Panthers at Texans how to watch: TV channel, live stream info, pick, what to know for Thursday Night Football

The Panthers look to improve to 3-0 on the young season

It's hard to believe we're already into Week 3. Tonight's edition of "Thursday Night Football" sees the 2-0 Carolina Panthers square off with the 1-1 Houston Texans, who will be without their starting quarterback and are starting rookie third-rounder Davis Mills in his place.  This is admittedly a bit of a projection, but I can't help it. This dude is so uniquely skilled. He has the fastest pass-rush get-off in the league, per NFL.com's Next Gen Stats, and he's already been really productive (16.5 sacks, 37 hits, eight tackles for loss) despite playing just 43% and 71% of snaps in his first two NFL seasons. Now that the Panthers have added some more talent up front to take some of the pressure off, Burns should have even more room to operate. He should continue playing a larger and larger share of snaps. The 15- to 20-sack season is coming soon. This year could be it. 

The Panthers would be among the more surprising 3-0 teams we've seen in recent years, but given the contours of this game they seem to have a pretty good shot at getting there. Houston already having secured its first win is pretty surprising to many NFL observers, but the team could struggle to get another one over the next few weeks with Tyrod Taylor on the sideline. 

So, how will this game shake out? We're glad you asked, because we're here to break down the matchup.