russell wilson
The Seahawks were the biggest favorites of Week 3. Reuters

Through the first three weeks of the 2013 NFL season, no one has been more impressive from the NFC than the Seattle Seahawks. In Week 4, they’ll face their toughest test yet.

Seattle is set to visit the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon. The defending AFC South champs are 1-2, on the year.

The Texans wouldn’t be home underdog against many teams in the NFL, but the Seahawks appear to be one of the few exceptions. The betting line opened the week as a pick’em but Seattle now finds themselves as 2.5-point favorites, according to the latest point spread at Las Vegas casinos.

The contest has the potential to be the lowest scoring of the week. Only two other games have a over/under lower than the 41.5 in Houston. That’s because the Seahawks and Texans rank No.1 and No.2 in total yards allowed. The two teams combined yards allowed per game of 490.7 is less than three yards more than the last ranked Washington Redskins.

The number of points Houston has given up, however, doesn’t reflect how well the defense has played. Only seven teams have allowed fewer points than the Texans. Houston’s struggles have resulted from poor special teams play and turnovers that have resulted in scores for the opposition. In their Week 3 loss to the Ravens, Baltimore scored touchdowns off a punt return and interception.

Houston won’t have any hopes of winning if they give up points in a similar fashion on Sunday. They’ll already have their hands full with Russell Wilson 109.6 passer rating falls behind only Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning.

Fortunately for Houston, it appears an injury won’t keep their No.1 wide receiver off the field. Andre Johnson is expected to make the start, depite suffering a knee injury against Baltimore. With Johnson banged up in the early going, rookie DeAndre Hopkins has been targeted a lot by Matt Schaub catching 18 balls for 243 yards.

Start: 1 p.m. ET

Betting Odds: Seattle-2.5, 41.5

TV Channel: FOX

Live Stream Online: NFL Sunday Ticket Max

Prediction: Houston 20, Seattle 17

NFL National Football League