49ers vs. Texans: 5 biggest challenges facing San Francisco in Week 14

HOUSTON, TX- AUGUST 28: Tom Savage #3 of the Houston Texans hands the ball off against the San Francisco 49ers in the second half in a pre-season NFL game on August 28, 2014 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The 49ers won 40 to 13. (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images) /

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HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 15: Carlos Hyde #28 of the San Francisco 49ers grabs the face mask of Jared Crick #93 of the Houston Texans as he rushes in the first half at Reliant Arena at Reliant Park on August 15, 2015 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

No. 4: Winning the Time-of-Possession Battle

San Francisco won in Chicago for one primary reason — it dominated time of possession, 38:47 to 21:13.

It’s unrealistic to assume the Niners will replicate this sort of success on the road in Houston. It sounds nice, and it’s possible with a now-anemic Texans offense. But we’ll probably wind up seeing a closer gap between possession times.

The stat to watch here is how long the Texans have been allowing opponents’ offenses to stay on the field.

Even without J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus, Houston is holding opposing teams to an average offensive-duration time of 2:22. That’s third best in the NFL.

While the Texans defense is 28th overall in points against (309), the best chance this group will have will be to ensure the Niners come nowhere close to replicating the same sort of sustained drives they enjoyed last week in Chicago.

To put this into perspective, the 49ers dominated this stat line a week ago and barely pulled out of Chicago with a win.