The Houston Texans look to rebound in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Things will not be any easier for the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon as they’ll be hosting the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2, coming off a tough loss in the season opener. The Texans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs last week as the Houston roster is still learning to play as a whole unit, while teams like the Chiefs and now the Ravens are close to the same roster as the previous season.
Excuses aside, the Houston Texans are hosting their first home game of the 2020 season against a team in the Ravens who dominated them from start to finish in the regular season a year ago. Last season the Ravens handed the Texans a loss by a 41-7 score, and in their history against each other it is Baltimore who leads the all-time series at 3-2, with the Houston Texans last defeating the Ravens in 2014.
Baltimore has won the past two meetings between the two AFC franchises, both of which were division champions a season ago, and which have two of the top tier quarterbacks in all of pro football with the Texans having Deshaun Watson and the Ravens having reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson.
Those two will bring the excitement for sure, but the rushing game is what also should draw attention with the Ravens having veteran Mark Ingram and rookie J.K. Dobbins, while the Texans have the duo of David Johnson and Duke Johnson. Last week against the Chiefs, David Johnson gave us a glimpse of what he can achieve this season, and Dobbins against the Cleveland Browns showed he’s a goal line threat for sure.
Now as the two teams move closer to the weekend and their Sunday late afternoon game, the Texans might not be the favorites, and the Ravens might be a tier overall higher than the Houston Texans as a team, but there is much for the Texans to play for.
The Texans need to show they can compete at a high level against the best of the best in the league and just not be a team that could have potential. This game will be tough, there is no doubt about that, and the Texans are predicted to fall to 0-2, so who knows what to expect from this game?
All of that said, the Texans have an opportunity to prove many doubters wrong in this game. Just like the predictions last week, the Houston Texans are going to have to play a near-perfect game to defeat the Ravens on Sunday. Here are three predictions for the Houston Texans against the Ravens.
3. Houston Texans score 28 points on offense
This isn’t counting any points the defense could score during the game, but the offense of the Houston Texans should play a smoother game than they did in the season opener for the simple reason they finally had time to see what they could accomplish, but they’ll have to have more time on the field to do so.
Last week the Texans had a total of 25:13 ,which isn’t much time to get into a groove of being an NFL offense. The Texans will need to be on the field much more this Sunday, but they are also going to have to play a better overall game when they are actually on the field too.
The Texans have the potential to be a solid offense, and the prediction to get to 28 points on Sunday is feed the ball more to David Johnson as he had a nice first outing with the Texans by finishing with 11 carries for 77 yards and one touchdown. Johnson will need to have more than 11 carries for the Texans to win this game, but there is more that will be needed from the offense as well.
Houston’s offensive line play needs to play a smoother game too, because they are going to have to keep the Ravens’ pass rush off Deshaun Watson to realistically have a chance in this game. Also offensively Jordan Akins needs to have more targets as a tight end, and a better role in the offense in Week 2.
Akins is a very important part of the offense, so his playing time needs to increase, and his targets must be more in Week 2 than the two targets he had in the season opener. If the above things happen for the Texans offense, they will stay on the field longer, keep Lamar Jackson off the field longer, and score more points than they did last Thursday night. All of that is also easier said than done.
2. Jacob Martin sees more increase in playing time
Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien needs to have Jacob Martin involved with the defense even more than usual in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens, as he’ll be able to provide a pass rush as a linebacker on this unit.
Just last week against Kansas City, Martin recorded a sack and provided the defense with some much-needed intensity when he was in the game. That was the issue for the Texans as Martin only played in 29 percent of the defensive snaps (18 total plays). He also had a QB hit and a tackle for loss, so even though the playing time percentage was up from his overall average from last season, Martin has earned more playing time in Week 2.
The bold prediction here for Week 2 is that Martin will play in at least 35 percent of the Houston Texans defensive snaps against the Ravens, which will be a significant increase to not only his playing time, but to the overall quality of the Houston defense.
1. Tytus Howard will improve play in Week 2 against Ravens
The play in the return of Tytus Howard will be much improved in Week 2 as he received a grade of 68.4 in Week 1 against the Chiefs. The start of the 2020 season wasn’t just the return for 2020, but remember Howard missed half of the 2019 season with a knee injury, resulting in him missing many important games during what was his rookie season.
Losing that amount of time in a season is tough for any player, but to lose half of a rookie season really stings, so for Howard he not only faced a tough Chiefs team, but he hadn’t played since mid-2019.
Howard had one penalty last Thursday, but didn’t allow a quarterback sack, either. Last season Howard didn’t play after Nov. 21 and was still a member of the All-Rookie team. Now in his second year, and this will be his second time facing the Ravens, expect more from Howard in Week 2 as he becomes more comfortable in his role at right tackle.
The prediction for Week 2 is Howard won’t give up much pressure to the Ravens, not allow a sack and his run blocking will be better, and this won’t be easy because the Ravens offense is one of the very best in the league.
Any way you look at it, the Texans will have to play much better than last week to compete in this game. That is easy for a spectator to say, but that is the fact for Houston entering Week 2, or this could become a repeat of last season.