Jacksonville Jaguars Travel To San Francisco As 3 Point Underdogs

NFL News - November 24th, 2009 - Written by John

Since going on somewhat of a minislide, the Jacksonville Jaguars have rebounded to put themselves squarely in the playoff conversation with three-straight wins and an ability to survive late. After two narrow finishes in the last two weeks, they could probably do without the theatrics this week against the San Francisco 49ers.

With less-than-convincing wins, and a coast-to-coast roadtrip, Jacksonville will receive 3 points, according to BetUS, with an over/under of 41 as listed in the NFL Week 12 Betting Odds.

The Jaguars have won four of it's last five games, but has only covered the spread once in that span. Meanwhile, San Francisco has been a winner in six of it's last eight home games

The Jacksonville Jaguars are now 6-4 with a tough four-game stretch coming after this week. A win against San Francisco would mean it would need just one win over Houston, Miami, Indianapolis or New England before a gimme putt against Cleveland to close out the season.

The Niners have been an enigma of sorts this season, getting improved play out of the quarterback and wide receiver positions, yet freefalling in the standings when results on the scoreboard have not translated. Since activating Michael Crabtree, and inserting Alex Smith into the quarterbacking role, San Francisco is 1-4 with a lone win against the Chicago Bears. But the Niners have been competitive in all of those losses, falling by an average of five points.

Crabtree has 292 yards, averaging more than 13 yards per catch, and Smith has thrown for over 1,000 yards with nine touchdowns, and had a big time second half against the Green Bay Packers. After completing just three passes for five yards in the first half, he turned it on for 222 yards an three touchdowns to get his team within six. With momentum finally with San Francisco, Smith likely could've punched in the winning score, but he never got the ball back. Green Bay picked up four first downs and sat on the ball for the final six minutes of the game.

He looks to be a good match-up against a volatile Jacksonville secondary that allowed 197 yards to Terrell Owens last week, including a 98-yard touchdown. The Jaguars are seventh-worst against the pass, allowing quarterbacks to put up an average passer rating of 93.8.

But the offense has been their saving grace. Two weeks in a row, David Garrard engineered game-winning drives in the final minutes of the game. He is projected to set a career-high in yards (3,685), and finish with a rating over 80 for the fifth year in a row.

Maurice Jones-Drew is fifth in the league in rushing with 926 yards.

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