With a Houston Texans Week 11 game coming up against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, the eyes of not just Texas will be on this game. This is a contest that's going to get a ton of attention from the NFL world. As such, ahead of the Texans-Cowboys game, we'll be making our Texans Week 11 predictions.
First and foremost, the Texans absolutely have to bounce back from a demoralizing loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 10 on Sunday Night Football. This was a game that the Texans were leading 23-7 at halftime, yet they ended up losing 26-23. The Texans didn't score a single point in the second half while the Lions came roaring back to win on a last-second field goal.
That's the type of loss that's going to be hard for the Texans to get up from, especially when they've now lost three of their last four.
On the other side of the coin is the Cowboys, though, who have lost four in a row of their own and they'll be without franchise quarterback Dak Prescott, who underwent season-ending surgery to kick off Week 11.
Someone has got to win. Both teams need to win. At least for their morale. Here's how it will go down for Houston with these Texans Week 11 predictions.
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C.J. Stroud will throw for three touchdowns with no interceptions
It has been a tough stretch for C.J. Stroud. That happens to young quarterbacks in their second year. The “sophomore slump” is a real moniker in the NFL for a reason. Opposing teams now have over a year of film on the quarterback and they've lost some of that surprise factor for opposing defensive coordinators. Defenses adjust, but then the great quarterbacks make another adjustment and go to the next level.
Stroud has been able to do that at times in 2024 but he hasn't been consistent. The good news? The Cowboys are giving up 28.8 points per game, which is the second-worst mark in the NFL in front of only the Carolina Panthers. No offense to the Panthers, but that's bad company to keep in 2024, but the Cowboys' defense has been straight-up bad.
Stroud needs a bounce back game himself after throwing two interceptions in the loss to Detroit, and this soft Dallas defense (minus Micah Parsons) will give him a great opportunity to do so.
The Texans will pick off Cowboys QB Cooper Rush twice
The Cowboys were hoping the Cooper Rush could recapture the magic that made him one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league in 2022. Filling in for Prescott at that time, he led Dallas to a 5-1 record as a starter.
That's the quarterback Jerry Jones and co. were hoping they'd get last weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he came out and completed 13-of-26 passes for just 45 yards. He averaged 1.96 yards per pass attempts, which tied the fourth-worst mark for any quarterback since 1990 with a minimum of 20 attempts, and he put the ball on the ground via fumble twice.
That was far from the “savior” of the season that Dallas was expecting, but it's not going to get any better against the Texans.
Remember, despite the loss, the Texans picked off Lions quarterback Jared Goff a whopping five times on Sunday Night Football. That was something head coach DeMeco Ryans took away as a positive from an otherwise demoralizing night.
“I'm proud of the defense for going out to get five turnovers. I think that's a big day for any defense,” Ryans said, according to ESPN.
Rush isn't going to throw five picks, because embattled head coach Mike McCarthy will pull him well before then and go with Trey Lance in a losing effort. Still, the bold prediction here is that the Texans will pick off Rush twice in this one.
Joe Mixon will score a touchdown for the sixth-straight game
The vibes are off, but the Texans are still 6-4 and on top of the AFC South. They're a playoff team barring an even bigger collapse, and they have veteran running back Joe Mixon to thank for much of their success.
Mixon has seven rushing touchdowns this season, which is tied for the sixth-most amongst all NFL running backs, and his 655 yards are 13th best amongst all backs. He's been an absolute stud for the Texans and it's worth noting that he's doing so in his eight NFL season. That's a long time for a big, 220-pound back to be rumbling and bumbling, but Mixon has been at the top of his game for the Texans.
He's scored a rushing touchdown in five-straight games and he's primed to make it six-straight against a Cowboys rushing defense that's giving up 152.1 yards per game on the ground, which is the second-worst mark in the NFL (again, just in front of the Panthers).
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