The Houston Texans have won six games in a row as they are trying to win the AFC South this year.  The Bengals have lost three of their last four games coming into this weekend.  The Bengals are only 1-5 vs. teams with a .500 record so far this year.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  The Texans are in for a rough battle in the “Jungle” this weekend.  They are going to run the ball to protect rookie QB T.J. Yates, but it isn’t going to be easy.  The Bengals are only giving up 96.3 yards rushing per game and 3.6 yards per carry and they are going to key on stopping Arian Foster and Ben Tate.  The Bengals have a good pass rush, but if T.J. Yates has time to throw the ball, he could be effective against their secondary.  Jacoby Jones will be starting in place of Andre Johnson (hamstring) and the Texans are going to need him to stretch the field to set up shorter passes to Kevin Walter, Arian Foster, Owen Daniels and Joel Dreessen.

When the Bengals have the ball:  The Bengals are likely going to want to challenge the Texans’ run defense in this game.  Cedric Benson, Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard will likely all get a lot of work in this game against a Texans’ offense that is giving up 90.7 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry.  The Texans will look to pressure rookie QB Andy Dalton and force him into making mistakes, which he has done lately.  The Texans will likely double team A.J. Green and force Dalton to beat him throwing the ball to someone else.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 17, BENGALS 10

The Houston Texans have signed 40-year old QB Jeff Garcia.  Garcia last played in the NFL back in 2009 with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Garcia has played in 125 games (116 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 2,264 of 3,676 passes (61.6%) for 25,537 yards with 161 TD passes and 83 INTs (87.5 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 468 times for 2,140 yards (4.6 ypc) with 26 TD runs in his NFL career.  Garcia is 58-58 (50%) as a starting QB in the NFL and he has made it to the Pro Bowl four times in his career.  The Texans have released Kellen Clemens to make room on the roster for Garcia.

The Texans have signed 42-year old punter Matt Turk.  Turk played for the Texans from 2007-2010, so he should be very comfortable in returning to the team in a time of need.  He played in 5 games earlier this year and he punted the ball 27 times for 1,072 yards (39.7 avg).  Turk pinned the opposing team inside their own 20-yard line 7 times (25.9%) this year and he had 5 touchbacks (18.5%).  Turk has now played in 240 games in his NFL career and he has punted the ball 1,127 times for 47,731 yards (42.4 avg).  He also has 128 touchbacks (11.4%) and he has pinned the opposing team inside their own 20-yard line 369 times (32.7%).  The Texans were lucky that Turk wasn’t punting for someone else at this point in the season.

30-year old WR Andre Johnson has re-injured his hamstring and he is going to miss at least the next game or two.  Johnson has played in 6 games for the Texans this year and he has caught 31 passes for 471 yards (15.2 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  This is going to hurt the Texans’ passing game big time as T.J. Yates was looking for Johnson a lot last week before his injury.  Johnson has now caught 704 passes for 9,635 yards (13.7 avg) with 52 TD grabs in his first 9 years with the Texans.  He is quite simply, the best offensive player in Texans’ franchise history.  The Texans will need Jacoby Jones and Kevin Walter will have to step up while Johnson is out of action.

The Texans have lost 24-year old rookie punter Brett Hartmann for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL.  He played in 12 games for the Texans this year and he punted the ball 58 times for 2,573 yards (44.4 avg).  Hartmann had 7 touchbacks (12.1%) and he pinned the opposition inside their own 20-yard line 15 times (25.9%).  This is a big blow to the Texans as Hartmann proved to be really good at placing the ball where he wanted to.

The Texans played smash mouth football yesterday offensively and the defense was outstanding, as usual.  T.J. Yates was solid in his first NFL start as he completed 12 of 25 passes (48%) for 188 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 10 yards (5.0 avg) yesterday.  Arian Foster had a very heavy workload yesterday with 31 carries for 111 yards (3.6 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Ben Tate also was effective with 11 carries for 41 yards (3.7 ypc) and 3 catches for 41 yards (13.7 avg).  WR Andre Johnson led the way in the passing game for the Texans with 4 grabs for 97 yards (24.3 avg) in this game.  TEs Owen Daniels (3 rec, 35 yards) and Joel Dreessen (1 rec, 3 yards, TD) also helped out in the passing game.  The Texans finished up with 162 yards rushing on 44 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 12 of 25 passes (48%) for 175 yards as they had possession of the ball for 35:04.

The defense was outstanding for the Texans yesterday.  LB Brian Cushing (6 tackles and 2 QB hits), safety Glover Quin (6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 2 passes defensed) and OLB Brooks Reed (5 tackles) led the way for the Texans on D in this game.  CBs Jason Allen and Kareem Jackson pitched in with 1 interception apiece yesterday.  The Falcons finished up with 70 yards rushing on 18 carries (3.9 ypc) and they also completed 20 of 46 passes (43.5%) for 267 yards.  The Texans are now 9-3 on the season.

The Texans have won five games in a row and they are 4-1 at home on the year, losing to only a very inspired Raiders’ team the day after the death of their owner Al Davis.  But, the Texans are going into this game with rookie T.J. Yates at QB adding intrigue to this game.  The Falcons have won two games in a row as they are starting to get things back on track.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  The Texans are going to run the ball a lot this Sunday.  Arian Foster and Ben Tate are going to have to likely work for every yard they get as the Falcons are only giving up 83.5 yards rushing per game and 3.7 yards per carry so far this year.  But, the Falcons don’t have much of a pass rush and they are giving up 245.7 yards passing per game so far this year, so the stage is set of rookie QB T.J. Yates to make some plays this Sunday.  The Falcons will likely be double covering Andre Johnson, forcing T.J. Yates to throw the ball to someone else.  So Owen Daniels, Jacoby Jones and Kevin Walter will need to step up this weekend.

When the Falcons have the ball:  The Texans are likely going to key on RB Michael Turner and dare Matt Ryan to try to beat them through the air.  The Texans have 35 sacks and 15 interceptions already this year as they have a lot of playmakers to stop opposing passing game.  Opposing QBs only have a 62.1 QB Rating when playing the Texans.  QB Matt Ryan and his band of WRs and TEs are definitely going to challenge the Texans’ D this weekend.  Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez are good at catching shorter passes while Harry Douglas and Julio Jones get the deeper shots.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 20, FALCONS 17