Houston Texans: AFC South entering Week 10 still a 2-team race

The Houston Texans are still far back in the AFC South after winning in Week 9.

The Houston Texans continue to stay in third place in the AFC South standings and most likely that is where they will stay for the foreseeable future, and by the time the regular season ends. This weekend the Texans will be facing the Cleveland Browns, a team that is having issues of their own with COVID-19 tests, just as the Texans had last Sunday when it come to three linebackers.

Not only will the Houston Texans (2-6) be facing the Browns (5-3) — who are without Odell Beckham Jr. due to injury, and quarterback Baker Mayfield could play this Sunday depending on COVID-19 test results — but the Texans are looking to win their second consecutive game, a feat they haven’t achieved all season.

Even without Beckham, the Texans secondary will most likely struggle again, just like they have all season long when they face the Browns on Sunday. The secondary of the Texans is one of the worst in franchise history this season, and they almost lost the lead in Week 9 against the Jaguars as Jacksonville had a late touchdown.

The Houston Texans defense is allowing 257.4 passing yards per game, and 159.5 rushing yards per game, so Cleveland’s offense with their running backs of Nick Chubb (who is returning from a knee injury) and Kareem Hunt could have really good numbers against the Houston defense.

All of that said, the Houston Texans have a steep hill to climb for the remainder of the season because in their first eight games they haven’t been a consistent team, plus they haven’t shown they can beat anyone other than the Jaguars.

Houston Texans: Top 2 AFC South teams will be on Thursday Night Football

As for the rest of the AFC South other than the Houston Texans, the spotlight needs to be on the Top 2 teams in the division facing each other on Thursday Night Football in front of a national audience as the Tennessee Titans (6-2) host the Indianapolis Colts (5-3) with first place on the line.

What will be exciting about this game will be seeing Titans running back Derrick Henry against a Colts defense that is ranked first in the NFL, so something will have to give in this game. Henry this season has 182 carries for 843 yards in eight games, averaging 4.6 yards per carry to go with his eight rushing touchdowns. Henry also has 10 receptions in 2020 for 81 yards but has yet to record a receiving touchdown this season.

The Colts are first in the league in the least amount of total yards allowed per game at 290, and third in the league in rushing yards allowed per game at 83.6. The Colts have only allowed 669 yards rushing this season in eight games so the battle between the rush defense of the Colts and the rushing offense of the Titans will make this game very watchable.

Also for the AFC South the last place Jacksonville Jaguars (1-7) will be at the Green Bay Packers (6-2), so yeah that won’t be much fun for Jacksonville fans or their players. The Jaguars have lost every game played since Week 1, so don’t expect anything different this weekend as they face the leaders of the NFC North in Week 10.

So the best AFC South game of the week will be on Thursday night, and if the Titans win they will have a two-game lead with seven games left on the schedule.