Panthers at Texans
THE STORY: A rookie quarterback has his team rolling toward the playoffs – but it isn't Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. Fellow rookie T.J. Yates and the Houston Texans have already clinched their first AFC South title, but they'll look to extend their seven-game winning streak and strengthen their chances of locking down the AFC's top seed in the playoffs when they host Newton and the Panthers on Sunday at Reliant Stadium. The Texans have won both previous meetings, in 2003 and 2007.
TV: FOX, 1 p.m. ET. LINE: Texans -6, O/U 45
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (4-9): Newton continues his prolific season – his 28 total touchdowns are the most by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, and his 13 rushing touchdowns are the most for any quarterback in a season – and veteran WR Steve Smith has put up an NFC-best 1,217 receiving yards to surpass 10,000 career yards, but the Panthers continue to struggle to close out games. They blew a 16-point halftime lead in a 31-23 home loss to Atlanta last week and have lost six games by eight points or less.
ABOUT THE TEXANS (10-3): Yates was the third-string quarterback until Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart went down, but the rookie out of North Carolina – the first Tar Heel quarterback to start in the NFL – has won his first two starts, leading winning drives in the fourth quarter of each. Yates passed for a career-high 300 yards and two touchdowns in last week's 20-19 win at Cincinnati, tossing a 6-yard touchdown to Kevin Walter with two seconds left. Even more impressive, Yates has done it without star WR Andre Johnson. Johnson has missed eight of the past nine games because of hamstring injuries and is not expected to play Sunday. He sat out six games with an injured right hamstring and injured the left hamstring in his first game back two weeks ago.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Texans RB Arian Foster needs 43 rushing yards to reach 1,000 for the second consecutive season. Foster and Ben Tate are the only running back duo in the league with more than 800 rushing yards apiece this season.
2. Newton has 3,573 passing yards, joining Peyton Manning and Sam Bradford as the only rookies in NFL history to pass for more than 3,500 yards.
3. Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will miss the game after undergoing kidney and gall bladder surgery.