Houston Texans vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Key Matchups For Week 13 Game

This game against the Houston Texans is a must-win for the Philadelphia Eagles. Not only do they need to win this to avoid a losing streak, but they also need a win to build up their confidence following that horrible loss in the Windy City.

The Houston Texans are a good team, but by no means are they great. They have a terrible defense that gives up more big plays than a Vegas handicapper. Their main weapon is wide receiver Andre Johnson. Johnson is a huge, physical wide receiver who is fresh off of a 1st round knockout against Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan.

The Eagles will face the best wide receiver in the NFL on Thursday and it is imperative that they double, triple and quadruple cover him. If the ball is thrown his way in the endzone, it's a done deal.

Arian Foster has blossomed into very high-profile running back. He is quick and physical and can make defenders miss. The Eagles will have to plug up all of the holes and actually tackle this guy. There can't be cheesy arm tackling or any of that nonsense. Leg and wrap tackles are a must when defending Foster.

DeSean Jackson needs to turn his alligator arms around. He needs to gain his confidence back and catch those important balls. He shouldn't have a problem against that horrible Texan secondary, though. I'm going to set the over/under on the deep play to about 4. Big game for D-Jack.

LeSean McCoy is a genuine player. He plays with heart and wants to win. Mornhinweg and Reid need to get him involved a lot more, but it doesn't end there.

They also need to involve Jerome Harrison A LOT more. He had specks of greatness against the Redskins. He could be a very big contributor to this offense and we all know that the Eagles offense runs more fluidly with a solid balance of pass/run.

The Eagles' defensive line needs to get pressure on Matt Schaub. In the games vs. the Giants and Bears, the front four didn't get nearly enough pressure on the quarterback. They made the Bears' offensive line look like a Spartan phalanx.

I'm still not sold on Brandon Graham. I loved him in college, but I think he is playing out of position. There is a difference between a 4-3 DE and a 3-4 OLB.

A HUGE difference.

Trent Cole does his best and that is all we can ask. The defensive tackles are very good against the run, but they cannot penetrate in the pass rush. That's a problem.

Asante Samuel has returned to the practice field in a limited fashion. This is a good thing.

Joselio Hanson was horrible vs. the Bears. I expected nothing better since he's not a true cornerback. He's very good in nickel situations, but not on the outside. Trevard Lindley played well in his few snaps, but he definitely looked like a rookie. His hip fluidity was out of whack and it seemed that he wasn't playing with much confidence.

Stewart Bradley has been a force in the middle all season and the Eagles' defense needs him to operate correctly. However, he played pretty poorly vs. the Bears. He had a bunch of missed tackles that needed to be made. Ernie Sims looked very good, as usual, and Moses Fokou missed a few here and there, but overall had a decent performance.

This game should be a blowout win for the Eagles.

Key phrase: should be.

The depth of the Texans offense and defense is horrendous. It seems as though their secondary plays the run on every down and they rely solely on Andre Johnson on the offensive side of the ball. Not that that's a bad thing.