Silver And Black Pride
With their two final opponents already eliminated from the playoffs, Week 16 will be the Las Vegas Raiders’ final opportunity to play spoiler this season. The Houston Texans are locked into tight battles for the AFC South title and the conference’s final wild card spot, trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars by one game and holding a one-game advantage over the Indianapolis Colts.
To preview the contest for Raider Nation, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends at Battle Red Blog, and Scott Barzilla was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Texans.
Q: The Texans started the season slowly, losing the first three games of the year. However, they enter the weekend on a six-game winning streak. What’s been the difference between the first half of the season and the second half?
A: The biggest difference has been on the offensive end. Even in the first three games, the defense held their opponent to under 20 points in all three games. That streak has obviously continued throughout the season. So, the key to winning is for the offense to find a way to 20 points, and they have done that throughout the streak. The 20 points given up to the Cardinals were the second-most points given up during the streak. Don’t let the 40 points from last week fool you. This is still a defense-first team, and that will be the key again on Sunday.
Q: On a similar note, it feels like CJ Stroud has been up and down since his rookie season, from an outside perspective. What’s been the difference between Stroud’s strong performances and when he struggles?
A: I think the easy answer is the offensive line, but I think it runs a lot deeper than that. The bigger key is that the kind of offense they want to run is not the kind of offense they ran in year one or that he ran in college. He is growing within the new offense, and you can see individual games where it looks better than it did before.
When you look at their schedule this year, you can see how the level of defense they played dictates how well they perform. When they have played top ten defenses, they usually end up struggling, and that is particularly true when those defenses have strong pass rushes. They succeed against weaker defenses. That seems overly simplistic, but for those on the outside looking in, it can look like he is wildly inconsistent.
Q: Houston’s defense has arguably the best edge-rush duo in the NFL with Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. How do those two complement each other? Do you have any suggestions for slowing them down?
A: They are very similar in that they have relentless motors, so they are never out of a play. Anderson in particular, has grown a lot in his third year, so he is able to win at the line of scrimmage in a variety of ways. I think Hunter...
