Predicting the Final Score of Browns vs. Texans
By Connor Fulton
@ConnorFultonRS
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
In Week 11, the 4-5 Houston Texans pay a visit to one of the league’s hottest teams right now, the 6-3 Cleveland Browns. In most seasons, this November matchup of these often-lackluster teams wouldn’t be very important, but both the Texans and the Browns are in the thick of the AFC playoff picture.
Of course, a major storyline entering this game revolves is the debut of Ryan Mallet as starting quarterback of the Texans after the Ryan Fitzpatrick experiment fizzled out. Mallet will have an uphill battle facing the league’s best ball-hawking defense; the Browns lead the NFL with 13 interceptions. The Cleveland front seven is no joke either, so Mallet will have his hands full.
It wouldn’t be a Texans article if we didn’t talk about the best player in the league right now. J.J. Watt presents a major threat to the health of the Browns’ offense, but Cleveland fans can find comfort in the fact that the offensive line rebounded last week after struggling for the previous three weeks. Last Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Browns didn’t let anyone touch Brian Hoyer and snowplowed for 170 rushing yards.
The Browns proved to the NFL last week that their three-headed monster of a backfield is a force to be reckoned with — Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell and Ben Tate all reached the end zone against the Bengals. Look for the Browns to pound the ball against a mediocre Texans rush defense that has allowed 4.2 yards per carry this season.
Tate will get the scoring started in the first quarter, but a back-and-forth second quarter give the Browns a narrow 21-17 lead going into the half. A Tashaun Gipson pick-six and success on the ground will power the Browns in the final two quarters; Joe Haden’s first interception of the year will seal it for the streaking Browns, giving the team some more separation between their AFC North rivals.
Final score: Browns 31, Texans 20
Connor Fulton is an NFL writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ConnorFultonRS, or find him on Google.
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