The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off Week 16 of the NFL season when they host the Houston Texans on Saturday.
The Texans can clinch the AFC South with a win, while the Bucs can push their season-long winning-streak to five. Tampa Bay will have to attempt to do so without their top two receivers as both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have been shut down with hamstring injuries.
While this game certainly means more for the Texans, the Bucs are that team you don’t want to face in December. We talked with Mark Lane of Texans Wire to get a better idea of what to expect from this Houston team.
Houston can win the AFC South with a win. What would you say the level of urgency is for the Texans heading into Saturday?
Very motivated and very urgent. The Texans would rather get the AFC South locked up and not have to face the Tennessee Titans in a win-and-get-in game in Week 17. Houston’s destiny is in their own hands. There’s a recency bias because they dropped a 38-24 home game to the Denver Broncos and rookie quarterback Drew Lock, trailing by as many as 31-3 at halftime, but they didn’t really have much to play for compared to Week 16. In that game, a win wasn’t going to help their bid to secure a first-round bye. There was nothing to clinch. When the game started to get out of hand, they kind of packed it in. Houston is going to be too motivated to let another blowout happen again at this stage in the season.
The Bucs will be without their top two receivers. How confident should the Texans secondary feel about slowing down Jameis Winston?
Very confident. The Texans’ secondary has a bevy of top flight cornerbacks in Johnathan Joseph, Bradley Roby, Gareon Conley, and Vernon Hargreaves. Now, the term “top flight” here means that they are either Pro Bowlers (Joseph) or first-round picks. It’s a lot easier to cobble together solutions working with blue chip talent such as that compared to the usual cornerback group. Safety Justin Reid has been an excellent leader on the back end in his second pro season, and safety Tashaun Gipson can guard any tight end in the game. The Texans’ coverage has been their strength on pass defense this year as opposed to the pass rush, which has historically been their strength.
Every year around this time we talk about the future of Bill O’Brien in Houston. Should we expect to see him back again in 2020 if the Texans have an early-round exit in the playoffs?
Somehow he’s sold the McNairs on his Patriot Way of doing things. When they fired general manager Brian Gaine on June 7, the Friday before mandatory minicamp, that was a battle O’Brien won. Since then, he’s mortgaged the future to afford necessary pieces such as left tackle Laremy Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills, and made decent veteran acquisitions such as running back Carlos Hyde. And all of O’Brien’s trades have worked. They would have to be totally out-classed in the wild-card round for the McNairs to consider canning him. Right now, one could argue they need to replenish the pass rush and let the offensive line really jell before they can bid for a first-round bye.
What’s the one matchup we should be watching out for?
Jameis Winston versus the Texans’ secondary. If they are unable to capitalize on one of Winston’s giveaway throws, then it’s going to be a shootout, or at least a lot closer than folks are expecting, more along the lines of the -3.0 Texans that the odds-makers are giving this game. It’s entirely possible, by the way, because the Texans only have eight interceptions on the year, tied for the fifth-fewest in the league.
Who wins and why?
The Buccaneers are battered and playing for pride. The Texans are relatively healthy and playing for a playoff spot. I think Houston capitalizes on Tampa Bay’s turnovers and forces Winston to play from behind the whole game. Texans 26, Buccaneers 21
[lawrence-related id=26427,26420,26413,26407]
