PICK 150 - NFL- Wildcard Round - Los Angeles Chargers vs Houston - Saturday January 11, 2025
The Los Angeles Chargers at The Houston Texans
Saturday January 11, 2025
Released to our subscribers on Monday, January 6, 2025
Houston was one of last year's surprises. They were supposed to be better this season. That didn't happen.
Their offensive line has not played as well, but their defensive line may be better. They did win last Sunday, but the game was meaningless. Stroud didn't play. The Sunday prior, their offense was pretty incapable. That offense scored zero points. Before that, they didn't cover against the Chiefs.
The Chiefs had not been covering against anyone. Throw out Kansas City's win against the Browns and they failed to cover 7 games in succession. The Texans did have a quality win against The Dolphins, who have proven to be pretty dysfunctional and poorly coached. I'm not going to review every game, but there are only two that impressed, and they were much earlier in the season. In the NFL that's a lifetime.
Maybe Houston's offense has a resurgence but: They're 1-5 against playoff teams, and could be outcoached by Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
Los Angeles: Depending on metrics used, The Chargers have the #1 rated defense in the NFL, giving up the fewest points per game, although only .1 point better than Philadelphia.
Things may be difficult for LA’s rushing game. Texas is tough against the run. At the time of this writing one of the Chargers top offensive lineman-Rashawn Slater may have a bad knee.
Some interesting notes and numbers:
1) I'm not sure I see The Chargers scoring that many points.
2) They have never been favored by 3 points playing away from SoFi stadium this season.
3) For whatever it’s worth: Harbaugh (while at Michigan) beat Stroud (while playing for Ohio State) both times they met in college.
I like The Under at 43
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