Sunday Night Football Week 5: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Houston Texans Prediction

The NFL’s No.1 team and one of the league’s best young players will take the national spotlight in Week 5 of the 2017 NFL season. The Kansas City Chiefs visit Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans on “Sunday Night Football” in a game that might be the most difficult to predict on the upcoming schedule.

Kansas City is a one-point road favorite, according to OddsShark, though the betting line is a pick’em at some Las Vegas sportsbooks. The Chiefs are the league’s only remaining undefeated team, taking on the team that might have established themselves as the favorite in the AFC South.

In a division that features a three-way tie for first place, Houston has probably been the most impressive. They’ve won two out of three games since Watson became the starter, and they defeated the Tennessee Titans, who started the season as the AFC South favorite in the eyes of many, by a whopping 43 points in Week 4.

Watching Watson each week, it’s puzzling how head coach Bill O’Brien could’ve given Tom Savage the starting nod in the season opener. The rookie has made do with a bad offensive line, using his legs to make plays. He seems to be improving with each game, throwing for four scores and rushing for a touchdown in his best performance yet against the Titans.

Watson was far from spectacular in his first start, throwing for just 125 yards. But he made the game’s biggest play, and his 49-yard touchdown run helped the Texans edge the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in Week 2 on national TV. Watson threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns in New England, only losing because of a Tom Brady touchdown drive in the final two minutes.

“He’s a great player,” Kansas City head coach Andy Reid told reporters this week. “What he did at Clemson was what we thought he would do here. But he’s a tremendous football player. He’s got some good players there around him and he’s utilizing them. As good of a player as he is, he’s an even better person. He’s a great kid. He was a real pleasure to deal with before the draft.”

Watson very well could have ended up with the Chiefs instead of the Texans. Kansas City traded up to the No.10 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, looking to take their quarterback of the future. Ultimately, they decided to go with Patrick Mahomes, and Watson was taken by the Texans two selections later.

The selection of Mahomes might have given the Chiefs an upgrade at quarterback, even though the rookie still hasn’t taken a snap. A fire has seemingly been lit under Alex Smith, and he has the NFL’s best passer rating through one-quarter of the season. Never throwing for more than 3,502 yards and 23 touchdowns in four seasons with Kansas City, the former No.1 overall pick is on pace for career highs of 4,268 yards and 32 touchdowns.

It helps that Smith is playing alongside the league’s No.1 running back. Kareem Hunt led the NFL in rushing even before he and the Chiefs concluded Week 4 with a win over the Washington Redskins on “Monday Night Football.” The rookie has totaled more than 100 yards from scrimmage in each game.

Just about everything has gone right for the Chiefs in the 2017 season. Sooner or later, their luck is going to run out, and it could very well happen Sunday night.

In some ways, playing at Houston will be Kansas City’s toughest test of the year. As good as New England might be, it’s quickly become apparent that their defense is one of the worst in football.

That certainly isn’t the case with Houston. Even without J.J. Watt putting up the kind of numbers that won him three Defensive Player of the Year awards, the Texans still have a top-five defense. Smith, Hunt and the rest of Kansas City’s offense won’t have an easy time moving the ball up and down the field at NRG Stadium.

Kirk Cousins and Washington were able to find success against the Chiefs’ defense last week, and they missed their opportunity to pull off the upset. Houston should have their chance to give Kansas City their first loss.

Houston over Kansas City, 23-20