Texans vs. Bengals Predictions
By Josh McSwain
Week 16 will provide another crucial showdown for the Texans as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans could win the division this week, otherwise they will play for all the marbles in Nashville next week. Good news is that they will know if they can clinch or not when they play, as the Titans are in action early on Saturday while the Texans play the night cap. With no further adieu, here are our predictions for Houston tomorrow:
Josh McSwain, Editor
This is a tricky game for sure. Everything is going to be expected of Tom Savage in this game, and against a Bengals team that has not packed it in despite a down year, I think he may struggle.
The Bengals defense has regressed to 19th overall in yards and ranks 26th against the run. I imagine there will be a lot of eight man fronts to stop the running game, which will allow for DeAndre Hopkins to see a lot of one on one coverage against Dre Kirkpatrick and Adam Jones. There will be no Lamar Miller in this game, so we will see a lot more of Akeem Hunt, Alfred Blue and even Jonathan Grimes.
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However, the Bengals are going to be missing their two biggest weapons on offense too. A.J. Green is out with a hamstring injury and Tyler Eifert is out as expected. So this is probably going to be a low scoring game, determined by who can take better care of the football.
Another thing that is going in the Texans favor is the disappointment of the Bengals running game this season. Jeremy Hill looked poised to have a big year, but he has averaged just 3.9 yards per carry and the Bengals as a team only average four yards per carry, 21st in the league.
The Texans have more urgency being in a playoff race, but usually there’s a team with nothing to play for that plays spoiler for a contending team. This is a game the Texans cannot take lightly. But with all the injuries for the Bengals, I think the Texans escape with a 20-16 win.