherff re-entered the contest after injuring his ankle against the Jets.

Matiscik appeared on the injury report for the first time this season this week. Jacksonville signed long snapper Garrison Sanborn to the practice squad earlier this week as possible insurance.

Pederson said on Monday that Matiscik will be fine for the game, however. "We’re not worried about that."

Jaguars uniform combo revealed

Jacksonville will sport white tops and teal pants for their Week 17 matchup against the Texans. It is the fourth time this season that Jacksonville has sported that combination.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Preview: Jaguars ready to break losing streak vs. Texans Sunday at 1 p.m.