Houston Texans: top three most challenging road games on 2023 schedule
By Brett Hawn
Week 10 @ Cincinnati Bengals
As previously mentioned in the opening paragraph, taking on the AFC runner-up in a road contest will be far from easy. On paper, the Cincinnati Bengals have shown no signs of decline.
The biggest shakeup for this Bengals team is in the secondary. With the loss of both starting safeties in Vonn Bell (Carolina Panthers) and Jessie Bates (Atlanta Falcons), it is unknown how the new starters in the back end will perform compared to their predecessors.
On offense, this Bengals team is as potent as ever. Offensive weapons Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Tee Higgins, and Joe Mixon still present defenses with an intimidating set of skill players that need a meticulous game plan to overcome. The team also secured improvement along the offensive line with the addition of tackle Orlando Brown Jr.
For the Houston Texans, this contest will be a testament to their cohesiveness as a unit. A complete performance is a must for the Texans to sneak in an upset on the road. Applying early pressure and forcing a Bengals team into sticky situations that they usually don’t find themselves in are keys to squeezing out a tough victory.
On paper, this contest appears to be one-sided toward the Bengals, but don’t count the Texans out just yet. By this point, we will have a nine-week trial to see what these Texans are really made of and if they can improve on finishing tight contests, this may be a better game than most anticipate it to be.