The Houston Texans will square off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday to kick off Week 16. For the Texans to come out victorious, they are going to need another big game from Carlos Hyde.
Last week, Hyde was able to rush for 104 yards on 26 attempts and find the end zone versus the Tennessee Titans. Above all, Hyde and the Texans defeated the Titans, allowing them to take sole possession of first place in the AFC South.
With his latest performance, Hyde has recorded a 1,000-yard season for the first time in his career. Altogether, the veteran running back has logged 1,062 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns.
This season, Hyde has three 100-yard games (including his previous outing versus the Titans). Being able to reach 100 rushing yards is going to be a tall task for Hyde against the Buccaneers on Saturday.
Despite the Buccaneers struggling against the pass, their run defense is the best in the NFL. With the addition of Ndamukong Suh, Tampa Bay currently has the No. 1 ranked run defense that allows only 73.3 yards per game.
At the same time, the Buccaneers have held opposing running backs to just 3.4 yards per attempt. That is the second-fewest yards per attempt allowed by a defense. Only the New York Jets have given up fewer yards per attempt.
Provided that, it is easier said than done for Hyde to have a successful outing for the Texans this week. Nevertheless, Hyde could be needed to be the difference-maker in a contest that could see a ton of points being put on the scoreboard.
Even with Tampa Bay having a 7-7 record, they have an extremely lethal offense. As a matter of fact, the Buccaneers currently have the third-best scoring offense in the NFL that has scored 29.7 points per game.
The only two teams that have managed to produce more points per game are the Baltimore Ravens (33.7) and San Francisco 49ers (29.9). Therefore, it's safe to assume that Tampa Bay is going to muster up a decent amount of points on Saturday.
On the other hand, Houston's defense is surrendering an average of 23.7 points per game (19th in the NFL). Given that information, the Texans could use another productive showing from Hyde to keep the ball away from the Buccaneers' offense.
The Texans are undoubtedly the best team coming into this game. But the last thing that Houston needs is another loss to an inferior team to give the Titans some life.
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