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Texans at Broncos Spread

The Houston Texans head to Denver to take on the Broncos Sunday December 26^th; game time is 4:05 PM ET on CBS. The teams have met twice before and split the series. The last time was in 2007 which Houston took 31-13.

Our odds show the Texans as 3-point road favorites at Denver while the total in the game is set at 48.5 points.

Houston took a bit of an embarrassing loss last week from the Titans, 31-17. Tennessee finally managed to end its second half skid, which stood at six straight losses and actually kept their playoff hopes alive for one more week. The Titans mounted an impressive 24-3 half time lead before things settled down, but the Texans never made a serious threat – scoring a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters. Matt Schaub watched a strong performance go to waste, finishing with 325 yards on 35 completions with two touchdowns. Kerry Collins wasn’t perfect and didn’t need to be to end the Titans skid; he finished with 237 yards on 14 completions and two touchdowns of his own, embarrassing the Texans secondary. The Titans had less first downs, total plays, passing yards, and time of possession but RB Chris Johnson led the charge with 130 yards on 24 carries, as the Tennessee defense held out for the win.

The loss was a heart breaker for Houston who had shutout Tennessee 20-0 just a month ago to end its four-game losing streak. With last week’s loss, they have dropped three straight and six of their last seven. Such is football, and the mighty can fall. Houston has a strong offense, which is 5^th overall in passing (255.8) behind the gamer Schaub who has 2,807 yards and 22 touchdowns.

Arian Foster leads a 10^th ranked rush attack (121.9) with 1,345 yards on 277 carries and 13 touchdowns. The defense does a good job of limiting the run as it is ranked 9^th (101.9), but plays small against the pass, as opponents have thrown right over their heads all year and the Texans rank dead last in opponent passing yards (275.1).

Over in the Black Hole, Denver lost to Oakland last week 39-23. The game was meaningless to the Broncos since they have long been eliminated from postseason contention, but Oakland was playing for a playoff spot. The Broncos hung in for the first half of play, but Raiders would rally in the fourth for 16 points to break the game open and secure a win. Rookie QB Tim Tebow finished with a touchdown on eight completions in his first ever NFL start as Denver was out gained 502-235 yards.

The Donkeys has now dropped to 3-11 for the season with a weak defense much to blame, as opponents have passed for 227.6 a game (22^nd) and rushed for 158.4 (31^st). That lack of defense always digs a whole the offense can’t climb out of. Kyle Orton has provided a capable presence at QB with 20 touchdowns, and if he returns before seasons end has a good chance of breaking 4,000 yards for the year his next time out.

He also completes three-quarters of his passes, but lacks the crew to make things happen. The team is 29^th in rushing yards finding only 90.9 per game on the ground. When they do run, opponents know that Knowshon Moreno has the ball and he has been limited to five touchdowns on 719 yards.

Matt’s Free Prediction: Denver – Houston should be able to win this one, but considering that Arian Foster didn’t finish the game against Tennessee saying he had a muscle spasm, his recent rash of injuries makes one wonder if he has given up just like the rest of the Texans. This is a match up of bottom feeders, but at least Denver comes to play and can win this one. My call goes to Denver but its close.