The 1-2 Dallas Cowboys travel to the 0-3 Houston Texans this week. Here are the keys to the game.
Keep Dak Prescott clean
The Houston Texans pass rush is brutal for opposing quarterbacks. They’re currently ranked fourth in the NFL in sacks and eighth in pressure rate while blitzing at just the 25th highest percentage across the league. Their front four are getting home to take down quarterbacks without much help from blitzing linebackers or defensive backs.
Leading the charge for the Texans front is Will Anderson Jr. The
fourth-year player is currently Pro Football Focus’ second-highest rated edge, posting a grade of 93.0. His pass rush win rate through three weeks sits at 22 percent even though he’s facing double teams 41.5 percent of the time. And to top it all off, he also has a 91.1 run-defense grade that ranks him amongst the best edges in the NFL versus the run. Anderson Jr. is a complete player who can wreck games on multiple fronts.
Terence Steele will have his hands full this week since Anderson Jr. lines up on the offense’s right side a majority of the time. The right tackle has had his share of struggles this season, and the Cowboys are well aware. Steele has been left on an island at a lower rate than any other offensive tackle this season. Expect Dallas to continue to provide help to their struggling tackle.
On the other side, Tyler Guyton has been a pleasant development for the Cowboys. He’ll be tasked with predominantly blocking the other edge, Danielle Hunter. While he’s no slouch, Hunter is not the same caliber player as his teammate on the other side of the line. With the Texans’ linebacker depth stretched to a breaking point, expect Dallas to test the offensive left when running the ball early on. If successful, this could be a game where they neutralize Will Anderson Jr. by playing keep away all day.
Surviving Nico Collins
Another week, another dominant NFL player coming off injury to torture the Cowboys. Or at least that’s the plan for Nico Collins and the Texans.
Collins injured his hamstring in practice on September 16th and has been out for the last two weeks. He was a full participant on Friday and now has no injury designation heading into the matchup. And boy did this team need their star wide receiver.
In week one, with Collins in the lineup, the Texans put up 31 points on the Buffalo Bills. In the two weeks without him, they scored six against Cincinnati and 17 against Indianapolis. He’s a key cog in the wheel for the Houston offense and they’ll be getting him back just in time to face a beat up Dallas secondary.
One player to keep an eye on in this matchup is the newly acquired Joey Porter Jr. The new star cornerback in Dallas is set to make his debut in a Cowboys uniform after miraculously recovering from a back injury that plagued him all off season and through the first three weeks of the NFL season.
While he will surely be on a pitch count this week, the last time Porter Jr. and Collins faced one another, the defensive back won the day allowing just two catches for 17 yards on five targets. Four of those were considered tight window throws.
With as challenging as this system can be from a communicative perspective, the plan should not be to utilize the new corner in much zone this week. While the zone-match concept works well for what he brings to the table, he’ll need a few weeks to ramp up. This week, look for Porter Jr. to be locked up on Collins on money downs. He’s best used as a physical, man corner – so put him in and let him do what he does best.
Finish the game
Last week in Rio, the offense and defense both played well enough to win the game. But in the last 28 seconds, with victory just a fingertip away, the head coach didn’t seem to understand if he was playing to win, to go into overtime, or to lose. That cannot happen again.
This winless Texans team is rabid. They are foaming at the mouth for a win. And the last thing you want to do is approach a cornered animal while unprepared.
Even though they are without a win, Houston has a ton of things to like about this matchup. Will Anderson Jr. versus Terence Steele could be a disaster for Dallas. Nico Collins comes back this week to play against an extremely banged up secondary. The Texans struggling offensive line has a chance to get right versus a Dallas pass rush that’s been worse than lackluster this season.
If the Cowboys can find the answers to these problems, they should be the team that walks out of Reliant stadium with the win. If not, it’ll be another long (yet short) week in Dallas.
