Week 8: Miami Dolphins vs. Houston Texans Recap

by
Former Writers
October 26, 2018

BipHoo Company via Flickr

The Texans Routed The Dolphins Winning Their Fifth Straight Game

The Houston Texans scored at will against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night as they won 42-23. Quarterback Deshaun Watson was virtually flawless as he completed 16 of his 20 pass attempts for 239 yards and five touchdowns.

He also had zero interceptions. The stars were definitely big and bright on this Texas night.

Houston Playing With Confidence

Don’t look now, but the Texans have won five straight after starting the season 0-3. Some folks around the league were questioning the status of head coach Bill O’Brien going forward, but the team has turned it around. To be fair, they lost each of their first three games by seven points or less. Which means that they were capable of winning those games.

Deshaun Watson appears to be less concerned with suffering another ACL tear and looks like he’s having fun out on the field. The defense is certainly looking the way it should.

Dominant Defense

Safety Tyrann Mathieu and defensive end J.J. Watt each had a sack last night. S Justin Reid got in on the fun with an interception. The defense had a total of 67 tackles. Seven of them were for a loss of yardage.

They also hit the quarterback five times. When they play this well, they can be a threat to any team on any given day.

Impressive Offense

Houston has some explosive weapons on offense. QB Deshaun Watson’s capabilities were highlighted earlier. He connected with wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins six times for 82 yards and two touchdowns.

Will Fuller had five catches for 124 yards and one touchdown. Unfortunately, he appeared to have suffered a torn ACL. Stay tuned for further details on this developing story. Running back Lamar Miller ran the ball 18 times for 133 yards and a touchdown. Perhaps the most important stat of them all is the fact that the offensive line gave up only one hit on their quarterback.

No QB has been hit more this season as Watson has over 70 against him. The ability to keep their franchise player upright will be tremendous going down the stretch of this season.

Miami’s Woes

The Dolphins are now 4-4 after losing four of their last five games. They started the season 3-0. Their starting quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, has been sidelined with a shoulder injury and is eyeing a Week 9 return. But his replacement, Brock Osweiler, has been a decent fit.

He threw the ball for 241 yards on 21 of 37 attempts on Thursday night. It just so happens that the Texans’ defense is playing lights-out right now. Running backs Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore split their time in the backfield with 12 carries each. Drake had 58 yards while Gore had 53.

The real struggle for Miami has been on the defensive side of the ball. They gave up a total of 427 yards last night. 188 of those yards came on the ground. Houston went 6-12 on third downs and 1-1 on fourth down. That is certainly not a formula made for winning games.

Look Ahead

The Dolphins will host the New York Jets in Week 9 while the Texans will travel to Denver to face the Broncos. Both teams will benefit from extra days of rest since they played on Thursday night.