After their devastating loss to the Lions, the Chargers will look to get back on track at home against the Texans. Meanwhile, Houston will be looking to carry the momentum after their Week 2 victory against the Jaguars.
There will be some intriguing matchups on both sides of the ball that could ultimately determine the outcome of the game.
With that, here are three key matchups to watch when the Bolts take on the Texans in Week 3.
OT’s Trent Scott, Sam Tevi vs. EDGE J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus
Scott and Tevi had a solid performance in Week 2 against the Lions defensive line, allowing a couple pressures and only one sack on the afternoon. The bottomline is that it was a much better outing than the regular season opener, but their competition only becomes stiffer with Watt and Mercilus lined up across from them.
Watt is such a force to be reckoned with that he is often having to be double teamed. When Watt becomes double teamed, it only leaves more opportunities for other players to get into the backfield, which is what Mercilus has completely taken advantage of.
Back at his natural role as a pass-rusher, Mercilus has amassed three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. Watt doesn’t have the stat line that his teammate does, but he has still been a problem for opposing offensive tackles, which means Tevi and Scott will once again have to play sharp in order for quarterback Philip Rivers to have success.
CB’s Casey Hayward, Brandon Facyson vs. WR DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller
The Chargers will have another prolific wide receiver duo that they will be tasked with shutting down.
Hopkins is arguably one of the best in the league at his position and is coming off a campaign that resulted in a career-best 1,572 yards and 11 touchdown. Meanwhile, Fuller missed the last nine games, but he’s already been one of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s favorite targets.
Hayward has done a stellar job the first two games erasing the wide receivers he has had to shadow. On the other hand, offenses continue to exploit Facyson’s inexperience by attacking his side.
We know that Houston is going to resort to Facyson’s side early and often. They will look to utilize Fuller’s speed to beat Facyson deep. Meanwhile, Watson will be targeting his favorite target, Hopkins quite often in hopes that he can use his sure hands to catch everything thrown his way.
Defensive line, LB Thomas Davis vs. RB Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson
The Chargers run defense improved in Week 2 after their woeful outing in the regular season opener where they were gashed for 209 yards. But even though this area looked better, it doesn’t mean they are to be neglected.
Hyde and Johnson have been a pleasant one-two punch, but it’s Hyde that’s running like he wants to finish as a top-5 running back. Through two games, he has rushed for 173 yards on 30 carries. Him and Johnson are averaging 5.8 yards per carry.
Los Angeles had a lot of success during the second half of last weekend’s game because the defensive tackles were covering every gap, the linebackers were reading, reacting correctly and bringing down the backs under control and the edge rushers were disrupting plays in the backfield, too.
They will have to keep that same approach if they want to prevent the Texans from having a field day.
