Both the Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans have something of a quarterback situation at the moment. And the answer as to who might advance in the AFC playoffs resides in which of these teams is either able to handle their quarterback situation, or OVERCOME their quarterback situation. They meet up on Saturday at 4:35 PM ET at NRG Stadium in Houston. ESPN will be televising the game, and VietBet customers will be able to place wagers in real time while the game is in progress using the state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.
Raiders vs Texans – Vietbet AFC Wild Card Game Betting Line:
In the AFC Wild Card Game betting odds posted on this game by the people at VietBet, Houston is the favorite:
Houston Texans -4
Oakland Raiders +4
Over 36.5 points -110
Under 36.5 points -110
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AFC Wild Card Game – CJ’s Take:
The Raiders come into this game as a wild-card team, although their record is much better than Houston. They are 12-4 straight-up, which actually tied them with the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC West title, but since they lost to Kansas City twice, they have to take a back seat. Oakland is 10-6 against the football pointspread, while Houston, with a 9-7 record which was good enough to capture the AFC South, is 6-9-1 ATS.
These teams met before, on November 21 in Mexico City, and Oakland staged a 27-20 come-from-behind win. The Raiders had only 30 yards rushing, but David Carr was industrious enough to find his running backs for 200 yards through the air. This won’t happen again, because Carr, mentioned prominently as an MVP candidate, and named to his second straight Pro Bowl, won’t be playing because of a broken leg.
The Raiders went into their season finale with backup quarterback Matt McGloin, but not only was he ineffective, passing for only 21 yards into the second quarter, but he also injured his non-throwing shoulder and was replaced by rookie Connor Cook, who saw his first live-action since the pre-season. Cook completed 14 of 21 passes for 150 yards and an interception, and he did well enough, in the opinion of head coach Jack del Rio, to earn the starting assignment for this game. For the coach, it was, in his words, “an easy choice.” Cook, who played for Michigan State last season and was drafted in the fourth round, will now become the first quarterback during the Super Bowl era to make his initial NFL start during the post-season.
So VietBet patrons have a strange twist to handicap. Perhaps things got a little closer to normal for the Texans, who had benched their high-priced free agent, Brock Osweiler, in favor of Tom Savage, a little-used third-year player out of Pittsburgh. Savage had trouble moving the team until he was knocked out with a concussion last Sunday. And now he has been declared out of action as well, so Osweiler, who reportedly argued vehemently at halftime of last week’s game against the Tennessee Titans with head coach Bill O’Brien, will be back in the saddle, so to speak. Brandon Weeden, the former first-round draft choice for the Cleveland Browns who also started some games last season for the Dallas Cowboys in the absence of Tony Romo, will be the backup. As for Oakland, since the first two quarterbacks on the depth chart are out, they literally had to fly Garrett Gilbert in to be the backup to Cook, because at least the former practice squad player knows the offense they are using.
So it is understandably not the most attractive of matchups. And maybe the differenc is that Houston has something of an edge on defense. Oakland has struggled on that side of the football for most of the year, ranking #24 in red zone defense and compiling the lowest sack percentage in the NFL. By contrast, the Texans have allowed the fewest yards per game in the league, and have forced opponents into a three-and-out situation 29% of the time, which is also best the league. Plus, they’ll be getting back running back Lamar Miller (1073 yards), who sat out the last two games with an ankle injury.
By Charles Jay
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