THE INSIDE LOOK

5 observations from the Texans' loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars

5 observations from the Texans' loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars
Expect more heat on Bill O'Brien this week. Houstontexans.com

There really is nothing positive to take from the Texans 45-7 loss to the Jaguars on Sunday. In most of the post-Deshaun Watson games, they have at least been competitive, at least until the fourth quarter. This one was never close and the Texans never had a prayer. It was essentially over when the Jags went up 14-0. By halftime it was 31-0 and the rout was on. Here are five quick thoughts in the wake of the loss:

Jags one weakness is becoming a strength

The Jaguars’ patience with Blake Bortles is paying off. He has been a negative for almost his entire four-year career, but he is playing his best football now. The coaching change to Doug Marrone was a positive, and the Jags have done a nice job of establishing a powerful running game and using that to set Bortles up with play action. He has eliminated the critical mistakes from his game, especially in the red zone, and the Jags have everything else in place around him. It will be tough to trust him in the playoffs, but it goes to show players can develop with better coaching and being put in a better position. He is playing at a much higher level than I ever expected. Obviously, it helps that he was going up against a terrible defense, but he had a big game against Seattle the week before, too. Bortles got most of the fourth quarter off after going 21 of 29 for 326 yards, three touchdowns, no picks and a near-perfect rating of 143.8. 

Nothing special

The Texans special teams continue to be a complete joke. Three penalties on the first two extra points? Yes, there are players on the field that do not belong in the NFL, but these are dumb penalties, not hustle penalties. And an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on your punter that leads to points before the half? Wow.  And of course, coverage was shaky on punts. It kind of got lost in a game where the Texans had no chance but once again special teams was a negative.

Cover zero

Is there anyone on this defense that can cover a wide receiver? Kevin Johnson continues to regress and is starting to look like a busted pick. He simply has not been the same since returning from last year’s injury. The hope that he would return to form is one of the reasons the Texans did not invest heavily in A.J. Bouye. Kareem Jackson has been OK at times, but Johnathan Joseph looks done. They made it look way too easy for Bortles and the Jags. Some of that has to be scheme, as the Texans were confused the entire game (well, at least in the first half when the Jags were trying). The Texans got very little pressure and forced no turnovers again.

The line has been drawn

The offense figured to struggle against the Jags defense, and it lived down to expectations. The offensive line was simply overmatched by the Jags front seven, and as a result they were unable to run the ball or protect the QB. T.J. Yates was not very good, but did anyone expect him to be? Not much to say here other than they were just flat out bad. The Texans are going to have to totally revamp their OL in the offseason as there is little in the cupboard as the unit is now constructed.

The heat is on

For the first time this season, the Texans were not even competitive, especially on defense. The coaching staff had actually been doing a pretty good job of keeping the players motivated until this game. Expect more heat on Bill O’Brien and Rick Smith in the wake of this one.

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CJ Stroud can secure his second playoff win on Saturday. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Everyone, that is, except the man himself.

“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”

But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.

“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”

Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.

“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.

Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.

He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.

His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.

“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”

He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”

“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”

Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.

“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”

Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.

His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.

“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”

Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.

“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”

And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.

“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”

Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.

“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”

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