Scott Spreitzer's
Thursday Night NFL Hammer! *25-14, 64% NFL Run!
I'm playing the Broncos on Thursday night. Houston is billing this one as their biggest game since the NFL returned to the city. But the fact is, the secondary is incredibly banged-up. It's bad timing for injuries on the defensive side of the ball because the Broncos' offense is beginning to click. Denver piled up over 450 yards last week and QB Jay Cutler drilled the Kansas City DBs. While Denver has a couple of wideouts, including Marshall, listed as questionable, I expect them to be able to run the ball quite well with Selvin Young facing the league's 23rd ranked run defense. Meanwhile, the Denver defense will face a bunch of backups this week. Houston will start an all-reservce offensive backfield due to injuries to their starters at RB and QB. In fact, Sage Rosenfels gets the start under center and rookie Darius Walker looks like he'll get the nod at RB. The Texans already rank just 24th in the league in running the ball, and they've allowed 33 sacks on the season, the league's second highest mark. It won't help Houston's cause that Andre Johnson will be defended by Champ Bailey. That's an even matchup, head-to-head, but a position they could use an advantage in due to the injuries. Again, it's a case of bad timing for the Texans. The replacement-led offense will face a Denver defense that's fresh off a five-sack game against another injury-riddled offense in Kansas City. Houston will be sky-high for this one and both teams need a win to increase their playoff chances. But Houston has too many injuries in key areas to turn high emotion into a physical win. Look for Denver to handle the Texans and pull away in the second half. The Broncos are the play on Thursday. Thanks! GL! Scott.
