How Houston Texans can exploit these clear advantages over Bears opportunistic defense

TEXANS VS. BEARS

How Houston Texans can exploit these clear advantages over Bears opportunistic defense
The Texans host the Bears on Sunday night. Composite Getty Image.

The Texans are coming off a thrilling victory against the Colts in Week 1, and this week they host the Chicago Bears in the Houston home opener.

The Bears also come into this matchup with a 1-0 record, after their defense put on a show against Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans.

Bulls on parade

The Texans defense will face rookie QB Caleb Williams, who was unable to orchestrate a single touchdown drive against the Titans. Williams only passed for 93 yards last week, and failed to complete a pass over 13 yards.

This should work in the Texans favor, as they struggled with the deep ball against Anthony Richardson and the Colts. Two of the Bears' top receivers are dealing with injuries this week. Rookie Rome Odunze is expected to be unavailable, as he's dealing with an MCL sprain.

Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen is expected to play, but he's been playing through a heel injury that's lingered since August. Allen was also reported to have put on weight in the offseason, which is impacting his explosiveness. (Too much deep dish pizza in Chicago?)

Which means Pro Bowl receiver DJ Moore is the main threat to get over the top against the Houston secondary. Hopefully Derek Stingley Jr. can keep him in check.

CJ Stroud against the Bears defense

When looking at the PFF numbers for the Bears last week, all the highest-graded players were on defense. Pass rusher Montez Sweat only recorded two tackles, but he'll be a player to watch on Sunday.

Bears corner Jaylon Johnson had an impressive game, allowing only one catch and snagging an interception. Stroud may look to avoid throwing at Johnson when possible. He had an eye-opening 92.3 PFF grade last week.

The Chicago defense intercepted the Titans twice last week, and recovered a fumble.

They also sacked Levis three times and tallied ten QB hits. Stroud was sacked four times against Indy last week.

Nico Collins was the highest-graded Texans player against the Colts. He made a brilliant game catch along the sideline to seal the game for Houston. He caught six passes for 117 yards.

Stefon Diggs caught all six of his targets, two of which went for touchdowns. Tank Dell had one more target than Diggs, but only posted three catches for 40 yards. He also had two rush attempts for 19 yards.

With three top-notch options at receiver, we should expect at least two pass catchers to post big numbers each week. But it will be hard to know which two out of the big three will go off from game to game.

Ground and pound

The biggest offensive storyline from Sunday, was the emergence of running back Joe Mixon. Mixon rushed for 159 yards on 31 carries, including a touchdown.

Mixon should find some room to run against Chicago, as they allowed both Titans running backs (Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears) to rush for over 5 yards per carry, totally over 100 yards.

Special teams

The Bears blocked a punt in Week 1, and the Texans had a punt blocked. Hopefully, the special teams unit will make some corrections before Sunday night.

What does Vegas think?

The Texans are currently favored by 6.5 points. The total for the game is 45.5 points.

Texans injuries to monitor

WR Nico Collins limited with an illness. RBDameon Pierce limited with a hamstring. TE Dalton Schultz didn't practice again (ankle). We wouldn't be surprised if he misses the game. Brevin Jordan recorded a quality 71.8 PFF grade against Indy. He may be set for a bigger role this week in the absence of Schultz. Center Juice Scruggs limited with a groin. Safety MJ Steward is still out of practice with a knee injury.

Don't miss the video above as the crew from Texans on Tap previews the Texans home opener against the Bears.

*Texans on Tap is a Texans podcast hosted by Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo. We drop a Texans preview every Thursday and react live following every game on the SportsMapTexans YouTube channel.

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Rockets defeat the Suns, 119-111. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Amen Thompson had 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his fourth career triple-double and the Houston Rockets used a big run late to get a 119-111 win over the Phoenix Suns Wednesday night.

It was the second triple-double this month after the second-year player also had one on Feb. 3.

The game was tied after a 3-pointer by Bol Bol before the Rockets used an 11-2 run to take a 115-106 lead with just more than a minute to go.

Jalen Green scored the first five points in that stretch before Dillon Brooks made consecutive 3-pointers to allow Houston to pull away.

Kevin Durant had 37 points for the short-handed Suns, who were missing Devin Booker, who sat out with a bruised lower back. The Suns lost their third in a row and for the sixth time in seven games.

They led by 8 entering the fourth quarter before Houston rallied for the victory.

Alperen Sengun had 17 points and 13 rebounds after sitting out most of Sunday’s game dealing with back spasms to help the Rockets win a second straight. Tari Eason added 25 points for Houston and Green had 22.

Takeaways

Suns: Durant continues to play at a high level, but the Suns need to get their other stars healthy to take some pressure off the 36-year-old.

Rockets: The Rockets used a balanced scoring attack to get the win with all five starters finishing with at least 17 points.

Key moment

A dunk by Durant got the Suns within 3 late before the two 3-pointers by Brooks put the game away.

Key stat

The Rockets scored 25 points off 17 Phoenix turnovers.

Up next

The Rockets host the Warriors and the Suns visit the Spurs on Thursday night.

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