Arizona Cardinals (3-10) @ Houston Texans (8-5)
Sunday, December 14, 1:00 PM ET
Mercifully, we’ve reached the end of the 1:00 PM ET slate of games with the Houston Texans facing off against the Arizona Cardinals. Just like their AFC South rivals in Jacksonville, the Texans have to be thanking the NFL schedule makers for this late-season draw, because Arizona is down bad right now, and Houston is all the way up.
The Texans are coming off of an emotional win on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs, so they get to come home for their fans this week and really put on a show. The Cardinals are going to fight hard as we’ve seen time and time again with Jonathan Gannon as the head coach, but they just don’t have the talent to move the ball effectively on this Houston defense.
When you look at every team in the AFC, the Texans might not put too much fear into opponents with their offense right now, but that defense is as tough as they come. They can not only rush the passer, but I don’t think there’s a single secondary in the NFL playing better than this Houston group right now.
The Cardinals are the perfect matchup as far as Houston’s defense is concerned, because Jacoby Brissett doesn’t do anything really off-script or outside the pocket. The Houston pass rush can get the pressure on, and the secondary can feast in this game.
The Texans are just 9.5-point favorites at home, even after the Cardinals just got absolutely smoked by the Los Angeles Rams this past weekend. For a Houston team that has proven they can grind out tough wins with defense and opportunistic offense, I feel like this game is an opportunity to showcase what they can do as far as complementary dominance.
Prediction: Texans win 31-9