Heaps: Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny should have a big game vs Texans
Dec 10, 2021, 1:17 PM | Updated: 1:20 pm
Rashaad Penny of the Seattle Seahawks rushes against Dontae Johnson of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Lumen Field. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Seahawks got a win over the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday and this week, they’ll look to get two wins in a row when they travel to Houston to take on the 2-10 Texans.
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The odds that the Seahawks can sneak into the playoffs after a 4-8 start to the year are slim, but they do start their final five-game stretch of the season with a very favorable matchup against the Texans.
Former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps thinks there’s an area the Seahawks can exploit against the Texans this weekend as well. He explained what that was during Friday’s edition of Jake and Stacy on 710 ESPN Seattle.
“The Houston Texans, they are the worst run defense in the league giving up 144 yards per game and it is not by accident and it is not an outlier,” Heaps said. “It’s not like you had, let’s say five games, where you gave up an insane amount of yardage but recent history shows that they’ve turned that over and they’re playing better defense from a run game perspective. No, every game they have struggled in their run defense.”
The Texans’ inability to stop the run now presents a challenge to the Seahawks’ offensive line, Heaps said, to take the game over and win their matchups. If that happens, one player in the backfield should greatly benefit as a result.
“If they can create lanes, if they can create holes, guess what? Rashad Penny is gonna get a ton of opportunities in this game, and I expect Rashad Penny to have a big game this week,” Heaps said.
Penny appears to be primed to be the lead back for Seattle in Houston after picking up 35 yards on 10 carries in last week’s win over the 49ers. Head coach Pete Carroll made it clear this week that Penny will be relied on during this final stretch of games.
Heaps expects Penny to have himself a nice game in Houston if he can stay on the field.
“He’s certainly capable of it if he can keep himself healthy and on the field,” Heaps said. “And, and so I expect the Seahawks to be very successful on the ground led by Rashad Penny this week.”
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