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The Houston Texans are coming off of a surprise 17-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons to improve to 9-3 and hold a two-game lead over the Tennessee Titans. The Texans are entering game two of the T.J. Yates era and the rookie quarterback will be without wide receiver Andre Johnson who suffered a hamstring injury against the Falcons.
The Bengals are coming off a 35-7 blowout loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and have now lost three of their past four games. Neither team has looked impressive over the past few weeks and even though the Bengals are at home they are a one-point underdog to the Texans.
With the Texans down to Yates as their quarterback and playing without Johnson at wide receiver, look for Houston to use running back Arian Foster a lot to help lift the pressure off of Yates. Also, what will help the Texans against the Bengals is that their defense is tops in the NFL in yards allowed.
The Bengals do have a winning record at 7-5, however they have yet to beat a team on the caliber of the Texans as their best win is over the 7-5 Titans. Cincinnati in a must win situation as there are four other AFC teams that have 7-5 records and are all vying for the last AFC Wild Card spot.
For more on the Texans, head to Battle Red Blog; for more on the Bengals, visit Cincy Jungle.