The bad news for the Houston Texans, ahead of their online NFL betting matchup with the Cleveland Browns, and, for the matter, the rest of the season as well, is that they have lost defensive end JJ Watt for the rest of the campaign with a broken tibia. The good news is he played almost twice as many games as he did in 2016. Glass half full, people. Houston also lost outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus for the season with a torn pectoral. So who will step up? “It’s going to be multiple guys,” head coach Bill O’Brien said. “You don’t replace J.J. Watt or Whitney Mercilus with one guy. That’s ridiculous. So it’s going to a lot of different guys that are going to chip in to help.” Well, obviously, you can’t replace two guys with just one guy. Unless it’s Multiplicity Michael Keaton.
- Date: Sunday, 15th October
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: NRG Stadiu
- Sportsbook NFL betting Online Odds:
Browns +10 (-115) 44½ (-111)
Texans -10 (-105) 44½ (-109)
Send in the Clowney
Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney will, like Sting in 1985, have to transition from a trio configuration to a successful solo career following Watt’s and Mercilus’s injuries. Clowney had a career-best six sacks and 52 tackles last season, picking up the slack for Watt, who played just three games, and was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time, Clowney was. He currently leads Houston with three sacks and has returned one fumble for a touchdown. The Texans are likely to rely on Clowney, as well as inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney, for the pass rush. And speaking of passing, Houston may have, on defense, cause for concern, but on offense, they are cruising, thanks to rookie sensation Deshaun Watson, who became the first rookie quarterback in league history with five or more total touchdowns in consecutive games, following his five-TD performance against Kansas on Sunday. Too bad the Texans lost and failed to cover the online NFL betting spread for the second time this season. His production, though, helped the total go over for the third straight Houston game.
The Browns revolving QB door starts revolving again
In a much less privileged position than Watson, Browns rookie QB Deshone Kizer threw his third and fourth picks in the red zone of the season on Sunday against the Jets, leading Hue Jackson, who had previously declared he would stick with Kizer through thick and thin, to pull out the rookie in favour of Kevin Hogan. “It is still about winning,” Jackson said following the 14-17 loss. “Kizer is developing, but his job is still to win.” which of course begs the question, what does Hue even know about winning? Other than its antonym, that is.
— Robert Stump (@bipolarbear3) October 10, 2017
In addition to that ghastly straight-up record, the Browns are 1-5 ATS this season, 0-5-1 ATS in their last six road games, 0-4 ATS in their last four games in October and 6-24-1 against the online NFL betting spread in their last 31 overall games.