Two important keys the Houston Texans can use to beat 49ers

Houston Texans must silence Deebo Samuel for 60 minutes

With Lance in the game, there’s no doubt that he’s going to be looking towards Deebo Samuel to get the offense moving. Samuel has the most receiving yards of anyone on the team (even more than tight end George Kittle), but if there’s one certain area that Houston would need to eliminate today it’s Samuel’s usage in the run game.

As effective of a receiver that he is, Samuel has only gotten close to 100 yards or more twice in San Francisco’s last six games. They are 5-1 in that span without even throwing that much to Samuel. Where Samuel has changed games has been on the ground. During their five-game winning streak. Samuel rushed for six touchdowns.

Somehow Lovie Smith will have to find a way to limit Samuel’s touches on the ground for this reason alone. It seems that Samuel was in a funk during that win streak, only getting 12 receptions for 206 yards. There was also a three-game streak within said five games where Samuel only had one reception in each game.

Besides his breakout day against the Tenessee Titans (which is an outlier at this point) if the Houston Texans can stop Samuel on the ground then this game will trend towards the visitor’s odds of winning.