HOUSTON — After a bye week, the Texans are back in action today against the Miami Dolphins as the team enters the home stretch of the regular season. It’s a game you can watch live on KHOU 11 at noon.
Houston (8-5) comes into the game as three-point favorites, but the Dolphins (6-7) are in the hunt for the Wild Card and have won four of their last five games.
Houston enters action today with a two-game lead over Indianapolis in the AFC South with four games to play. They also own the tiebreaker against Indy, meaning if the Texans win today and the Colts lose, Houston would win their second straight AFC title game.
If Houston doesn’t take care of business today, it gets a little tougher as the Texans will play the Chiefs in Kansas City on Saturday, followed by Baltimore at home on Christmas Day – a stretch of three games in 11 days. They finish against the Titans in Nashville. Meanwhile, the Colts play at Denver today, but then their schedule gets much easier with matchups against the Giants, Titans and Jaguars.
On Sunday, the Texans said tight end Cade Stover wouldn't be available for the game after undergoing an emergency appendectomy last night.
Dolphins player to watch
QB Tua Tagovailoa has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL at throwing with anticipation and accuracy since he returned from a concussion in Week 8. Tagovailoa leads the NFL with a 73.8% completion rate and threw for 300 yards for the third straight game last week vs. the Jets. Tagovailoa is the first player in NFL history to have at least 40 pass attempts, multiple touchdown passes and no interceptions in three consecutive games within a single season.
Texans player to watch
QB C.J. Stroud has thrown for at least 225 yards in each of his six home games this season and is 11-4 in 15 starts in Houston, including the playoffs. He has thrown for 3,117 yards with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions this season.
Key matchup
Houston RB Joe Mixon vs. Miami’s run defense. Mixon ran for 101 yards in Houston’s previous game for his seventh 100-yard game this season. He ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game. This week he’ll face a run defense that ranks seventh in the NFL by holding teams to 105.6 yards a game.
Series notes
Houston won the first seven meetings in this series. … Miami didn’t get its first win against the Texans until a 44-26 victory in 2015. … The Dolphins have won the past two meetings. … These teams first met in the season opener in 2003 when Houston got a 21-20 win on a late field goal.