The Houston Texans host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday as whopping 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 looks like a cake walk, but the Texans still need to make sure they win this game to stay in the division title hunt.
Coming into this matchup both of the Texans running backs are questionable to play, Woody Marks and Nick Chubb. Chubb was overtaken by Marks as the lead back and missed last week, giving Jawhar Jordan a big workload while Marks dealt with his ankle injury. Jordan hit 101 yards rushing on 15 carries against the Cardinals and possibly moving him ahead of Chubb on the depth chart.
Woody Marks injury updates
Game day update: Adam Schefter is reporting that Woody Marks is NOT expected to play in Week 16 vs. the Raiders. He has been unable to get much practice in due to an ankle injury and it appears it will cost him at least one week. Houston plays at 4:25 p.m. ET, which means we will get their official inactive report no sooner than 2:55 p.m. If you have to make a decision on Marks for the 1 p.m. 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 listing. Head coach DeMeco Ryans was hopeful early in the week, saying the injury wasn’t severe. There’s a decent chance the team just wanted to give him the most rest possible to get him ready to play.
Nick Chubb on the other hand got in two full practices this week, but was still listed as questionable with a ribs injury.
Fantasy football analysis
If Marks can’t play and Chubb can, I’d still likely lean toward Jawhar Jordan as the lead back. It would be nice to get some confirmation on that before starting him in your fantasy playoffs, but he is an option in that scenario.
This matchup with the Raiders is good enough to start Marks as long as he is active, which I expect him to be, but would try to pick up Jordan if he’s available still.