2. Houston Texans
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For the record, I like a lot of the big underdogs this week to possibly cover, but not win their games.
I could see Seattle covering against an overrated Giants (favored by 9.5 points) team and the Jets covering against a team they recently matched up well against in New England (a nine-point favorite).
Still, I am looking for favorites that might lose, which brings us to the Houston Texans.
Houston is a good (3-1) squad and on paper probably should beat Oakland (2-2).
But the Texans (a six-point favorite) have a few things working against them.
Star wide receiver Andre Johnson is out after suffering a hamstring injury in the team's 17-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not only is Johnson an effective yards and points-producer for Houston, but he is the entire focus of the team's passing attack.
Now, the Raiders can afford to stack the line to stop Texans running back Adrian Foster, who might be a bit beat up after piling up 30 carries for 155 yards against Pittsburgh. Backup running back Ben Tate left the Steelers game with a groin injury, and his status is uncertain.
On the other side of the ball, the Texans are just 18th against the run (and 10th against the pass, who would have thought that?), surrendering 108.8 yards per game on the ground.
More importantly, I've seen the Texans up close this year and watched them get gashed by Miami running back Daniel Thomas (18 carries for 107 yards in the game). Now they face the NFL's leading rusher in Darren McFadden (75 carries for 468 and three touchdowns). If McFadden has a big game, Houston is in trouble.