NFL Week 2 finishes off with a Monday Night Football doubleheader which sees the Houston Texans duel the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early game at 7 p.m. EST. While Houston enters coming off an ugly loss, they look to bounce back in front of an energized home crowd and C.J. Stroud is the right man to lead the team. Against a porous defense, what are the top prop bets to take on tonight’s betting cards for the Texans quarterback?
Here are the best C.J. Stroud prop bets for Texans vs. Buccaneers on Monday Night Football to close Week 2.
Best C.J. Stroud prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
The Texans suffered a 14-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 1, a showing that saw multiple offensive linemen go down with injuries against one of the top pass rushes in the league. While Houston didn’t light up the scoreboard in that contest, Stroud completed 19-of-27 passes for 188 yards, though he didn’t record a touchdown and tossed one interception. However, the film shows the quarterback really didn’t post a bad game by any means, and he should see a preferable matchup in Week 2.
After knocking the rust off last time out, Stroud and the Texans now face a Buccaneers defense which provides the upside for a get-right game. Tampa Bay allowed second-year Falcons starter Michael Penix Jr. to throw for 298 yards and a score in their Week 1 contest, and this unit ranked 30th among all teams with 245.3 passing yards allowed per contest in 2024. While the Buccaneers did select cornerback Benjamin Morison in the second round of the draft, he’s questionable to make his NFL debut on Monday night and the team didn’t make any other significant moves to shore up the pass defense.
If this unit shows the makings of a pass funnel defense once again, the Texans can absolutely attack that. While offseason acquisition Christian Kirk will miss this contest due to a hamstring injury, Nico Collins is one of the best receivers in the NFL and should post a stronger outing against this secondary than his three catches for 25 yards last week and one can bump most Houston pass catchers up a spot given the matchup. While the offensive line remains a concern, this game could turn into a shootout for the Texans as a depleted backfield led by Nick Chubb struggles to get much going on the ground.
If the Texans attack through the air as I believe they will, the over on Stroud’s 227.5 passing yards line should cash comfortably. With that in mind, I’m actually more inclined to take Stroud to record 250+ passing yards at +153 odds for better value than the -112 seen on the traditional over/under. The matchup appears juicy and this Houston team is much better than what they put on film last week, so I’m projecting a big game for the quarterback in his team’s first home game of the season.
