Week 9 of the NFL season gets underway with what many are suggesting could be something of a mismatch as the 1-5-1 Houston Texans host the 7-0 Philadelphia Eagles in the latest Thursday Night Football.
These two teams are in very different positions both in their season and in their time as a team but if sport was always as obvious as it looks on paper they wouldn’t play the game so all eyes will be on the Texans to see if they can pull off what would be quite some upset.
Houston Texans
The big problem that the Houston Texans have isn’t so much that they are playing the best team in football right now, it is that they aren’t really offering anything themselves that suggests their form could be about to change. Time is running out for Davis Mills at quarterback, although to be fair he hasn’t exactly been helped with the lack of options he has been given at wide receiver, options which are expected to be lessened with the absence of Brandin Cooks here.
Houston can’t seem to get anything going at home, which is never a good thing. They have lost 15 of their last 20 matches at their home stadium and are in a malaise that they can’t really seem to get out of. This is a team who in seven matches have scored just 116 points and in three of those matches they have been kept to 10 points or less. It is hard to see how that changes against one of the best defences in the game.
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Philadelphia Eagles
This is the second time in franchise history that the Philadelphia Eagles have started a season 7-0 but they have never gone on to make that 8-0. They will never get a better chance for that to change here against a Houston team who look to match up perfectly to them. The only negative for the Eagles is that they are on the road on a short week but you wouldn’t think they will need to change up too much to come out on top in this one.
They have arguably the leading candidate in the race for the MVP in Jalen Hurts, a Miles Sanders who could do some real damage here and a back field that is likely to be able to repel the few plays that do come in their direction. It might be that the biggest obstacle for the Eagles is their own history which they go chasing here, but they will know they have never lost to the Texans and they are strongly expected to maintain that record.
Betting
The Philadelphia Eagles are having to give up a couple of converted touchdowns in this match and while I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them cover that line, I’m acutely aware that this is a short week and they are going after something that their franchise has never done in their history. I still think they’ll cover but the line is just about high enough for me to leave it. I’ll head to the player prop markets for a bet on the game.
That comes in the form of the rushing yards for Eagles running back Miles Sanders, who you would imagine given the short week and the fact the Eagles are likely to be playing from in front, will see a lot of the ball throughout this game. Sanders will be going up against the second worst run defence in the league and although he isn’t the only one who could gash the Texans, we might only need 15 or so carries for him to cover a 73.5 rushing yards line. I expect him to go way beyond that.
Tips
Back M.Sanders – Over 73.5 rushing yards for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
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