Dolphins vs Texans: Reasons to watch "Thursday Night Football", ranked

The Dolphins have never won in Houston and play for the fifth time in the team's history tonight as they face the Texans.

After a difficult start to the year, the Texans have won four straight games to propel themselves to the top spot in the AFC South Cup. The Dolphins and Texans are looking for their fifth win of the season, but it will be the Dolphins (led by Brock Osweiler) or the Texans and the most dismissed quarterback of the NFL, winner on Thursday Football?

Here are the top five reasons why you should watch Texans greet the Dolphins on Thursday Football in week 8 (Fox, 8:20 pm ET). You can also watch the game on the NFL network and streaming through Amazon Prime.

1. When was this the last time that you made fun of Brock Osweiler?

While Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill is recovering from a shoulder injury, substitute Brock Osweiler is taking advantage of Brocktober as a starter in Miami. The Texans know Osweiler well and signed for a $ 72 million contract in March 2016. That season, he played 15 games in the regular season. and a smuggler rating of 72.2. He was chosen in favor of Tom Savage towards the end of the year, but after Savage suffered a concussion, Osweiler had to return to his job. This included two starts in the playoffs. He led the Texans to a victory over the Raiders during the weekend without a card, before falling to the hands of the Patriots in the division round of the AFC. After the following season, the Texans traded Osweiler against the Browns, who eventually cut it before the start of the 2017 season.

While Osweiler claims a 59.8 winning percentage and a 78.7 passer in his NFL career, in the past two weeks he has far exceeded those numbers. He completed 54 of his 80 pass attempts (67.4%) for 654 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions, good for a score of 107.0. The dolphins are 1-1 with Osweiler under center. But we've seen (and laughed) Osweiler in many past games and it's still possible that Brock will make an appearance in prime time, especially against his former team.

2. DeAndre Hopkins. Enough said.

In the low scores Cowboys vs Texans Sunday evening football match of the week 5, Hopkins achieved one of the best games of the year. It was not a touchdown, but he had gained 49 yards and put two unreal rounds on the Dallas defensemen to allow Houston to score for the decisive goal. The Texans have been working overtime, but Hopkins has rewarded everyone (with the exception of Cowboy fans) for watching the game with his incredible ability to play.

Look for Hopkins to add to his season statistics tonight, which include 47 catches for 707 yards and four touchdowns.

3. Dolphins seek to change their Thursday Football l & # 39; history.

Miami looks for first win on Thursday Football since November 13, 2014 against Buffalo and his first victory on the road Thursday Football since November 19, 2009 at Carolina. To stay in tune with the East AFC Patriots, the Dolphins must win just about every game possible. That includes tonight's game with the Texans, who boast the seventh best defense in terms of yards per game and eighth of a game-by-game. This is not good news for a Dolphins offense that ranks 27th in yards per game and 23rd in points per game.

One of the things to watch for in the Dolphins attack is Frank Gore. He has 18,087 career scrimmage yards in his 14 seasons in the NFL for tonight's game. With 104 yards of scrimmage, Gore would beat Barry Sanders (18,190), a member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame, for the sixth total of scrimmage yards in league history. Players with the most melee yards in the history of the NFL:

4. The Texans defense is in the top 10 in most categories.

Guys like J.J. Watt (7.0 sacks this year), Zach Cunningham (61 tackles), Benardrick McCkinney, Tyrann Mathieu and Jadeveon Clowney make the Texans' defense impressive this season. Here's how Houston ranks in the main statistical categories:

Bags: 8th (19.0)
Verges / match: 9th (329.9)
Points / Parts: 8th (20.2)
Material: 11th (458)
Passing defensive: 16th (1,664 yards)
Quick Challenge: 10th (645 yards)
Defended Passes: 10th (32)
Forced Exhausts: 3rd (11)
Interceptions: 14th (6)

And here's how the Texans' defense compares to the Dolphins offensive in some of Bill Connelly's advanced statistics for SB Nation.

5. Texan fans are waiting for a win. Will their trust be rewarded?

SB Nation's FanPulse study, which polls the 32 NFL fans weekly, revealed that Texan fans are much more confident in their team's win tonight than Dolphins fans. That said, dolphin fans are more confident in the state of their franchise than fans of Texans.

38% of Dolphins fans trust the team's direction, while only 30% of Texan fans can say the same.

Battle Red FanPulse Blog: Texans win by 5
The FanPulse Phinsider: The dolphins lose by 2
odds: Texans -7.5 (by Bovada)