Texans Looking For Fifth Straight Victory
Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans look to make it five wins in a row as they host the visiting Miami Dolphins at NRG Stadium on Thursday night.
The Miami Dolphins are ailing at key positions such as quarterback, but have surprisingly seen stellar play at that position.
J.J. Watt — who is tied for second in the NFL with seven sacks — and the Houston Texans defense is causing havoc and look to make the Fish their latest prey.
The Texans are leading the AFC South race and look to extend what is tied for the third longest winning streak in the NFL right now.
Before then, we’ll take a look at the headlines heading into this AFC primetime battle.
Let’s take a look.
With The Hits Mounting On Watson, Texans Have Much To Worry About
The Houston Texans did something in Week 7 that they haven’t been able to do in quite some time: Run the football.
The Texans pounded out 167 rushing yards on 34 rushing attempts in a 20-7 Week 7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Still, there’s a problem for the Texans that’s hard to ignore and that’s the amount of punishment Deshaun Watson has taken in just seven games this season.
Deshaun Watson has been sacked 26 times this season, the most of any quarterback in the NFL and he seems to be hurried or hit on close to half of his dropbacks. That’s not a good sign for Houston, who desperately needed to be able to protect their quarterback coming off an ACL injury.
Unless Deshaun Watson is made out of iron, the likelihood he’ll be able to continue to take this type of licking for the rest of the season seems unlikely.
Thursday night would appear to be a bruise-less night on the surface as Miami is 29th in the NFL in sacks.
If it’s not, and Watson and the Texans offense falters once again because of the porous offensive line, prepare for the Texans to try to make a trade before next Wednesday’s trade deadline (I mean, they should be doing that regardless).
Old Friend Brock Osweiler Returns To Houston
Texans fans still want to know what in the blue hell the Texans front office was thinking when they gave Brock Osweiler a four-year/$74 million contract back in the 2014 offseason.
After a disastrous partnership that ended after just one season, there are Houston Texans looking to embarrass Osweiler, who is starting for the third consecutive week in place of Ryan Tannehill.
For what it’s worth, Brock Osweiler is coming off two solid performances in a row as he’s thrown for 619 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 67 percent of his passes.
The key to the game for the Dolphins will be establishing a respectable rushing attack vs a Texans defense allowing the second fewest rushing yards per carry at 3.4.
With wide receiver Albert Wilson placed on IR this week and Kenny Stills out with a groin injury, it’ll be tough having much of any success vs Houston’s pass defense if they are one dimensional.
Miami has had success when they run the ball as they have been fairly balanced as an offense. Look for Adam Gase to not try to expose his backup quarterback early vs a Texans defense that has 19 sacks this season.
A Product Of Poor Competition?
The Houston Texans are 4-0 over their past four games, but if you’ve been paying attention to their schedule you’ll find their opponents to track records as well as win-loss records to be underwhelming.
The combined record of the teams the Texans have defeated this season is 10-18 with a +/- differential of -103.
The Miami Dolphins are 4-3, but over the course of the last four weeks they are 1-3 with their lone win being a 31-28 overtime win over the and currently have a +/- differential of -26.
All signs would point to Houston walking away with a relatively decisive victory on Thursday night. One has to question, though, just how good the Texans are not only on offense but on defense as well.
What are your thoughts on Thursday’s primetime tilt in Houston? Leave your comments below!