Houston Texans: Week 10 offers challenge in Cleveland Browns
The Houston Texans can compete with the Cleveland Browns, but are Week 10 underdogs.
The Houston Texans’ Week 10 odds against the Cleveland Browns for their Week 10 AFC showdown give us much to look forward to with this game because the team has a chance to be competitive with Cleveland.
The Action Network has the Texans as +3.5 underdogs against Cleveland as the Browns will officially have their quarterback Baker Mayfield on the field this Sunday after a COVID-19 scare that had to await a negative test result.
Speaking of Mayfield, this game will feature not only Mayfield, but Houston Texans starter Deshaun Watson as well, making for an exciting matchup between two players the NFL will want as faces of their league for many years to come.
Mayfield this season has shown improvement over past seasons, and the Browns — who are coming off a bye week — are 5-3 this season, which is a vast improvement over past full seasons. In 2020, Mayfield has completed 61.4 percent of his passes (which is two percent better than all of last season) for 1,514 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Mayfield also has 65 yards rushing this season on 19 carries with no touchdowns, though five of his carries have gone for a first down.
The Browns, with Mayfield as their starting quarterback, will present a challenge for the Houston Texans defense, as most offenses have this season, to be honest. Cleveland will also have Nick Chubb returning, who at running back in four games this season has rushed for 335 yards on 35 carries with four touchdowns, plus he’s caught three passes for 17 yards. Chubb is also averaging 5.9 yards per carry, plus he’s averaging 83.8 yards rushing per game.
The Texans defense must stop the Mayfield and Chubb duo, or it will be a long day in Cleveland in their Week 10 game.
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Houston Texans News: On the other hand there is Deshaun Watson
As solid as the Cleveland Browns are with some of their top offensive players, the Houston Texans have a very good quarterback of their own with Deshaun Watson leading the way on offense. Watson is coming off another excellent game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as the Texans earned their second win of the season.
As poor as the team has played as an entire unit, Watson has been a bright spot for this franchise in 2020, as he has made every start this season, completing 68.3 percent of his passes, which is up compared to his career average of 67.1 percent. Watson has passed for 2,376 yards with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Watson also has 45 rushes this season for 197 yards rushing and one touchdown, which that pace is down from the seven rushing scores he achieved last season.
Watson is the better of the two quarterbacks in this game, but in overall consistency the Browns seem to be the better overall team this season. Both teams are still trying to find their identity, and both teams are third place in their division.
The difference is the Browns have three more wins than the Houston Texans, and Cleveland is in position to challenge to a playoff spot with the expansion of teams in the playoffs this season. Houston has a chance for the upset, but like always the offense has to be on point, plus the defense needs to be able to slow down the offense of the Browns.
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Cleveland isn’t unbeatable, but they do pose a challenge for Houston in Week 10. We’ll see if the Texans are able to push Cleveland to the brink, and maybe leave Ohio with a win.