The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Texans vs. Browns Week 10 matchup.
Find a breakdown of every Week 10 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Houston | Rank | @ | Cleveland | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -4.5 | Spread | 4.5 | ||
| 22.0 | Implied Total | 17.5 | ||
| 26.1 | 9 | Points/Gm | 17.9 | 29 |
| 24.0 | 18 | Points All./Gm | 21.8 | 13 |
| 62.0 | 16 | Plays/Gm | 61.6 | 20 |
| 64.3 | 22 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 63.6 | 20 |
| 5.8 | 8 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.0 | 23 |
| 5.3 | 15 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.2 | 12 |
| 39.3% | 25 | Rush% | 42.1% | 20 |
| 60.7% | 8 | Pass% | 57.9% | 13 |
| 40.7% | 10 | Opp. Rush % | 43.5% | 17 |
| 59.3% | 23 | Opp. Pass % | 56.5% | 16 |
- Games involving the Browns are averaging 39.7 combined points per game, 31st in the league.
- The Texans average 2.87 points per drive over their past five games, 3rd in the league.
- The Browns have converted a league-low 39.1% (9 of 23) of red-zone trips into touchdowns.
- Cleveland quarterbacks have taken a sack on a league-worst 13.4% of dropbacks.
- Houston has a 10.5% sack rate on opponent dropbacks, 2nd in the league.
- Houston has turned the ball over on a league-low 4.5% of possessions.
Trust = spike production for that player
Texans vs. Browns Fantasy Quarterback Preview
C.J. Stroud
Stroud came out of the bye on fire, lighting up the Chargers for 384 passing yards and 5 touchdowns.
His 35.4 fantasy points were the second-most in his career.
Stroud is delivering high leverage plays while protecting himself from negative plays.
Stroud has climbed to seventh in the NFL in rate of dropbacks that have gained 1.0 EPA or more (26.6%) while only 13.5% of his dropbacks have lost 1.0 EPA or worse (3rd).
Only Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence have a better ratio of boom to bust dropbacks than Stroud.
Stroud has now been a top-five scorer in three of his past five games, with a low-scoring week of QB14 over that stretch.
He has finished in the back half of weekly scoring just once this season.
The Texans have a lower-end team total here against a good pass defense, but Stroud is still on the board as a higher-end QB2.
Stroud and this passing game will be challenged here.
The way to beat the Browns is to attack them on the ground, and that is not the Houston offense's game.
Cleveland has a 62.5% success rate against passing plays (2nd) compared to a 57.8% success rate against the run (29th).
The Texans have a 47.5% success rate on passing plays (8th) compared to a 36.4% rate on runs (20th).
The Browns rank ninth in passing points allowed (12.8 per game), allowing a 59.6% completion rate (2nd), 6.7 yards per pass attempt (11th), and a 4% touchdown rate (11th).
Cleveland is playing a different game than the rest of the league this season.
They have played man coverage on a league-high 43.4% of defensive snaps.
The league rate is 18.8%.
The next closest team (New England) is at 28.5%.
Stroud has faced man coverage on 20.1% of his dropbacks (14th), completing 63.8% of his passes (7th) for 6.9 Y/A (14th) with 5 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Of course, facing man coverage from the Colts, Cowboys, or Titans is different than facing this defense.
Stroud has faced just one pass defense that is top-10 in yards allowed per pass attempt (Cleveland is 11th).
That was the Giants.
In that game, Stroud had a season-low 153 passing yards and 5.5 yards per pass attempt.
Browns QB
Early reports are that Cleveland is expected to go back to Deshaun Watson as the starter after he was held out last week, but Todd Monken walked that back on Tuesday, failing to name a starter just yet.
Watson cleared concussion late last week, but the Browns elected to make him inactive since Shedeur Sanders had practiced in full all week in preparation to start.
Sanders went 19 of 31 (61.3%) for 297 yards (9.6 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns.
Through three quarters, Sanders was 7 of 12 (58.3%) for 100 yards, taking 4 sacks.
In the fourth quarter and overtime, Sanders then went 12 of 19 (63.2%) for 197 yards (10.4 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns.
Watson had thrown for 300 yards in back-to-back games for the first time since 2021 before sitting out last week.
He has thrown for 8.3 and 8.6 yards per pass attempt in his past two games, his first games with 8.0 Y/A in back-to-back weeks since he was with Houston in 2021.
He is rushing for 27.1 yards per game and 3.5 points per game (QB7).
He has been capped in fantasy due to his lack of touchdown production.
Watson has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 5, and he has not thrown multiple touchdown passes in a game since Week 3.
Whoever Monken names as a starter is a QB2.
Houston continues to be a boom-or-bust pass defense.
They are 11th in success rate against the pass (59.3%), but they have allowed big gains.
24.9% of the passes against Houston have gained 10 or more yards (24.9%), and 10.2% have gained 20-plus yards (29th).
They allowed two 50-plus-yard pass plays last week to the Chargers.
Texans vs. Browns Fantasy Running Back Preview
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More Week 10 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Week 10 NFL Games | Time |
|---|---|
| Commanders @ Giants | Thursday Night Football |
| Patriots vs. Lions | Sunday -- 9:30 a.m. ET |
| Chiefs @ Falcons | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Texans @ Browns | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Vikings @ Packers | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Jaguars @ Titans | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Dolphins @ Colts | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Panthers @ Saints | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bills @ Jets | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Seahawks @ Raiders | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Rams @ Cardinals | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| 49ers @ Cowboys | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Steelers @ Bengals | Sunday Night Football |
| Chargers @ Ravens | Monday Night Football |
