The Houston Texans are due to give their second-year running back Woody Marks a pretty notable workload in Week 6 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
That's because his veteran counterpart in the backfield, running back David Montgomery, won't be making the trip to London because of the groin injury he suffered last weekend against the Tennessee Titans.
So for Marks, there's a good chance that he gets even more opportunities on the offensive side in Week 6 compared to what he saw against Tennessee. It was just last week when he recorded 19 touches for 85 all-purpose yards, setting up for his best day of this season by far, and showed that this run game might have a bit more life than once thought.
But with a matchup like the Jaguars, finding that same traction in the run game will be a task much easier said than done, and thus sets up for what could be Marks' biggest challenge of the year when combining his steep workload and the talent on the other end.
The Challenge Jacksonville's Run Defense Presents
There's very few teams around the NFL right now playing better run defense than the Jaguars.
Through the first five games of the regular season, the Jaguars have allowed the lowest rushing yards per game in the NFL (63.8), the lowest rushing yards over expected (-0.84), have allowed just three rushing touchdowns, and are second in rushing yards allowed after contact (1.97).
On its own, those numbers are pretty daunting for the Texans to try and overcome. But the recent production of Houston's run game might tend to make that challenge even tougher.
The Texans come into this game with the second-lowest rushing yards per game (79.0) in the NFL, next to only the Green Bay Packers. They're one of four teams with a run-stuffed rate of over 20%, and have just 10 runs at 10-plus yards.
They're lacking explosiveness and overall production on the ground, which has led to C.J. Stroud and the passing game having to pick up some of that slack. In five games, Stroud has played about as well as you could hope considering the circumstances, but such a script against a team as talented as the Jaguars probably won't be cutting it.
Sure, the Texans certainly have shown improvement upfront and in their run game to offer some form of encouragement for this weekend. Yet there's little doubt that for that run game to be up to par, it all relies on Woody Marks to take care of his business.
Woody Marks Must Remain Efficient, Explosive
The two aspects that Marks must key in on to ensure a successful day in London is to stay efficient in his opportunities on the ground, as well as provide a much-needed sense of explosiveness.
We've seen in the past how Marks can be a potent, home-run hitter in both the running and the passing game. But those highlights have also come with several moments where his efficiency wasn't exactly up to par, or the offensive line couldn't do him any favors, and led to many days averaging 3.0 yards per carry or less.
This season, he's had two games with that type of performance––coming in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals (1.7 YPC) and Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts (3.0 YPC).
If Marks can efficiently handle what is expected to be a heavy workload against a defense like this, as well as offer the Texans a few chunk plays in the process, there's little doubt that the day will be a successful one for the Texans' second-year runner.
Houston has had several games already this season where their running game proved to be underwhelming, and thus snowballed into an even bigger calamity for the offense entirely. Marks helping Houston avoid that type of outcome in London would be a huge step to get win number two in the books.
However, when looking at the track record of how this Jaguars run defense has handled opposing running backs this season, Marks certainly has some big hurdles to overcome to make that big day become a reality.
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