The Houston Texans went to sleep Sunday night knowing they beat their AFC South rivals Jacksonville Jaguars. However, some will stay up a night knowing they nearly lost the game and beat a rookie sixth-round pick 13-12.
Some, the studs, can rest easy knowing they gave the Texans their all and played a major role in the win. Others, the duds, not so much. Let’s go through the studs and duds from the Texans’ latest contest.
Stud: Whitney Mercilus-led pass rush
Jadeveon Clowney who? The Texans pass-rush was unstoppable on Sunday, in large part thanks to Whitney Mercilus, who has shifted over to Clowney’s old role.
While Houston misses Clowney’s talent off the edge, Romeo Crennel and Co. were creative with their pass-rush on Sunday and utilized their newfound pass-rushing depth.
Outside linebacker Jacob Martin and defensive end Charles Omenihu flashed the ability to get to the quarterback; the former with speed, the latter with power. Their usage as situational pass-rushers was ideal.
Omenihu finished the game with his first NFL sack, a strip-sack. Martin didn’t show up on the box score, but he passed the eye-test.
The studliest stud is undoubtedly Mercilus. The outside linebacker was a game wrecker for the second-straight week, notching two strip-sacks, one recovered by the Houston defense — which led to a touchdown. His teammate, J.J. Watt, recovered the fumble and flashed that he’s coming into form while being held for much of the game.
Crennel dialed up several blitzes from inside linebackers as well and saw Brennan Scarlett create a pressure and Zach Cunningham get a sack as a result. That wouldn’t have been possible if the interior line didn’t do their job of containing blocks, which they did.
Dud: Clock management
Coach Bill O’Brien has never been the one to pride himself on clock management, that’s particularly true when considering that it’s worse since his move to play-caller. Often times, he looks over his head in this department by making critical mistakes.
That was all too apparent on Sunday.
Houston had an opportunity to go up 10-3 at halftime. That wasn’t the score when the clocks hit zeros for the interim.
With the ball at their 25-yard line and 3:17 left in the first half, Houston had three time-outs and a two-minute warning to use to drive the distance of the field; more than enough time to score.
By the time the game got at midfield, there was 1:26 left on the clock. Three timeouts. Less time.
The clock kept ticking. Houston was moving the ball, but slowly. O’Brien called their first time-out with 15 seconds left at their 39-yard line. That was after a Deshaun Watson scramble and DeAndre Hopkins catch on the slant. 11 yards wasted 31 seconds.
Watson nearly bailed out O’Brien with a 31-yard pass to Kenny Stills. But, because Houston had 9 seconds left, their two time-outs couldn’t save them then.
22-yard field goal. 6-3.
Stud: Carlos Hyde
If the Texans didn’t trade backup lineman Martinas Rankin to Kansas City for running back Carlos Hyde, he would’ve been a free agent. The 28-year-old struggled in the preseason, lost his role to a seventh-round pick, and was on his third team in 365 days. There wasn’t a lot of interest in him.
When the Texans traded for Hyde, expectations were low.
Hyde has shattered those low expectations and looks more like a true bell-cow back than a backup power back.
The Texans had to grind out Sunday’s win. That wouldn’t have been possible without Hyde. He ran the ball 20 times for 90 yards, 12 attempts came in the second half.
Through two games as a Texan, he’s recorded 173 yards on 30 attempts, equating to 5.3 yards per carry. His yardage sits fifth in the NFL while his average per attempt is seventh.
Hyde finishes runs with power and has yet to record one for a loss, but he also fits what Houston has long-been searching for at running back. He’s best used running behind his line in inside zone/power schemes. The veteran is averaging 5.0 yards before contact, a testament to his vision, comfort in the scheme, and improved run blocking.
It should be apparent that Hyde is comfortable in Houston, and Houston is comfortable with Hyde.
Dud: Blitz protection
Let’s make this abundantly clear: the Texans offensive line wasn’t bad on Sunday, they really got beat outright in pass protection, but they did when the Jaguars decided to dial up the blitz.
