The Chance to Prove Plenty Awaits the Texans on Monday Night Football

It's Worth Staying Up for Tonight

The Houston Texans will play one of the biggest regular season games of the past few seasons tonight. DeMeco Ryans has only coached two games that are anywhere as close to this one as a regular season game with this much on the line.

Both of those came in 2023. The Texans went on the road to Cincinnati and beat Joe Burrow and the Bengals. They ended the regular season that year locking up the division with a win against the Colts in Indianapolis.

This game in Seattle checks in right behind those two.

Why?

It presents an opportunity for the Texans to prove it.

Now, what is there to prove? Glad you asked.

The offense has an immense opportunity to validate what they have done the past two games. Offensive output against the lowly Tennessee Titans and a depleted Baltimore Ravens was nice to see. It might have even been necessary to show the offense had a baseline much better than how the season started.

Those teams, for lack of a better term, stink.

The Seahawks do not stink. This is one of the toughest defensive lines the offense will play all season. There are standout players in the secondary. The head coach, Mike Macdonald, called plays in Baltimore in 2023 when the Ravens gave C.J. Stroud fits. There is a lot working against the Texans, but if they can score on this defense, they can score on most defenses.

Within the hopeful offensive output is Nick Caley. Will he have enough counter punches for a defense of this caliber? Caley has a running back rotation to figure out. He needs to continue to get the ball to Nico Collins. He must gimmick together a second pass-catching option for the offense outside of Collins.

The offensive line will have to block well. The Texans settled in nicely with the blocking after a few weeks, but this is a whopping challenge. Among the linemen Aireontae Ersery needs to prove there is franchise tackle potential, Ed Ingram can prove his hot start is not a fluke, and Tytus Howard can prove he really is playing his best football.

It would be foolish to expect the offensive line handle everything. That is where Stroud’s opportunity comes in for the Texans. He might need to put on Superman’s cape and make it happen against a tough Seattle team. Plenty of quarterbacks who aren’t as impressive as Stroud, or are thought of slightly more than him, did it this weekend. He can do it.

The defensive side is a bit more simplistic. The Texans entered this week over three points per game better at defense than the next closest team. If you’re one of the league’s best go show it against a dangerous offense. Perhaps they can showcase a rarely used tool from their belt for it as well by having Derek Stingley Jr. travel with Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Getting even on the season for Houston, against this opponent, would prove they’re far from the team we all watched disappoint for three weeks and much closer to being a contender in the AFC than the first month let on.

One Player to Watch

Boye Mafe is a good defender for the Seattle Seahawks. He lit up the Jacksonville Jaguars last game out. He hasn’t recorded a sack yet, but he’s third on the Seahawks in quarterback pressures. He can use speed and power. He will be quite the challenge when he matches up with rookie tackle Aireontae Ersery.

One Matchup to Watch

Cooper Kupp from the slot against the assigned defender. Jalen Pitre has had some nice moments in coverage this season, but can he handle Kupp. Sure, it isn’t the usual Kupp but he is still good. The Texans could opt for a different defender, but Kupp and his slot defender are a huge matchup. Especially with the potential of Derek Stingley Jr. on Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

One Stat to Watch

Both teams struggle on third down. The Texans convert just 35% of their opportunities. Seattle is only slightly better at 37.3% on third down. The Texans have been bad about getting into third-and-hard-to-manage, which has doomed their offense. They’ve been better the past two weeks, but against bad defenses. Sam Darnold will get rid of the ball to avoid sacks and throw it short to open receivers to minimize his chances of mistakes. The Texans must rally to the ball and make sure tackles to force punts.

Score Prediction

The Houston Texans win 17-14. This shouldn’t be a shootout with these two defenses on the field. Houston’s defense should be able to give Darnold a tough time. The Seahawks will make things tough on C.J. Stroud and the offense, but I believe the Texans can get enough from Nico Collins against this secondary to put some points on the board. Hopefully this is a Woody Marks game. An even record after the tough start would be massive for the Texans.

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