The Houston Texans will travel to State Farm Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on the Arizona Cardinals in a Week 7 matchup. The Texans are tied for last in the AFC South and are coming off a 31-3 road loss against the Indianapolis Colts.
Quarterback Davis Mills struggled as he went 29-of-43 for 243 yards with a pair of interceptions. The Cardinals are leading the NFC West with a perfect 6-0 record after going on the road and defeating the Cleveland Browns 37-14. Kyler Murray had a great game as he went 20-of-30 for 229 yards and four touchdowns.
D-Hopping Into Wins
The Arizona Cardinals love to throw the football and it makes sense when you have a wide receiver like DeAndre Hopkins. So far this season, he has 26 receptions for 367 yards (14.1 yards per catch) with six touchdowns.
In his last game against the Cleveland Browns, Hopkins finished with three receptions on four targets for 55 yards (18.3 yards per catch) and a pair of touchdowns. If he can continue to be this big of a force, it will do wonders for the Arizona offense.
The Arizona Cardinals have been an incredible defensive team this season as they are allowing 18.2 points per game. In their last game against the Cleveland Browns, they gave up 14 points on 290 total yards of offense (217 passing, 73 rushing).
They limited Cleveland from moving the football as the Browns went 3-of-10 on third down and 1-of-4 on fourth down attempts. This Cardinals defense also was able to win the turnover battle as they forced three turnovers (two fumble recoveries, one interception) throughout the game. If the Arizona Cardinals can continue to look this dominant defensively, there are not many things that can stop them.
Cooking Up Something
This Houston Texans offense is not that good but wide receiver Brandin Cooks is making the best of a bad situation. So far this season, he has 40 receptions for 481 yards (12 yards per catch) with a receiving touchdown.
Looking at his last game against the Indianapolis Colts, he had nine receptions on 13 targets for 89 yards (9.9 yards per catch) without finding the end zone. If he can find paydirt for the first time in a month, it will really help this struggling Texans offense.
The Houston Texans have been struggling to get stops this season as they are giving up 28.7 points per game this season. In their previous game against the Indianapolis Colts, they allowed 31 points on 388 total yards of offense (214 passing, 174 rushing).
They did a great job of forcing punts as the Colts finished 3-of-10 on third downs and converted their only fourth down attempt. The Texans need to improve defensively overall as Indianapolis gave up 8.1 yards per play. If they want to improve, they cannot allow this number of big plays against their defense.
Who to Bet
This is one of the larger lines this season and for good reason. If the Indianapolis Colts can put up 31 points against the Texans last week, what will the Arizona Cardinals do?
Kyler Murray should dominate but I just hope this doesn’t become a trap game as the Cardinals face the Packers next week. Give me a big game from D-Hop and Kyler Murray for the Cardinals to cover the spread against the worst offense in football.
The Pick: Arizona Cardinals