The Houston Texans face off with the New York Jets in Houston this weekend, hoping to build off of their best win of the season thus far. Houston’s defense seems to be rounding into form at the right time culminating with the previously potent Bengals offense being held to 6 points. Andy Dalton looked lost at times, and when he was able to find his teammates, they were promptly brought down before they were able to get any significant yardage. The linebackers, arguably the most disappointing aspect of this team this team, might have been the biggest surprise. Bernadrick McKinney and Brian Cushing were all over the field throughout the game, and were actually able to defend both the running backs and tight ends with relative ease, something that was definitely not the case the first 8 games of the season.
The Jets lost at home last Thursday to the Buffalo Bills and Rex Ryan. They have now lost 3 of 4 following a 4-1 start to the season. New York loves to run the ball, and will feed the ball to Chris Ivory early and often in this game more than likely. If they are able to get Ivory going, then play action will be much more effective and will also help an injured Ryan Fitzpatrick get into a rhythm against a newly confident Texans’ defense.
Keys to the game:
1. Texans need to avoid being completely one dimensional. Some sort of running game has to be established against the Jets’ solid defense. Becoming a pass only offense increases the risk of guys like Darrelle Revis taking over the game because they can expect what is coming, and anticipate throws better than usual. This will especially be important with T.J. Yates at quarterback. Yates loves to thrown to Deandre Hopkins, and a running game only makes it easier for Yates to find his favorite target as it can help keep the defense on its toes.
2. Turnovers. This game more than likely will come down to which team makes the least amount of mistakes. This appears to be a game that will be very low scoring, so every possession and possible scoring drive is very important.
3. Field Position. Pinning the opponent deep could very well end up being the difference in this game as well. Having to deal with long fields could prove impossible to overcome for either team.
This could end up being one of the more boring games of the weekend unless you enjoy low scoring defensive battles.
Texans 13- Jets 10.