<\/p>\n
Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) looks to pass under pressure from Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (13) during the second half of an NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
FRISCO \u2014 A Week 4 game between the Cowboys and Texans <\/a>presents two desperate teams. Houston is 0-3 for the second consecutive year. The Texans have battled from such difficulties before and reached the postseason in 2025 and 2023 (0-2 start).\u00a0<\/p>\n The Cowboys have a win, Week 2 against Washington. A tough loss to the Ravens last week <\/a>has pushed them to 1-2, with a short week against Tampa Bay on Thursday next.<\/p>\n Houston has won two of the last three meetings, including a 34-10 win in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n We look at five things to watch on Sunday:<\/p>\n Sacks and more sacks<\/p>\n After three weeks, the Cowboys have two sacks while their opponent has 11. Maybe the appearance of Hall of Famer Charles Haley <\/a>at Thursday\u2019s practice will help the Cowboys’ pass rushers. If Joey Porter Jr.<\/a> plays Sunday at corner, that could also help the pass rush. Porter\u2019s presence might take a receiver out and allow some pass rushers to take down the quarterback.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStarts with stopping the run and getting them in third-and-longs and then we got to get after the passer,\u201d defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. \u201cWe got to finish at the end of the day. That\u2019s what we talk about all the time as a defensive line, as a team. And we got to get that first one and I think it\u2019s going to get us rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the run game going<\/p>\n Dallas Cowboys running back Javonte Williams (33) gets past Baltimore Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson (32) during the first half of an NFL football game at Maracan\u00e3 Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The Cowboys rushed for a season-high 148 yards in the loss to the Ravens<\/a>. There were four runs of 10 or more yards in that contest, including a 22-yard gain by running back Javonte Williams. Can the run success continue against the Texans? That defensive unit is fifth in the NFL, allowing 86.7 yards per game.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI think I said this early and I really do think it\u2019s the case every year,\u201d offensive coordinator\u00a0Klayton Adams said. \u201cIt\u2019s been more extreme this year because of the quarterback and the playmakers that we have outside. But you\u2019re going to find out early in the season what people have been thinking about all offseason. So we have 17 games on tape and there are people, they\u2019re just sitting and looking at it all year. It\u2019s OK. Well, how do you defend this team? And we kind of got a wake-up call on that in Week 1. It\u2019s kind of been the exact same thing ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n Adams added the Cowboys have adjusted to teams sneaking defenders near the line of scrimmage to make run stops. But that opens up the middle of the field for the offense if a pass play is called.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can get through it and handle those movements and those pressures and make sure that the guy who\u2019s doing it, whether it\u2019s the nickel or one of the [linebackers] is part of your ID, you got a chance of getting through and running on one of those\u00a0DBs.\u201d<\/p>\n Pressure on QB C.J. Stroud<\/p>\n It seemed Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was headed toward a productive career. He was named to a Pro Bowl in his rookie season in 2023, but his career hasn\u2019t blossomed. He is off to a so-so start. He\u2019s completed 60% of his passes, which is a career low. He\u2019s also been sacked 10 times. Stroud has three touchdown passes and no interceptions. He is a mobile quarterback, something that\u2019s given the Cowboys struggles this season.<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The pressure will be intense on\u00a0Stroud to get the Texans out of an 0-3 start. In two of his three seasons, Stroud\u2019s teams started the year winless, including an 0-3 mark last season. Houston has reached the postseason in every season Stroud has been the starter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Who starts at corner?<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (24) reacts after an interception during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo\/Matt Durisko)<\/p>\n Matt Durisko\/AP<\/p>\n Whether newly acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr. <\/a>starts or not against the Texans, the depth at the position will get tested. If Porter doesn\u2019t start, the Cowboys can move either\u00a0Caelen Carson or Ameer Speed into the starting lineup. Carson has eight starts in three seasons. Speed, while playing for five teams, has never started an NFL game. The Cowboys also could elevate Reddy Steward, Alex Austin or Tyrek Funderburk from the practice squad for depth or possibly a start.\u00a0All three of those players were signed this week<\/a>. It seems the Cowboys would lean on Speed if Porter doesn\u2019t play.\u00a0<\/p>\n International trip impact<\/p>\n The NFL’s grand experiment, or basically what happens to a team that plays overseas \u2014 and whether sports science can help or not \u2014 reaches the Cowboys and the Ravens this week. In the last two seasons, the NFL has conducted eight international games. Three teams (Jets, Falcons and Chiefs) that lost in their international game also lost the next week. The Rams, Vikings and Browns lost in their international game but won the next contest. Six teams had a bye following their international contest. The 49ers, Broncos and Chargers won their international game and won the following week. The Vikings had two international games last season, splitting between winning an international game and losing the next week or losing abroad then winning the next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) looks to pass under pressure from Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (13)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,732,93042,88229],"class_list":["post-454423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-article","tag-tp-dallas-cowboys","tag-tp-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n