Texans vs Ravens: Final Score Prediction and Thoughts
A Christmas Day Matchup on a Short and Tough Week for the Texans
First, a Merry Christmas to you and yours. Happy Holidays. Thank you for the support of Houston Football this year. It is a gift that I get to talk about this team and cover it for you.
The game today is on Netflix, which should be an interesting broadcasting experience. It will also be broadcast locally in Houston on CBS if you don’t have Netflix. Enjoy it and be on the lookout for the observations this evening after the game.
The Houston Texans had a tough week. They came up short against the Kansas City Chiefs in a loss that cost them beyond just their record.
Wide receiver Tank Dell is done for the season and the more news that comes out about his injury the worse the prognosis gets. He has a long road to recovery with the dislocated knee and multiple ligament issues.
Houston was awarded former Baltimore Ravens wideout Diontae Johnson on waivers Monday. He can get into the building and prepare for the season finale to hopefully help when the playoffs arrive. While he struggled in Baltimore, Johnson was productive at the start of the season in Carolina amassing over 350 yards and three touchdowns.
The offense needs to find ways to use him, especially if the production abilities of Robert Woods, John Metchie, and Xavier Hutchinson match what they usually produce.
Replacing Jimmie Ward is nearly impossible. There is no good plan for replacing Ward who replaced an injured Jalen Pitre. The slot cornerback spot is a key element to the way DeMeco Ryans likes to play defense.
Rookie Kamari Lassiter can bump to the inside spot playing Jeff Okudah on the field as an outside cornerback. Okudah has been hard to trust for the defense.
I imagine the holidays helped morale, even though they weren’t as traditional as many would’ve hoped with a Christmas game today plopped in the middle of the typical celebrations.
A quick game to focus on and play also likely keeps the minds of the players off their fallen teammates and allows them an opportunity to focus.
If the Texans choose to see how this game goes and then throttle down based on the situation, I would understand it. The playoffs are more important than today’s Christmas game. If they are close to winning and want to pull the upset I certainly would get that too. Football players want to play and they want to win.
A loss helps create a path for the Ravens to win the AFC North and likely send the Pittsburgh Steelers tumbling to the fifth spot in the AFC playoff picture. That’s not the worst thing in the world.
The Texans need to leave this one as healthy as possible and set in motion a plan that maximizes their opportunity in the playoffs in January.
Score Prediction
The Ravens will win 34-14. This game has much more meaning for Baltimore than for the Texans. The Ravens need this one to win the AFC North. The Texans have clinched a playoff spot and must be rested and healthy for their guaranteed home playoff game. I’d expect less than full workloads from some key players in this game on a short week. I expect the absence of Jimmie Ward will be tough to overcome in a short week. An upset win by the Texans would create some good feelings as the end of the season is in sight, but it would also mean Baltimore’s return in a couple of weeks.
I went into some of the potential outcomes of Diontae Johnson in Houston. Enjoy the video as well as a food review of the new Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup.
If Johnson is "legally" ours.......I say suit his ass up and have him run a few pre-determined and simple routes to let CJ get used to his game speed on routes and build some confidence in his ability to catch his passes.....Game speed and practice speed are WAY different so the more game speed reps he can get with CJ the better.
As for playing Lassiter at nickel and Okudah at corner????......SCREW THAT!!!!!......You already know how I feel about that........WORK UP Jamal Hill at nickel over the next two games and keep Lassiter where he belongs.....on the corner.
Giving Hill some full speed game reps and practice reps over the next couple of weeks will show us if he will sink or swim at the position prior to the playoffs......We already know Okudah can't swim at corner......and Lassiter will probably struggle at nickel......but he can definately swim at corner.....We are missing a nickel.....Why screw up a nickel AND a corner?????
I fully expect this to be a bit of a blowout so what is wrong with doing a little experimenting???? You're gonna get your ass kicked anyway.
Looking for a Christmas miracle........but I'm not holding my breath.
GO TEXANS!!!!
Merry Christmas, Cody and to all! With the injuries that popped up Saturday, it will be a victory in my eyes, win or lose, if the team can come out unscathed in this match-up.