Browns Texans Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Houston Texans will go for their third straight win this Sunday when they host the Cleveland Browns. The Texans put together another dominant defensive effort in a 24-14 win over Jacksonville this past weekend, improving to 3-0 inside the AFC South. The Browns offensive struggles continued in a 10-20 loss at San Francisco. Cleveland is just 1-3 over their last four games, dropping them to 3-4 on the season.

Taking a look at the week 9 NFL spreads, oddsmakers currently have Houston favored by 11-points over Cleveland with the total sitting at 41 points.

Cleveland Browns:

The Browns have managed to score just 46 points combined in their last four games, and are averaging just 15.3 points a game in 2011. The Browns biggest problem has been putting together a successful ground game. Starting running back Peyton Hillis has played in just four games this season. He hasn’t played since week 6 against the Raiders, and there’s a good chance his injured hamstring will keep him out of action again this week. With backup Montario Hardesty out with an injured calf, Cleveland will start Chris Ogbonnaya if Hillis isn’t able to go.

With the running game in bad shape Cleveland is going to need a big game out of Colt McCoy and the passing attack. McCoy threw for 241 yards and a touchdown in the loss to San Francisco last week, his best performance since throwing for 350 yards back in week 4 against the Titans. McCoy’s lone touchdown came on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Cribbs in the final period of play. It was the first offensive touchdown the Browns had scored in eight quarters.

Unfortunately for the Browns they go up against a Houston defense that has completely turned thins around from a season ago. Houston ranked 30th in the NFL in yards allowed in 2010 (376.9), but come into this game 5th against the pass (189.5 ypg) and 6th against the run (97.4). The Texans have more than 14 points only three times this season, and are coming off back-to-back games where they didn’t allow Tennessee or Jacksonville more than 200 yards of offense.

Houston Texans:

The Texans have really responded well from a couple of tough losses to Oakland and Baltimore in weeks 5 and 6. They completely dominated Tennessee 41-7 on the road and looked sharp in a 24-14 win over a confident Jacksonville team that just upset Baltimore on Monday Night Football. At 5-3 and 3-0 in the division Houston has complete control of making the postseason for the first time in franchise history. The thing is, this team has got off to great starts before but have struggled down the stretch.

The most impressive thing about the Texans recent surge is they have managed to win these games without star wide Andre Johnson, who hasn’t played since hurting his knee in a 17-10 win over Pittsburgh in week 4. With Johnson unable to play, Houston has relied heavily on the running game that ranks 4th in the league at 141.9 yards per game. Arian Foster and Ben Tate have formed quite the combo out of the backfield. Over the last two games Foster has accounted for 358 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns, while Tate has helped out with 146 yards on the ground.

Matt Schaub and the passing game aren’t having to do a whole lot, but they have still been effective when called upon. In the four games without Johnson, Schaub has thrown for at least 220 yards in each game with six touchdowns to just two interceptions. Johnson is listed as questionable for this week’s game, but there is no need to rush him back with the way they have been playing.

The Texans don’t figure to do a whole lot of passing against a Browns secondary that ranks 2nd in the NFL giving up just 171.9 ypg. However, they should have a lot of success running the ball against a Cleveland defense that is giving up 127.3 ypg on the ground.

Betting Trends:

Cleveland is 0-5 ATS vs. a team with a winning record.

Houston is 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home favorite.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in the NFL.

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