{"id":5061,"date":"2018-10-24T14:56:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T04:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/?p=5061"},"modified":"2018-10-24T15:08:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T05:08:15","slug":"nfl-week-8-houston-texans-vs-miami-dolphin-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/2018\/10\/nfl-week-8-houston-texans-vs-miami-dolphin-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 8 – Houston Texans vs Miami Dolphins Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Week 8 of the NFL season kicks off in Houston with two 4-3 teams as the Texans play host to the Miami Dolphins. After a dreadful 0-3 start, the Texans have rebounded with 4 straight wins, including a very impressive road win over Jacksonville last week. Conversely, Miami ha<\/span><\/span>s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0been in a downward spiral since their 3-0 start. They\u2019ve lost 3 of their last 4 and are dealing with an injury to starting Quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The winner of this one can really cement themselves as an AFC playoff contender, whilst the loser will get dragged back to the pack. As such, I\u2019m expecting both teams to come out with a sense of urgency here.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Where to Watch:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0ESPN, 7 Mate or NFL Game Pass Friday 11:20 am<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h6>\n
Houston Texans<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Probably the most impressive of Houston\u2019s 4 straight wins was an outstanding 20-7\u00a0road win against the Jaguars last week. Lamar Miller finally got going in the Texans running game, managing 100 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. QB Deshaun Watson had a bit of an off day with only 139 yards on 24 attempts. However, he did a strong job managing the game and is still one of the top dual-threat Quarterbacks in the NFL. Speedy receivers Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins both continue to offer a strong deep threat that will test the Miami secondary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was on defence where the Texans really shone last week. They completely shut down the Jaguars offense in what was a dominant display. The usually formidable Jacksonville\u00a0rushing offense was held to only 70 yards on 22 carries, an average of just 3.2 yards per attempt. Often maligned QB Blake Bortles was also benched after his poor showing and his replacement Cody Kessler couldn\u2019t get anything going against this strong Texans defensive front. With backup QB Brock Osweiler slated to start for Miami in this one, I expect Jadeveon Clowney, JJ Watt and Co to have a field day here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Miami enters\u00a0this one off the back of a disappointing 11-point home loss to the Detroit Lions. This wasn\u2019t due to a poor performance from QB Brock Osweiler, who impressed going 22\/31 for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. The strong Running Back duo of Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore\u00a0combined for just 16 carries last week, a total which will need to increase here. After his time in Houston, many of his former teammates have expressed displeasure about his attitude and performance. The Texans crowd and defence will definitely be amped for this one and it\u2019s up to Brock to prove them wrong.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a poor performance by the Miami defence that really cost them last week. They allowed 32 points in what was a very balanced display by the Lions offence. QB Matt Stafford carved them apart with ease, going 18\/22 for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was the 248 yards and a further touchdown on the ground that really highlighted Detroit\u2019s dominance. This doesn\u2019t bode well coming into a matchup with the exciting dual-threat Texans rushing offense. The usually strong Miami defence\u00a0led by Safety Reshad Jones and Linebacker Kiko Alonso simply has to perform much better here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n
Texans Halftime\/Fulltime Double<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

The Texans enjoy a significant matchup advantage in this one. Their strengths seem to play into the weaknesses of Miami. I expect their versatile and dynamic rushing attack to carry the load here, whilst their elite pass rush wreaks havoc on Miami\u2019s offense. Moreover, the Texans have proven to be very strong starters in their 4 wins this season. On each of these occasions, they shot out to an early half-time lead and held on to the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This bodes well against a Miami team that struggles to overcome adversity. In 2 of their 3 losses this season, the Dolphins stumbled out of the gate to a half-time deficit that they couldn\u2019t overcome. I very much expect Houston to win this game with their talent edge. As such, a great way to get some extra value for your bet is combining this with the half-time bet as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Texans -7.5<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

It\u2019s rare that the public is on the underdog in a primetime game, but this is the case here. Statistics suggest that the Dolphins are receiving 65% of the spread bets in this one. This is somewhat understandable going through the key number of 7, but I think there is still good value on the Texans here. Despite looking solid the past two weeks, I just don\u2019t see how Brock Osweiler is ready to face this Texans pass rush. Against a Miami rushing defence that has proved leaky at the best of times, I also expect Houston to control this one offensively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dolphins Team Total Under 18.5<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

Given the mismatch I described between Houston\u2019s pass defence and Miami\u2019s passing offense, I don\u2019t see the Dolphins enjoying\u00a0much\u00a0offensive success tonight.\u00a0With the way his Houston tenure went, I can almost guarantee Osweiler\u2019s teammates have been waiting for this moment for a while. The fans will be out for blood and their team has a real shot at providing it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A defensive line featuring Jadeveon Clowney, JJ Watt and Whitney Mercilus is tough for anyone to handle. They\u2019ll cause trouble up front and get pressure on Osweiler early and often, halting the Dolphins rushing attack for good measure. I expect the Dolphins to score roughly 13-17 points in this one, making under 18.5 points a decent value bet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Bet:<\/b>\u00a0Texans Halftime\/Fulltime Double\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

As highlighted earlier, I\u2019m very confident in a Texans win here. I just don\u2019t think the current $1.30 price represents good enough value to take. Given the trend of 4 consecutive Texans Halftime\/Fulltime victories, I\u2019m happy to go back to the well again here. Whilst the price is currently not listed, I\u2019d recommend playing this at any odds $1.70 or above.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Score Prediction<\/b>: Houston Texans 27-17 Miami Dolphins\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week 8 of the NFL season kicks off in Houston with two 4-3 teams as the Texans play host to the Miami Dolphins. After a dreadful 0-3 start, the Texans have rebounded with 4 straight wins, including a very impressive road win over Jacksonville last week. Conversely, Miami has\u00a0been in a downward spiral since their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,344],"tags":[400,85,73,2144,2178,2249,47,48,234,2077,168,72],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-5061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-football","category-sports","tag-american-football","tag-betting","tag-betting-preview","tag-gridiron","tag-houston-texans","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-tips","tag-odds","tag-tips"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":null,"md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"24\/10\/2018","event_country":"Australia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5061"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neds.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=5061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}