Here’s why the Cowboys should actually love facing the Texans in Week 11

There’s little doubt about Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud being one of the best young signal callers in the league, but he’s had an uneven second season. When he’s been ‘on’ he’s near the top of the league in passing yards and completion percentage per game.

However, it has been a struggle for Stroud lately, which has coincided with losing two of his top wide receivers. In his last five games, all without WR Nico Collins and two without WR Stefon Diggs, Stroud has thrown for just five touchdowns, is averaging just over 197 yards passing per game and his completion percentage is under 55%. Take out the win over a bad New England Patriots team and Stroud has thrown for just two scores in his last five outings.

That’s some bad football Stroud is playing, and he took responsibility for last week’s poor performance.

The good news for the Texans is they are likely to get Collins back at WR. However, it will be his first game coming off a hamstring injury, so the Cowboys might not have to deal with Collins at 100%, or playing against him at his usual number of snaps.

Even with Collins returning, Stroud’s weapons won’t be the same as they were when he was thriving. Diggs is out for the remainder of the season and the young QB is still trying to get comfortable with his new receiving options.

Defending Stroud now feels much easier than it did when the schedule came out.

Both Texas teams seem to have something in common, poor offensive line play. While the Cowboys are the middle of the road in allowing sacks, the Texans are third worst at giving them up. Stroud has been sacked 34 times this season, after being taken down just 38 times his rookie year.

It’s an offensive line that is giving up pressure and Stroud is trying to make plays instead of throwing the ball away. In the last four games, the Texans have allowed 18 sacks, and Stroud hasn’t been sacked less than two times in any of their matchups.

The Cowboys are coming off their second-best pass rushing output against one of the better offensive lines in the league. Mike Zimmer’s unit came away with five sacks in Week 10, which was aided by the return of elite edge rusher Micah Parsons, who was responsible for two.

Injuries aren’t helping the Texans on the offensive line; they don’t have the horses up front. Starting left guard Kenyon Green is on IR with a shoulder injury and left tackle Laremy Tunsil has been battling a knee injury, leaving him questionable for the Week 11 matchup.

If Tunsil can’t go, backup Blake Fisher, who has been limited in practice this week with a concussion, might get the nod. If neither play, the Cowboys’ defense gets a third-string tackle.

That’s a thin group at OL, and even with Tunsil likely to play, the Cowboys will have opportunities to get to the QB. Dallas’ defense has to love the matchup as they’re getting healthier at pass rusher.

Here’s another place where the two teams mirror each other, second half play. It’s well documented how poorly the Cowboys have played in the third quarter, but the Texans aren’t much better. Houston’s offense averages just 9.1 points a game after halftime, but they’ve been even worse in the third quarter where they average a paltry 3.2 points. Take away the 13-point third quarter explosion against the Patriots, and that number drops to an anemic 1.9 ppg in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

Recently it’s been an even bigger struggle to score at all in the final 30 minutes of a game. In their last four outings, the Texans haven’t scored a second-half touchdown, and they were shut out in last week’s loss.

In total, the Texans have just six second-half touchdowns on the year, with five coming in two games. In their other eight games, they’ve managed to score one measly touchdown in the last two quarters.

This game might be won by whoever can come out and play their best after halftime. It hasn’t been the strong suit for the Cowboys this year, but the Texans have been equally bad. In a rare instance, the Cowboys must love their chances to win the second half. Do that, and they may upset the Texans in Week 11.