Battle Red Blog
We’ve come to week two in the NFL season. The Houston Texans will be playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the bright lights of Monday Night Football. What kind of a game are we likely to see? The prognosticators have picked the Texans by a little less than a field goal. Let’s see what they are basing this on. As you saw last week, we start by looking at the top five players for each team based on Pro Football Focus. This time around, we have a week’s worth of numbers to base it on.
Additionally, we have the overall team rankings on offense and defense. Looking at both of those numbers can tell us how each team will attack the other on Monday night. Obviously, we don’t know how successful they will be. One game is not a lot to go on. That’s part of the fun of the early going. We have no idea what is a growing trend and what is simply a one off.
Clearly, the strength of the Bucs after week one is the defense. In particular, three of their top five players are in their secondary. That probably doesn’t mean good things for the Houston Texans’ passing game. Baker Mayfield was surprisingly lowly rated, but their passing game had better player grades than their running game. So, that off the bat should tell us something.
Like the Bucs, the strength of the Texans in week one was clearly their defense. Will Anderson is likely a defensive player of the year candidate and Danielle Hunter is a potential Hall of Famer in the making. They are clearly the strength of the defense. In the interim, it would seem like betting the under on a 42.5 over/under would seem to be a good bet.
The Bucs offense ranks 24th in total yards after week one. Believe it or not, that actually makes them one of the few offenses worse than the Texans after week one. They ranked 22nd in passing yards and 17th in rushing yards. So, I suppose the strength of their team could be in the running game, but it is hard to say at this point without knowing who the Atlanta Falcons are. Based purely on pedigree, it would seem logical to assume that the Bucs are more likely to attack the Texans through the air.
Derek Stingley and Kamari Lassiter did not fare well on Sunday according to PFF, but they don’t have to take on the same receiving core as the Los Angeles Rams. Mike Evans is a Hall of Fame wide receiver in waiting,...
