Pro Football Focus Previews Texans-Bengals On Monday Night Football

Pro Football Focus has their preview of this week's Monday Night Football game between the 3-5 Houston Texans and the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals.  Gotta admit, I'm not too thrilled about seeing the words "best" and "highest" used so frequently in connection with various Bengals players.

Texans Overview:

· Here’s our game analysis for Houston’s Week 8 win over the Titans.

· Read about why the Texans should have hope over the second-half of the season.

· DeAndre Hopkins ranks fifth in the league with a +13.3 rating overall rating, and he ranks 10th in the league with a drop rate of 5.71 (four drops out of 70 catchable balls).

· Brandon Brooks leads the Texans offensive line with a +6.6 overall rating, while Derek Newton is Houston’s worst-rated lineman with a -10.1 rating.

· Jadeveon Clowney (+9.8, 10th) and Whitney Mercilus (+9.2, 12th) are two of the highest rated 3-4 outside linebackers. Clowney ranks second with a run stop rating of +10.1.

· J.J. Watt is by far the best 3-4 defensive end with a +42.1 overall rating, (15.7 better than the next closest player). Watt has recorded 31 stops, 20 QB hurries, 18 QB hits and eight sacks.

· Brian Cushing (-4.2 overall) has struggled in coverage, allowing 20 receptions on 23 targets for 218 yards and an NFL QB rating of 106.2 when QBs target him which ranks him 41st out of 56 qualifying linebackers.

Memo to Romeo Crennel: If you're thinking about using Cushing to cover Tyler Eifert on Monday night, you should probably think again.

Bengals Overview:

· Here’s a look back at Cincinnati’s blowout win over the Cleveland Browns.

· Check out where Andy Dalton ranks amongst the Top 10 quarterbacks in the league this year.

· Former first-round pick Tyler Eifert has burst on to the scene this year, ranking second of all tight ends with a +13.1 rating. Read about Eifert’s productivity here.

· Andrew Whitworth is rated as the fifth-best tackle per PFF (+18.3), and he has the best pass blocking efficiency rating (98.9) having allowed zero sacks and just four hurries all season.

· Andy Dalton (+17.2) holds the second-highest PFF QB rating (99.63) behind only Tom Brady and he has the third-best accuracy percentage at 78.9 percent.

· Defensive Tackle Geno Atkins is the fourth-rated tackle in the league with a +25.2 rating including a +14.3 pass rush rating and a +10.4 run stop rating.

· Adam Jones (479 snaps) ranks as the fourth-best corner in the league with a +10.5 rating (20-of-32 for 196 yards and 0 TDs), while Dre Kirkpatrick (527 snaps) ranks 109th out of 111 cornerbacks with a -16.2 rating (31-of-55 for 373 yards and 1 TD).

· Cincinnati has the league’s top-rated offense with a +53.2 rating, led by the aforementioned Whitworth, Eifert, Dalton and A.J. Green (+11.1).

Surely it can't be all sunshine and lollipops for the Bengals. Yet is seems sadly clear, at least so far this season, that their vulnerabilities are few and difficult to exploit.

Texans vs Bengals coverage
Cincy Jungle