Houston Texans vs Las Vegas Raiders

Oakland has been a bad road team, losing 34-14 at Minnesota and comes off a 42-24 loss at Green Bay. The Raiders are on a 5-15-1 spread run on the road, including 3-12-1 ATS away against a team with a winning home record. Oakland has no defense at #28 in points allowed (27.5 per game), #23 in yards surrendered (376.5 pg), second-worst against the pass, allowing 289.8 yards per contest. They face a talented and balanced Houston squad that won at Kansas City (31-24), whipped Atlanta (53-32) and lost to the Saints in a shootout (30-28) when Drew Brees was healthy. QB Deshaun Watson (13 TDs, five INTs) leads an attack that will tear up this bad Oakland secondary. Play Houston.

You have to feel for Oakland, a team that had not had a winning record since the 2002 season, and then started 12-3 only to see their hopes dashed with the loss of QB Derek Carr. They appeared to be on their way to a bye in the first round before losing their most important cog in Carr. It proceeded to get worse last week as backup Matt McGloin was injured as well. They will now go with third string QB Connor Cook. This is the first time ever an NFL rookie is making his frist start in the playoffs. Last week without Carr, the previously potent Raiders attack did not get in the end-zone in a 24-6 loss at Denver. Houston has some QB issues of their own, and the once benched Brock Osweiler will be at QB for the injured Tom Savage. There is little to hope for offensively in this game, and the biggest edge on the field will be the Houston defense vs. the Raiders offense being led by a #3 QB on the road. Houston has held opponentws to just 16.3 points per game at home this season. There have been some good QBs coming to Houston this season in Alex Smith, Andrew Luck, Marcus Mariota, Matthew Stafford and Phillip Rivers. But, none left with more than 21 points - most far less than that. It is going to be very difficult for the Raiders to find the end-zone, and Houston has managed no more than 27 points in any of their home games his season, but will surely get enough here to move on to the next round. Houston is 14-5 ATS under head coach Bill O'Brien as a favorite. Play Houston and the UNDER.

This Mexico City game has become a high-profile game with Oakland coming in at 7-2 and Houston at 6-3. The Raiders have amazingly assembled some quality top draft pick talent, and meshed it with a roster that includes 19 un-drafted players. While Oakland is 7-2 they have out-gained opponents by a scant three yards per game. I think Houston is going to do what they have done best, which is run the ball, eat clock, and try to limit the opportunities for Oakland's explosive offense. Houston has rushed for 97 yards or more in all but one game on the season, and Oakland has allowed 100+ in five of their last seven. The gameplan should include a lot of clock-eating handoffs. Oakland has scored 30+ in three straight games, and since the end of last season, teams that have done so have played 8-1 to the UNDER. Take this one UNDER the total.

While the debut of Houston's top draft choice Jadeveon Clowney was much anticipated, it was also short lived. He left the game with a torn meniscus and will be sidelined an estimated 6-8 weeks. He wasn't needed as the Washington Redskins managed just 6 points in the game last week. Most thought that a now healthy RG3 would be back causing fits for opposing defenses with his threat to run. But last week he showed reluctance and was sacked three times for -26 yards, while he ran just three times for only two yards. The lack of his threat of running has made the Washington offense vulnerable, and it showed against Houston. The Texans now take to the road, and things have gone badly for them outside of Houston where they have dropped seven straight. Oakland has fared no better as their opening week loss on the road to the Jets gives them seven straight losses overall, so one of these streaks will end this week. Oakland does have a confidence-builder coming into this one as they went to Houston a year ago and came away with a 5-point win. I think now that Carr has gotten his feet wet in the NFL, and Ryan Fitzpatrick now has a full game in as the Houston QB, the playbook will expand for both of these teams in this one and allow for more opportunities to score. Houston has another ugly streak as they are 0-8 ATS following a spread win in their last eight, while the Raiders have been 5-1 ATS in their last six after scoring 15 or fewer in their previous game. Oakland will indeed be opening the playbook after passing for less than 150 yards in their previous game with four straight OVER the total. Take both Oakland and the OVER in this one.