Joey Got His Swagger Back: Bengals vs. Texans — NFL Expert Picks & Predictions (9/20)
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Fri Sep 18, 2026, 4:17 pm ET
Read Time: 5 minutes
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+3.0
-120
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+130
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-2.0
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Joe Burrow's back and the Bengals' offense couldn't be happier. The Cincinnati Bengals started their season with a win and now head down to Texas for a matchup with the Houston Texans.
One high powered offense, one extremely stingy defense; who wins? Let's jump into this matchup and figure it out.
For additional information on picks, props, moneylines, and more on today's slate, take a look at our NFL Picks Page or our NFL Odds Page.
Game Information
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Matchup Information
- Location: Reliant Stadium; Houston, Texas
- Date: Sunday, September 20th, 2026
- Kickoff: 1:00 PM EST
Quarterback Matchup
- Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow (2025: 5-3; 226.1 YPG | 17 TD | 5 INT)
- Houston Texans: CJ Stroud (2025: 9-5; 217.2 YPG | 19 TD | 8 INT)
Betting Odds
Odds via Lucky Rebel, an industry leader in the sports betting world.
Analysis & Breakdown
The Treacherous Twins
One of my favorite defensive tandems in the league, the Treacherous Twins; Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr.
These two have been wrecking offensive lines for some time now, but last week the Buffalo Bills and that OL got the best of them. The team finished with 3 sacks, but just 1 came from the Twins.
As a team, the Texans finished with a 12.9% pressure win rate, but just a 7.8% pressure rate. The Bills specifically designed their game to neutralize both Hunter and Anderson.
Quick passes, play action, extra blockers and constant chips; thats how they stopped this pass rush. This week the Texans get the Bengals, a team we've seen struggle to keep their star QB healthy and upright.
Offensively, the Texans surprised some people. Buffalo scored 36 points, but Houston was close behind with 31 points. The offense finished with 381 yards of total offense, 124 yards on the ground and 4 touchdowns in total.
Stroud threw for 274 yards, completed 68% of his passes and threw 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. On the ground, David Montgomery dominated the touches and the Bills front seven.
Montgomery finished with 3 rushing touchdowns on the day and out-touched Woody Marks 23 to 10.
The Bengals Might Be Back
Joey B. is back under center and Bengals fans couldn't be happier. Cincinnati scored 33 points, they had 381 total yards of offense and Burrow had Mike Gesecki looking 10 years younger.
The offense scored just 2 touchdowns, but this defense managed to force 4 turnovers; all coming via fumble, with one being returned to the Buccs endzone for six.
Burrow completed 25 of 35 pass attempts, threw for 254 yards and had 1 touchdown pass and 1 interception. He was good but maybe still shaking off some of that rust.
More importantly, the Bengals gave up just 1 sack in Week 1. The OL did a great job of protecting the team's investment and if that type of protection can hold up, it could be a long season for the AFC North.
Despite forcing 4 turnovers, the Bengals still found a way to give up 27 points. Baker Mayfield completed 782% of his passes for 216 yards but he did take 4 sacks.
If Cincinnati can continue to generate that kind of pressure, it would take a ton of weight off this mediocre secondary. Last year's issue was the pass rush and while this was just one game, it was promising to see some success for this Bengals DL.
Sunday's Best Bets
Tee Higgins o53.5 Receiving Yards (-111) | Lucky Rebel
This Houston defense is stingy, so don't let their Week 1 matchup with Josh Allen fool you. Points will come at a premium in this game and the Bengals will need to utilize every single weapon in their arsenal.
Speaking of weapons, let's talk about Tee Higgins. Higgins saw 6 targets in Week 1, went for 59 yards receiving and caught just 3 balls. Burrow was still shaking off some of the rust, but that volume is something I love to see.
With Derek Stingley Jr. pulling the Ja'Marr Chase matchup, I'm expecting Tee to be running somewhat free on Sunday. Last time he played the Texans, Tee caught 6 of his 9 targets for 99 yards and a touchdown. That game was also here in Houston.
In his last 10 games with Burrow under center, Tee has caught 51 of his 74 targets, he's got 661 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns. Tee is a WR1 on most other teams and now Burrow's back to get him the ball.
This matchup with Houston could be high scoring and that's only because of bad this Bengals defense is. Cincinnati's going to need to score a ton of points this season and that means Tee needs to be on top of his game.
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