The Denver Broncos have a tough road matchup against the stout Houston Texans in Week 9.

Denver is coming off an exciting 44-24 blowout victory over the Dallas Cowboys, one of the worst defensive units in the National Football League.

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Just because the Cowboys defense isn’t great, that doesn’t mean the offense didn’t perform well. Good teams need to beat bad defenses.

Second-year quarterback Bo Nix was stellar with four touchdowns and 247 yards on 19 completions, but the stars of the show were running backs J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.

Dobbins rushed for 111 yards on 15 carries, while Harvey scored three total touchdowns on just eight touches. Head Coach Sean Payton has one of the best running back tandems in the NFL.

The outstanding defense deserves its flowers, too. The Dallas offense is as potent as any other offense in the league, and Denver held them to 24 points which is the team’s third-lowest output this season; even with losing star cornerback Pat Surtain II during the game.

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Moving on to the tough Texans, this will be a battle of the trenches. The Broncos offensive line has been incredible, even without notable guard Ben Powers. Houston’s pass rush combined with the home crowd energy makes this a difficult matchup for Denver.

“This is a pure strength-on-strength battle. The Broncos have perhaps the best pass-protecting offensive line in the league,” ESPN’s Seth Walder wrote Saturday. “They are No. 1 in pass block win rate (72.5%), and tackles Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey are tied for fifth in PBWR at their position.

“That ability has been key to the team’s offensive success with quarterback Bo Nix, but it will be under a different level of scrutiny Sunday. Houston’s Will Anderson Jr. has had a scorching start with a 27.2% pass rush win rate that ranks second at edge, and Danielle Hunter is ninth in the same category (20.2%). If the Broncos can hold off those two edge rushers, they’ll be in good shape. But that’s a big ask.”

The Texans haven’t recorded an absurd number of sacks through Week 8 like the Broncos (16 compared to 36), but getting pressure on the quarterback will impact him regardless of if he is sacked or not.

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Houston allows the lowest QBR on average (70.7) and allows the fourth-fewest yards per game (178.4). This will probably be Nix and company’s hardest test thus far, but the team is resilient and won’t back down from any team.