Monday Night Football features a critical AFC matchup between the Houston Texans (4-6) and the Ravens (5-5) in Baltimore.
The Texans and Ravens look to stay in the playoff hunt as their chances are rapidly fading. Because of that this game seems to have the feel of an elimination game.
Last week against the Arizona Cardinals, Texans quarterback Tom Savage had his best game to date as he was 22 of 32 for 230 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 97.1, which represents the best he’s ever had.
The problem for the Texans is that the odds of him repeating that kind of performance are low since he faces the Ravens stingy secondary. Baltimore ranks second in passer rating allowed as they give up a meager 66.9 rating to opposing quarterbacks and lead the league in interceptions with 16.
Joe Flacco’s challenge won’t be as daunting since Houston’s secondary is nowhere as good as Baltimore’s. They are giving up a 99.9 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks (ranked 29th in the league) and in the last four games, they’ve allowed an average of 327 passing yards, which is the most in the NFL over that span.
With those numbers Baltimore will probably try to win this game using a pass-first approach, making Flacco worth of consideration in Fantasy Football. Running against Houston tends to be futile as they usually give less than 100 rushing yards per game.
The Texans rank 8th in the league against the run as they concede 92 rushing yards per game and allow just 3.7 yards per attempt, which ranks them 5th in the league. While the Ravens run game is not bad, they’re hardly above average as they rank right in the middle of the pack in most of the rushing key categories.
The matchup between Savage and the Ravens nasty secondary and the added benefit of playing at home should be enough for the Ravens to win this game.
