28-year old safety Dawan Landry was a shrew addition to the defense over the off-season.  He has played in 11 games for the Jaguars so far this year and he has 70 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1/2 a sack, 1 forced fumble, 4 passes defensed and 2 tackles for a loss.  Landry has now played in 77 games in his first six years in the NFL and he has 432 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 33 passes defensed and 11 interceptions (3 returned for TDs).  The Jaguars should try to keep Landry around for a while as he has been very solid for them this year.

The Jaguars have signed 26-year old CB Morgan Trent.  Trent played in 7 games for the Bengals & Colts this year and he has 6 tackles.  He has now played in 31 games in his first three years in the NFL and he has 60 tackles, 1 interception, 7 passes defensed, 1 fumble recovery, tackle for a loss and 7 passes defensed.  Trent might be able to help the Jaguars as they have suffered a lot of injuries at corner lately.

The Jaguars have placed 25-year old safety Courtney Greene on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to a hamstring injury.  Greene played in 7 games for the Jaguars this year and he had 10 tackles.  He has now played in 30 games in his first three years with the Jaguars and he has 93 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 7 passes defensed.  This will hurt the Jags’ depth at safety.

The Jaguars have waived 26-year old WR Jason Hill.  Hill played in 10 games for the Jaguars this year and he caught 25 passes for 367 yards (14.7 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Jaguars’ QBs completed 25 of 55 passes (45.5%) aimed at Hill this year.  Hill played in 16 games in his two years with the Jaguars and he caught 36 passes for 615 yards (17.1 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  This might hurt the Jaguars’ passing game if that is even possible.

The Jaguars have fired 48-year old head coach Jack Del Rio.  This comes as little surprise as the Jaguars’ owner Wayne Weaver gave him a mandate to make the playoffs or find another job.  The Jaguars are painful to watch right now as they are 3-8 on the season and they are scoring an average of only 12.5 points per game while allowing 18.2 points per game.  Del Rio was 68-71 (48.9%)  during the regular season and 1-2 (33.3%) in the post-season in his 10 years with the Jaguars.  39-year old defensive coordinator Mel Tucker will take over as the interim head coach for the Jaguars.  He has coached 7 years in the NFL and this is his third with the Jaguars.

The Jaguars wasted a great effort from the defense today.  The Texans sacked Jaguars’ QBs a stunning 7 times today and it really hurt the offense.  Blaine Gabbert had a rough time today as he completed 13 of 29 passes for 136 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT.  He was then benched in favor of Luke McCown.  McCown completed 7 of 11 passes for 62 yards without a TD pass or INT in this game.  Maurice Jones-Drew had another solid game for the Jaguars today with 99 yards rushing on 18 carries (5.5 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 67 yards (16.8 avg).  TE Marcedes Lewis (4 rec, 47 yards) and WR Jarrett Dillard (3 rec, 30 yards) also pitched in for the Jaguars in the passing game today.  The Jaguars finished up with 105 yards rushing on 24 carries (4.4 ypc) and they also completed 20 of 40 passes (50%) for 150 yards in this game as they had possession of the ball for 31:39.

The defense was outstanding for the Jaguars today.  CB Ashton Youboty led the way for the Jags with 8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery that he returned 38 yards for a TD!  LBs Russell Allen (7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and Paul Poslusny (7 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss) also played solid football today.  The Texans finished up with 88 yards rushing on 31 carries (2.8 ypc) and they also completed 18 of 28 passes (64.3%) for 127 yards in this game.  The Jaguars are now 3-8 on the season.

The Jaguars lost a tough game in Cleveland last weekend, but they are playing better as they have won 2 of their last four games.  The Texans have won four games in a row and they have had two weeks to prepare for the Jaguars.  The Texans won 24-14 in Houston against the Jaguars just four weeks ago.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Jaguars have the ball:  The Jaguars are going to feed the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew in this game.  The Texans are only giving up 91.3 yards rushing per game this year, but 4.2 yards per carry, so Jones-Drew could have some success.  Blaine Gabbert is going to have to get rid of the ball quickly in this game as the Texans are a heavy blitzing team with 28 sacks already this year.  TE Marcedes Lewis really stepped up last weekend and he could quickly become Gabbert’s best friend starting this weekend.  Gabbert was only 10 of 30 passing for 97 yards in the first matchup of these teams, so he’s going to need help from his receivers.

When the Texans have the ball:  The Texans are likely going to try to run the ball at least 40 times this weekend in Matt Leinart’s first start at QB.  Arian Foster (740 yards rushing ) and Ben Tate (686 yards rushing) should be able to handle the heavy workload put on the running game this weekend.  The Jaguars are giving up 111.2 yards rushing per game and 4.1 yards per carry so far this year.  They are going to have to try to stop the Texans’ vaunted running game and force them to pass, which is much easier said than done.  The Jaguars are going to have to get after Matt Leinart and force him into making some mistakes.  That is going to be hard to do as the Jags’ secondary is getting a little thin due to injuries.  WR Andre Johnson is going to cause huge matchup problems for the Jaguars in this game.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 24, JAGUARS 7

The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed 24-year old QB Dan LeFevour off of the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad.  LeFevour was a 6th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.  He was selected by the Bears in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft.  He has yet to play in an NFL game and he won’t this year barring injuries to Blaine Gabbert and Luke McCown.  Still, it’s nice to have 3 QBs on the roster, so I like this move for the Jags.

The Jaguars have placed 25-year old cornerback Derek Cox on the Injured Reserve List due to a knee injury. Cox played in 6 games for the Jaguars this year and he had 22 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 tackle for a loss.  He has now played in 35 games in his first three years with the Jaguars and he has 143 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 fumble recovery, 21 passes defensed and 8 INTs.  The Jaguars are running out of corners after putting Cox and Rashean Mathis on I.R. the last couple of weeks.

The Jaguars have signed 31-year old LB Kevin Bentley.  Bentley played in 13 games for the Texans last year and he had 55 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 1 pass defensed.  He has now played in 132 games in his first 9 years in the NFL and he has 412 tackles, 1 sack, 12 tackles for a loss, 2 forced fumbles, 5 fumble recoveries, 9 passes defensed and 2 interceptions.  The Jaguars will likely throw Bentley right into the fire this weekend against the Texans.

UPDATE:  (12/5/2011) – The Jaguars have waived Kevin Bentley.  He played in 1 game for them and he had 1 tackle.  The Jaguars won’t miss him going forward.