The game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans Sunday afternoon will mark the beginning of the Brian Hoyer era in Houston. He would probably feel much better about that if he had Arian Foster behind him and someone other than Justin Houston staring at him from the other side of the line.
NFL picks and predictions, Chiefs vs. Texans 2015: Experts divided on AFC matchup
Opinions are split over which team with the huge defensive star will come out on top.
Hoyer has a strong offensive line, but Houston and Tamba Hali are a tough matchup for any set of offensive tackles in the league. The way to beat the Chiefs is on the ground -- they finished 28th against the run last year -- but it would be a lot easier to do that with Foster than with Alfred Blue.
Of course, if all else fails, Hoyer can turn to two-way player J.J. Watt. Watt caught three touchdowns on just three passes last year as a tight end, but who is willing to say that he would fail as a running back? Just imagine the eyes of a defensive back seeing Watt coming around the end on a power sweep.
But of course, Watt's likely to make his biggest impact on the defensive end of the field, especially now that he's got nose tackle Vince Wilfork clogging up the middle. That will make it tougher for Jamaal Charles to take the pressure off Alex Smith, and Jadeveon Clowney is still lurking on the other side.
All that defensive talent has confused the panel at CBS Sports, with the experts evenly divided at 4-4. Our own panel here at SB Nation is also split right down the middle. That makes it a draw on paper, but to quote every NFL coach in history, “That’s why they don’t play the games on paper.”
| Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark | |
| KC vs. HOU | HOU | KC | KC | KC | KC | HOU | HOU | HOU |
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