The 0-1 Houston Texans travel to Cincinnati to play the 0-1 Bengals for Thursday Night Football. The Texans are coming off an embarrassing 29-7 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bengals are coming off an embarrassing 20-0 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Obviously, the loser gets to start the season 0-2.
Bengals QB Andy Dalton uncharacteristically threw 4 INT's and lost a fumble in the loss to the Ravens, probably one of the worst starts of his career. One would expect him to perform better against the Texans...
The Texans are expected to start rookie QB Deshaun Watson. It will be Watson's first NFL start after seeing some action in week 1 in the 2nd half. The Texans are banged up from 5 concussions in game 1. With all three TE's concussed, the Texans
have activated rookie TE Evan Baylis (Oregon) from the practice squad. The Texans lead the series vs. the Bengals 5-4.
TV = NFLN, 7:25 pm CST, Thursday, 9/14/2017
Announcers = Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Heather Cox (Field reporter)
The line = Bengals by 6½ to 7
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Sunday viewing in the Houston area:
CBS (early) = New England @ New Orleans, Jim Nantz, Tony Romo
CBS (late) = Philadelphia @ Kansas City, Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis
FOX (late) = Dallas @ Denver, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman
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Other prime time:
SNF = Green Bay @ Atlanta (NBC)
MNF = Detroit @ NY Giants (ESPN)