Texans vs. Panthers: Point spread, over/under for Week 3

The Houston Texans are starting a rookie quarterback for his first career start on Thursday Night Football.

Davis Mills leads the 1-1 Texans against the 2-0 Carolina Panthers, who will be playing in their first road contest of the season after a homestand at Bank of America Stadium.

How do odds-makers see the game going?

According to Tipico, the Panthers are favored by -8.5, tying the Texans with the Detroit Lions as the largest home underdogs for Week 3. In terms of underdogs overall, the New York Jets are the biggest underdogs at +10.5 as they go on the road to take on the Denver Broncos.

In terms of point total, the 43.5 points is tied with the Bengals-Steelers (43.5) for the third-lowest of Week 3. Only the Saints-Patriots (42.5) and Jets-Broncos (41.5) have lower point totals.

Throughout the history of the series, four out of five games have gone under 41.5 points with the last three going that way. The last meeting was a 16-10 Panthers victory at NRG Stadium, the site of Thursday night’s matchup.

Running back David Johnson told reporters on Sept. 21 that the Texans’ offense will try to help their rookie quarterback by igniting the run game.

“We’re going to try to help him out running the ball, making it a lot less stressful for him as a rookie,” said Johnson. “I was there, everybody was there. The best thing that you can have is a great veteran group that we have, and then guys who you can lean on to talk to about it.”

A win over the Panthers would elevate Houston to 2-1, a start very few envisioned for the 2021 campaign.

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