The Houston Texans aren’t the favorites by the oddsmakers in Week 6, but are close to Titans.
Does it feel like some momentum is finally going the way of the Houston Texans? This weekend will be their sixth game of the 2020 season, they are coming off their first win of the season, and with the Tennessee Titans next, what are the oddsmakers saying?
According to The Action Network, the Houston Texans are +3.5 underdogs in the game against the undefeated 4-0 Titans, who are coming off a win on Tuesday against the Buffalo Bills. For the Texans to the underdogs by fewer than four points against an undefeated Titans team is interesting, to say the least.
Just how good are the Titans, and will they be rested enough coming off a Tuesday night game? How will the Houston Texans respond to a win after the newness of their coaching situation has began to just be the normal feeling?
There is also the fact that inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney is out for the rest of the 2020 season following shoulder surgery this week, so now with 11 games left in the season including this Sunday, which players on the roster are going to step up on a consistent basis for the remainder of the season?
Houston Texans News: Can they stop Derrick Henry in Week 6?
This will be the test to see how much the defense of the Houston Texans has improved in the past couple weeks because this season the run defense hasn’t been much to brag about. Now the Houston Texans defense will be facing Derrick Henry, and he’s going to be a monster to stop from what we all have seen from the Texans defense this season.
In four games this season, Henry has 101 rushes for 376 yards and four touchdowns. He’s averaging 3.7 yards per carry, which is way off from his 5.1 yards per carry average from last season. The problem with Henry for the Texans is he’s such a powerful runner, he can wear down a defense because he’s no stranger to 25 or more carries per game.
Henry is averaging 94 yards per game rushing, and the stat to watch this season is he’s broken eight tackles in four games, while in 2019 his total was 29. Henry is also averaging 2.0 yards after contact per rush, which isn’t as high as his 3.2 number from last season as well. The thing about Henry is he’s now facing a Texans team that struggles at stopping the run game.
Opponents are averaging 346 yards per game on offense vs. the Houston Texans this season and 169 yards per game rushing, a 4.7 yards per rush average through the first five games.
This is another winnable game if the defense of the Houston Texans is able to just slow down the opponent at hand, but there is a big difference between the team they beat last week (Jaguars) and the team they are facing on Sunday.