Houston Texans: 3 players key to winning the interstate showdown vs. the Cowboys
By T.A. Mock
Benardrick McKinney, LB
The Houston Texans awarded Benardrick McKinney with a shiny new contract this offseason for his play the past three years. He very much deserved this contract as he performed extremely well and quickly became the leader and quarterback of the defense.
However, he and fellow linebacker Zach Cunningham have had up and down seasons thus far. Neither has stuck out nor taken the next step they were expected to. Both guys are extremely athletic and big, the perfect guys you look for in linebackers in today’s NFL. But, they’ve been exposed in a bunch of different aspects of their game.
Both guys have struggled in coverage this year, getting mixed up by quicker routes and faster players. Fortunately, they haven’t been all bad, McKinney’s tackling has been very good this year and that’s exactly what the Texans are going to need this week.
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The Cowboys field one of the game’s best running backs in the game in Ezekiel Elliot. Zeek has been unstoppable behind the Cowboys stout offensive line this year. He’s racked up the yards as he’s gaining them at a clip of 5.8 yards a carry. However, he’s only managed two touchdowns.
Zeek is essentially the Cowboys only offense this year. Dak Prescott is still struggling and their wide receiving corps is full number twos and threes and unproven rookies. So, stopping Zeek the way to completely shut down this offense.
McKinney is going to be key in shutting him down. He has the ability to plug a hole quickly or race to edge. The Texans will need that ability if they want to get their second win of the season.