In a not so new development, Houston’s offensive line continues to struggle when defensive coordinators use an ounce of creativeness. It should be known by all that the Texans struggle against nickel blitzes, linebacker blitzes, or safety blitzes.
That’s not good. In 2018, Houston’s inability to slow down second-line blitzes showed midseason and opponents exploited it often; albeit, against a far worse offensive line. Despite all the work done in the offseason, that continues to show — you can bet defenses will continue to dial it up.
Who is to blame? Deshaun Watson, Nick Martin, and offensive line coach Mike Devlin. Watson and Martin must communicate and recognize blitz patterns better, Devlin must coach them to do that.
Stud: Justin Reid
The Texans wouldn’t have won on Sunday if it wasn’t for one play safety Justin Reid made.
Going for two down one with 30 seconds left on the clock, the Jacksonville Jaguars called a run up the middle to Leonard Fournette. He got through the first line, both teams got into a scrum; as he was nearing Reid came up and made the tackle to stop him.
Fournette was inches to the goal line. It would’ve put Jacksonville up by one with little time left for Houston to score. Reid made sure that stood at inches. “The whole game came down to this one play,” he said after the game.
“I saw an opportunity. I saw him try to dive and make the line. I was in the right place at the right time and made a play,” said Reid.
If it weren’t for Reid being at that right place at that right time, there is a real possibility Houston would be sitting at 0-2.
Reid despite a previous shoulder injury and a suffered injury earlier in the game made that tackle, that makes him MVP of the game, no matter Mercilus’ sacks or Hyde’s rushing yards. All that separated the Texans from a loss and win was that tackle.
Dud: Deshaun Watson
With Jacksonville missing DE Yannick Ngakoue and CB A.J. Bouye, Deshaun Watson was primed for a big game a day after his birthday and six after taking the Saints to the brink of defeat in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
He finished the game going 16 for 29 for 159 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and one rushing score. For context, his passer rating from the game (70.9) is fourth-worst in his NFL career for a game, so were his yards per attempt (5.48) and passing yards.
Watson looked off for the entirety of the game, missing passes and not bringing that same energy as the game before. Perhaps that was due to the Jacksonville defense that covered Houston well, did an excellent job of locking up DeAndre Hopkins, and blitzed at Watson hard.
In hindsight, one, including me, shouldn’t have predicted a huge game from Watson. His best passer rating performance against Jacksonville was an 89.5 in a Week 17 win in 2018, nearly 13 points before his career average. All four of his match-ups against the Jaguars are among the worst games he’s played.
It’s fair to say Jacksonville is Watson’s weakness as a passer. Nonetheless, he’s 3-0 when he faces them as a starter.
Stud: Texans debuts
Left guard Tytus Howard, right tackle Roderick Johnson, cornerback Lonnie Johnson, and defensive end Charles Omenihu played their Texans debuts on Sunday (Johnson isn’t a rookie, but he took his first snaps on the team). Each showed enough to continue to get playing time.
While Howard had two penalties — one, tripping, that was not so much one — he also didn’t allow a sack in his Texans debut. His play at guard was similar to his play there in the preseason: good. He’ll need to clean up his game, but he wasn’t an obvious liability in pass protection or run-blocking.
Johnson earned the start over Seantrel Henderson at right tackle. It’s all too apparent that he’ll be staying there. Though he allowed a sack, he also did an outstanding job of sealing the edge as a run-blocker and kept his quarterback out of harms way for most of the contest.
Omenihu’s rookie debut including his first sack, and subsequently, strip-sack of his career. The Texans used him as a situational pass-rusher, and he thrived, showing off his power and athleticism as a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end.
The Texans put a lot of trust in Johnson, by releasing Aaron Colvin. His debut performance was a mixed bag — poor throws by Gardner Minshew bailed him out a few times — in that he started the game struggling in off-man and a bit aggressive, then settled down when he was able to play in press-man. To top it off, he tallied a clutch pass deflection in the fourth quarter.
