Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans Football Picks & Betting Odds
Written October 10, 2008 by Jason Lowry
The Miami Dolphins have already won more games this season than they had all of last season with two wins, and they have done it against the Patriots and Chargers. The Dolphins (2-2) will look to make it 3 wins in a row this weekend, when they travel to Texas to take on the (0-4) Houston Texans. Even with the difference in records the oddsmakers are sticking with the home team, as the Texans com in 3 point favorites over the Dolphins at Bookmaker.com
It looks like the Dolphins are going to stick with using running back Ronnie Brown at quarterback throughout the game, as the Chargers had little success stopping it after it tore apart the Patriots defense the week before. Brown wound up with 125 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, and Chad Pennington was solid throwing the football completing 22/29 passes for 228 yards and a score. Receiver Greg Camarillo had his best game of the season, with 68 yards and a score, and it looks like he could wind up being Pennington’s go to guy as the season rolls on. If teams don’t figure out how to stop the Dolphins unusual attack, watch out for this team as it will continue to stay in ball games.
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The big story is the way the defense has been playing during this time, after giving up 31 points to Arizona the Dolphins have really turned it on allowing the Patriots to score just 13 points and the Charges just 10. It won’t matter how the offense plays if the defense continues to shut down the other team. They are doing it both ways as they are giving up just 165 yards through the air, and just 80 on the ground. Last week the held Phillip Rivers to just 159 yards on 13/28 passing, and completely shut down LT allowing him just 35 yards on the ground. The key this week will be stopping rookie running back Steve Slaton and star receiver Andre Johnson. Bet Dolphins +3 at Bookmaker.com
Man you have to feel for the Texans as they looked like they had their first win all locked up against the Colts last week, but wound up giving up 3 scores in the last 4 minutes to lose 31-27. With Matt Schaub out of action with an illness Sage Rosenfiels stepped in to lead the team at quarterback, and did a pretty good, minus the two huge fumbles he had in that 4 minute span. Schaub should be back in the starting lineup this weekend. The big part of the offense continues to come from rookie Steve Slaton who has taken over the majority of the carries. Last week Slaton ran for 93 yards on just 16 carries, and had two of the teams 3 touchdowns. The other came from star receiver Andre Johnson who had 9 catches for 131 yards. The offense has put up 27 points in back to back weeks, and we think they will give the Dolphins all they can handle this weekend.
While the Texans defense has struggled for the most part this season, as it has given up 30 or more points in every game, it really played well last week, and had the offense not turned it over they likely would have kept the Colts under 20. It looks like the key to stopping the Dolphins is stopping Brown, as his play of late has really got their offense moving in the right direction. The Texans are pretty solid against the run, but whether they can figure out a way to stop the plays where Brown lines up as quarterback, will likely go a long way in how this game turns out. Bet Texans -3 at Bookmaker.com
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