Raiders at Texans
THE STORY: One star returns and another goes on the shelf. The Houston Texans brought their explosive offense to the ground with the return of running back Arian Foster last weekend, but lost Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Johnson to a hamstring pull in the first half. Johnson’s absence will be a plus for the Oakland Raiders, who rank 29th in the NFL on defense and are coming off a home loss in which they surrendered 31 points. The Raiders will be looking to bounce back on the road when they visit the Texans on Sunday.
TV: CBS, 1 p.m. ET. LINE: Texans -6, O/U 48.5
ABOUT THE RAIDERS (2-2): Oakland piled up 504 yards of total offense on the sieve-like defense of the New England Patriots last week but only managed to turn those into 19 points in the loss. Jason Campbell tossed a pair of interceptions and Darren McFadden was held to 75 yards on 14 carries. McFadden could have a bigger game this week, as the strength of the Houston defense is in defending the pass. The Texans are allowing an average of 108.8 yards rushing.
ABOUT THE TEXANS (3-1): Foster missed most of the first three games with a hamstring injury but looked in midseason form last Sunday, gashing the Pittsburgh Steelers for 155 yards and a touchdown in a 17-10 victory. Houston had intended to work Foster back into the offense slowly, but a groin injury to backup Ben Tate accelerated the process. Johnson is out indefinitely, putting more pressure on Foster and the running game. The Texans should have rolled over Pittsburgh last Sunday but were hurt by a number of big penalties, including two that wiped away touchdowns.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Campbell has completed 65.1 percent of his throws and posted a 105.4 passer rating in his last five road games.
2. Houston has won five of the six meetings between the teams, including victories in each of the previous two seasons.
3. The Texans are first in the AFC with 12 sacks while Oakland is tied for second with 11.