The Houston Texans host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday as 14.5-point favorites. The Texans have won six in a row, but the Jaguars have won five in a row and hold the AFC South division lead by one game over Houston. This matchup seems like a walk in the park, but the Texans still need to make sure they win this game to stay in the hunt for the division title.
Coming into this matchup, both of the Texans running backs are questionable to play, Woody Marks and Nick Chubb. Chubb was passed by Marks as the leader and missed last week, giving Jawhar Jordan a heavy workload while Marks dealt with his ankle injury. Jordan had 101 rushing yards on 15 carries against the Cardinals and arguably moved him ahead of Chubb on the depth chart.
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Woody Marks Injury Updates
Game day update: Adam Schefter reports that Woody Marks is NOT expected to play in Week 16 against the Raiders. He hasn’t been able to practice much due to an ankle injury and it looks like it will cost him at least a week. Houston plays at 4:25 pm ET, which means we will receive his official inactivity report no earlier than 2:55 pm If you have to make a decision on Marks for the 1:00 pm kickoffs, you can bench him for Week 16.
Marks was unable to practice on Wednesday or Thursday, but was able to get in a limited practice on Friday and get the questionable list. Head coach DeMeco Ryans sounded hopeful earlier in the week and said the injury was not serious. There’s a good chance the team simply wanted to give him as much rest as possible so he’d be ready to play.
Nick Chubb, on the other hand, participated in two full practices this week, but was still listed as questionable with a rib injury.
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Fantasy football analysis
If Marks can’t play and Chubb can, I’d probably still lean toward Jawhar Jordan as the lead running back. It would be nice to get some confirmation on that before starting him in the fantasy playoffs, but it’s an option in that scenario.
This matchup with the Raiders is good enough to start Marks while he’s active, which I hope he is, but I’d try to sign Jordan if he’s still available.