We may have the worst quarterback match-up we have ever seen in the Wild Card Round when the Oakland Raiders travel to take on the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2017 NFL Playoffs on Saturday. Oakland was seen as a trendy upset pick to win the AFC until Derek Carr suffered a broken leg late in the Raiders victory over the Colts, but now looks like an also-ran in the conference. As for Houston, the Texans thought they had their quarterback when they signed Brock Osweiler to a big deal in the offseason, but he has played so poorly that he was replaced by Tom Savage, but may be the starter for this one.
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NFL Playoff Odds at BookMaker.eu
Texans -3.5
Raiders +3.5
Over/Under 36.5
When the Texans Have the Ball…
The big question for Houston will be which quarterback is under center in this game. As of now, no one knows whether it will be Savage or Osweiler that suits up after Savage suffered a concussion in the Texans’ meaningless season finale against the Titans.
Osweiler was one of the most ineffective quarterbacks in the NFL this season, ranking second-to-last in the DYAR metric on Football Outsiders only in front of Jared Goff. DYAR is designed to measure a quarterback’s value and Osweiler was one of just 10 quarterbacks in the league that were assessed to have a negative value.
Savage wasn’t much better. He has played in five games over his three-year NFL career and has yet to throw a touchdown pass in 92 pass attempts. He has been the king of the check down with a paltry 6.39 yards per pass attempt and although Oakland has one of the more porous defenses of any playoff team, it’s unlikely he would be able to find much success.
When the Raiders Have the Ball…
Oakland is in the same situation as Houston with regards to its quarterback. The Raiders are hopeful that Matt McGloin will be able to play after getting injured in the season finale against Denver. Although McGloin wasn’t good against the Broncos, he has starting experience and the Raiders feel more confident in him than they do in rookie Connor Cook.
Cook saw his first action of the season against Denver and wasn’t half bad for a rookie. There have been questions about his leadership from his time at Michigan State, but if he plays against Houston all Oakland will ask him to do is not turn the ball over. He has some weapons in Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree and the Raiders will devise a strategy to get them the ball in space as much as possible.
The receivers and tight ends will see a lot of work as the running game isn’t going to have much success against Houston. When these two teams met earlier in the year, the Raiders managed just 1.5 yards a carry and it’s unlikely they will be able to fare much better without Carr.
The X Factor
Can one of the superstar receivers make a play in this one? Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins are two of the best wide-outs in the league but won’t see a lot of good balls with these quarterbacks. Cooper had a 1000-yard season, but hasn’t cracked 60 yards receiving in a game since October as more defenses have focused on him. Against a Houston defense that is great at stopping the run though, the Raiders are going to need the best performance they can get from Cooper.
You’ve got to feel for Hopkins. He was expected to have a big year with Osweiler throwing him passes instead of Brian Hoyer and was looking to establish himself as being in the same class as Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham Jr. However, those hopes never took off as Osweiler’s struggles grew with each passing week and Hopkins had just two 100-yard games this season. Hopkins has elite speed and the Raiders secondary has given up big plays this season.
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