Houston Texans News: The Ravens might be even tougher
The opening stretch of the season sees the Texans follow facing the Chiefs with a home game against the Baltimore Ravens, and with nearly their entire team back from last season, they will face the Texans for a second straight year.
Houston can’t afford to play like they did against Baltimore like they did from the second quarter on last season, because the Texans that day were dominated by the Ravens, and Baltimore showed on that day whey they were the better team.
This year the Texans don’t have DeAndre Hopkins or Carlos Hyde on offense, and D.J. Reader is no longer on the defense. Replacing them are Brandin Cooks, David Johnson and rookie Ross Blacklock, so time will tell how well the Texans can compete against Lamar Jackson.
Last year Jackson — who was the NFL MVP — on that Nov. 17, 2019 day showed why he was going to eventually win the MVP award, totaling 222 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions on a day where he was 17-of-24 passing and sacked zero times. Jackson also ran 10 times for 79 yards, including one run of 39 yards.
If the Texans even want to think about the upset win this year, they must stop Jackson, then worry about the rest of their stellar offense and defense in this second game of the season.