The Texans have done a better job of protecting Deshaun Watson in 2019, but they'll face one of their tougher challenges of the season on Sunday against a Jaguars pass rush that produced seven QB hits against Houston in Week 2. Jacksonville ranks third in the NFL with a 32.3% pressure rate and is led by a deep group of pass rushers. Josh Allen (30), Calais Campbell (24) and Yannick Ngakoue (21) form the league's only teammate trio with 20-plus QB pressures apiece this season, with Allen ranking third among edge defenders and Campbell second among interior D-linemen in QB pressures. The Texans replaced injured starter Tytus Howard with veteran Chris Clark at right tackle last week against Oakland, and Watson was pressured on just nine dropbacks (21.4% pressure rate). He finished 4 of 6 for 37 yards and 2 TDs under pressure in the win. Watson sports the fifth-highest passer rating under pressure this season (88.6) and will need to continue to perform well in those situations this week.

The 49ers pass rush has been nothing short of dominant this season, leading the NFL in disruption rate at 36.7%. The 49ers are the only defense with three players among the top 20 in disruption rate this season (min. 100 pass rushes): Nick Bosa (23.2%, first), Dee Ford (15.5%, 11th), and Arik Armstead (14.3%, 18th). One reason why Ford and Bosa are so effective is their burst at the snap. Ford (0.73 seconds) has the second-fastest pass rush get-off (the average time it takes for a pass rusher to cross the line of scrimmage), and Bosa ranks seventh (0.78 seconds). However, they might have a tougher time getting to Kyler Murray, who has been pressured at the lowest rate in the NFL (11.9%). Murray evades pressure at the highest rate in the NFL (33.3%) and gets rid of the ball quickly (55.1% of his attempts have come after less than 2.5 seconds from snap to throw). However, Murray has been sacked on 26 of his 38 pressured dropbacks (68.4%, only QB over 40%).

The Vikings have been playing a brand of football this season that would make Bud Grant proud. Mike Zimmer and Kevin Stefanski -- in his first full season as OC -- have been a match made in heaven, as the Vikings are leaning on an outside-zone rushing attack and play-action passes (with assistant HC/offensive advisor Gary Kubiak's fingerprints all over the scheme). The Vikings have used two or fewer WRs on a whopping 77.1% of their plays this season, more than double the NFL average and significantly higher than the second-place 49ers (61.1%). As a result, they have faced 7-plus defenders in the box on 66.3% of their plays (only other team over 50% is the 49ers at 62.2%). Passing against favorable boxes has helped Kirk Cousins bounce back from a rough start to the season. Cousins has faced 7-plus defenders in the box on 118 attempts (25 more than any other QB). Naturally, he also leads the NFL in pass yards (1,070) and pass TDs (12) when facing 7-plus defenders in the box.

Greg Roman has crafted a dominant rushing attack around Lamar Jackson that is reminiscent of the one he rode to Super Bowl XLVII with Colin Kaepernick. Just as he did back in 2012, Roman has borrowed a page from Kaepernick's college coach, Chris Ault, who pioneered the Pistol offense. The Ravens have used the Pistol formation on 219 plays in 2019, which is more than the rest of the NFL combined (200 plays). The Pistol essentially gives the offense the ability to mold a spread-style passing game with a downhill rushing game. As a result, the Ravens have faced light boxes (six or fewer defenders) on 44.7% of their runs, which is above average (41.1%) despite having the third-highest run rate (52.0%). Jackson has been able to gain a league-high 300 of his rushing yards before close-in (the first moment on a play where a defender gets within a yard of the ball carrier).

Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen found out the hard way last week that regression comes for us at some point. Last week served as the perfect lesson to fade a noisy and flawed statistic like passer rating, especially when it's measuring a small sample and a QB's reaction under pressure. Allen had the second-highest passer rating under pressure (114.7) in the NFL entering Week 8, completing 12 of his 23 passes for 163 yards with 3 TDs and zero INTs. He crashed down to Earth in Week 8 against the 49ers, completing just 2 of 7 attempts under pressure for 8 yards with an INT (0.0 passer rating). Allen was also sacked seven times, unable to evade pressure on any dropbacks after evading one pressure in each of his first four games. Next up for Allen is a Titans pass rush, led by Harold Landry and Cameron Wake, that has generated the seventh-highest pressure rate in the NFL (29.8%).