Houston Texans vs Washington Redskins

Washington traveled to Tampa Bay missing three starting offensive linemen and a starting receiver, allowed the Buccaneers to rack up more than 500 yards of offense, only scored 16 points, and still managed to win and cover to improve to 6-3 overall and 6-3 against the spread. The Redskins now possess a two-game lead in the NFC East.

Houston is coming off its bye a winner of six straight with three consecutive covers as favorite. The Texans are 6-3 overall and 4-5 ATS, but have covered five straight coming out of a bye.

The Texans opened as 3-point road favorites before some Washington lobbyists pushed the line to Houston -2.5. The Redskins moneyline is +120 and the point total is 43. It’s the third time the Texans have been tagged road favorites this season, but only the fourth time since 2015. They are 2-1 against the spread in those previous contests. The Deshaun Watson effect is in full effect.

• The Texans are 6-0 SU in their last six games (avg. winning margin: 7.83).
• The Redskins are 4-11 SU in their last 15 games after a win.
• The total has gone UNDER in six of the Redskins’ last eight games at home (avg. combined score: 38.75).

Texans vs Redskins Game Center

WHAT WE LEARNED: WEEK 10

Texans – It’s truly a game of inches. If Denver’s Brandon McManus connects on a 51-yard game-winning field goal as time expires two weeks ago, the Texans would have entered their Week 10 bye 5-4 and would share the same record as the Tennessee Titans heading into Week 11. Instead, McManus’ miss extended the Texans’ win streak and kept them a game up on their division rival.

Trade deadline acquisition Demaryius Thomas made his presence felt in his Texans debut by hauling in three receptions for 61 yards against his former team. With another week of practice, Deshaun Watson now has DeAndre Hopkins and Thomas as his top two targets.

Houston’s secondary could get a much-needed lift as Jonathan Joseph and Aaron Colvin are expected to return against the Redskins. Keep tabs on the injury report updates.

Redskins – Alex Smith passed for 178 yards and one touchdown against a defense allowing 292 pass yards per game and that has yielded 23 passing touchdowns with only one (1!!) interception all season. Smith has now passed for exactly 178 yards in three of his past four games.

After Tampa Bay went 0-5 in the red zone last Sunday, the Redskins’ opponent red-zone scoring percentage (TD only) dipped to 50 percent on the year, which ranks seventh-best overall.

NEXT LEVEL TRENDS: 500-YARD CLUB

A week after allowing 491 total yards to the Falcons, Washington’s defense allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to pass for over 400 yards and the Buccaneers rushed for over 100 more. The primary difference between Atlanta’s 38 points and Tampa Bay’s three was the Buccaneers’ red-zone goose egg.

The Redskins can’t keep playing with this fire. Since 2013, teams that allow 500 or more yards in a game are 28-87-2 straight up and 35-80-2 against the spread.

NEXT LEVEL TRENDS: LUCKY No. 7?

Houston’s in search of its seventh straight win. Since 2015, teams that have won six straight are 52-21 straight up, but just 36-35-1 against the spread in their following game.

LANDOVER, MARYLAND FORECAST

Partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 40s and 20 percent chance of rain. The wind shouldn’t impact the game.

As far as 2018 kickers go, Washington’s Dustin Hopkins has been one of the more reliable boots. He’s connected on 17 of 19 field-goal attempts and all 17 extra-point tries. Although Houston’s Ka’imi Fairbairn missed his first extra point of the season in Week 9 at Denver, he hasn’t missed a field goal in over a month, connecting on 19 of 22 this season.

MY LEAN

Washington’s best chance at winning games the rest of the season is to run the ball and play elite defense. Well, their offensive line is a mess, Adrian Peterson is about to face a stout rush defense that allows just 3.6 yards per rush and Josh Norman can’t cover both Hopkins and Thomas. Plus, Ryan Fitzpatrick lit this secondary up for 400 yards.

Texans cover on the road.