Injuries and hopefully penalties will be gone after the bye week

Credit due to two members of Texans as bye arrives at perfect time

Cody Stoots
Nov 6, 2019, 12:30 am
@edclarke03

3 headlines 2 questions and 1 bet heading into the bye week.

Perfect time for the bye week

Bill O'Brien's Texans have been incredibly lucky with the placement of their bye weeks. Every bye week but one has come near the middle of the season while O'Brien has been the head coach.

Injuries is the primary reason the bye week will be important. The Texans should get the following players back after the bye. I say SHOULD not will.

LT Laremy Tunsil

S Tashaun Gipson

CB Lonnie Johnson

CB Bradley Roby

Getting essentially three starters back in the secondary would be humongous for the Texans. Adding Gareon Conley who had some success in two games to Justin Reid and Johnathan Joseph as well as the other depth should provide the defense with plenty of options in the secondary.

I don't expect WR Will Fuller to be back after the bye week. Not quite yet. Though it would be amazing from an offensive weapon standpoint if he was available.

Tytus' Triumphant Return

Tytus Howard made his return to the lineup after missing a few games with a knee injury. Boy was he a welcome sight on the right side. The Jaguars came into the game with the third most sacks in football and they got to Watson just a handful times for the sack. Pro Football Focus had him with zero pressures allowed against the fearsome Jaguars pass rush.

He also was a key in the rushing attack. He can move the pile and wins in the rush lanes. He graded out with his best run blocking game so far according to PFF.

He has been better than anyone could have expected. Especially when he didn't really practice at right tackle, Howard has impressed. The scary part for opposing defenses is he's getting better.

Texans offensive line coach Mike Devlin was very proud of Howard's mentality and what he called a calm about him. He praised Howard and the rest of the line's ability to not have one play stick with them and to move on from it.

Credit to O'Brien? Credit to O'Brien. 

A fellow writer on SportsMap tackled the credit to Bill O'Brien. Jermaine covered quite a bit.

Ultimately, O'Brien's past transgressions make it hard to give him credit but he's been such a better coach this season. He can finally dig deep into his playbook as he has the talent and quarterback to do it. And make no mistake, it is indeed O'Brien's offense.

"This is OB's offense," quarterbacks coach Carl Smith said Tuesday.

If this was O'Brien's second year coaching he would be heralded for cleaning up issues from his first year. Well, this is his second year with a healthy Deshaun Watson. I'm not making excuses for O'Brien, but he's the best version of himself to this point. Read Jermaine's article above.

When will the penalties get cleaned up?

O'Brien was not pleased about the Texans penalties before the snap.

"We've got to fix it," he said. "We have to fix it. We can't keep doing that. I think now that you get into these November, December games, there's a very fine line between winning and losing. There's a slim margin for error and we have to fix the pre-snap penalties."

It was all penalties that had O'Brien worked up later on Tuesday. I attempted to ask him about the scoring drive to start the game and he started in with this comment.

"We got points on that because Deshaun (Watson) made an unbelievable play scrambling to his right and Duke Johnson did a great job on the scramble play and cut to his right and we gained some yards back, and then we hit Duke on a slip screen. The other penalty we got on that drive was we weren't set formationally, so we had a third-and-13 become a third-and-18, threw a slip to Duke to get us back in field goal range. So, I mean, that was kind of a miracle drive just to get a field goal, and we've got to stop doing that. Sorry, I interrupted you. You got me fired up on that question."

The Texans lead the league in penalties before the snap with Laremy Tunsil being the greatest offender with eight false starts. (The second worst offender in football is Jadeveon Clowney. Remember him?)

This shouldn't be an issue going forward, but the Texans have done a decent job with Watson overcoming some penalties. O'Brien is right though. The margins, especially against good teams, will be razor thin. The Colts game is an example where a handful of penalties doomed the Texans.

How true do Dabo's words ring after London?

"That's how you change things, you change the culture, through…for me it's through discipline and recruiting, staffing and all that stuff. For them, it's decision-making, it's who you pick. And I'm just telling you: They pass on Deshaun Watson, they're passing on Michael Jordan. I mean, I don't know what the heck I'm talking about, I'm just an old funky college coach, but Deshaun Watson is the best, by a long shot."

Deshaun Watson has changed everything about the Texans. Hell, he may change everything about the NFL. This is exactly what you expect out of a quarterback. He is doing the same things Patrick Mahomes is doing, but with a tad less fanfare. He's carried an organization for the better part of two seasons and seems poised to do so for year. It really is special to see. He may not be Michael Jordan when it is all said and done, but he can be the Houston football Michael Jordan without a doubt.

I bet the three games after the bye define the Texans season

at Baltimore

vs Colts (Thursday)

vs Patriots

The result and how the Texans play in these will likely determine every bit of what we think about their playoff future and chances in the postseason. They should win three of the last four games at least, maybe all four.

With seven games left, the Texans will likely need to go 5-2 to have a shot at the second spot and a bye. This could be a fun season but only if the next three games shake out in a positive light.

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Texans 20 , Colts 17

Texans vs Colts: Good, bad and ugly

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In a Thursday Night Football battle, the Texans edged out the Colts in 20-17 hard fought victory. Here's how I saw things play out:

The Good

-DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller re-established themselves as one of the best wide receiver duos in the league this game. 13 catches on 19 targets for a combined 234 yards and two touchdowns (both by Hopkins). Whenever Deshaun Watson has Hopkins on the short to intermediate stuff and Fuller stretching the field, it gives him more options in the pass game.

-Deshaun Watson completed 63.3% of his passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. While he did throw an inexplicable interception and took a sack, he still did enough to guide his team to a win. This kid is going to be a star and eventually lead his team to great things one day.

-The defense came up big against a division rival. Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney combined for 27 tackles, 19 of those were solo tackles. This wasn't an easy game. It was a grinder, and the defense deserves some love for their contribution.

The Bad

-Watson's interception in the 2nd quarter hurt their momentum. The Colts had just punted the ball to the Texans. With a 3-0 lead, they could've taken a two score lead with a touchdown drive. Instead, pressure up the middle tipped the pass and Colts corner Kenny Moore made a great play to pick it off. Sometimes good defense beats good offense.

-Back to back Colt possessions swung momentum back in their favor. At the end of the 1st half, the Texans gave up a field goal to tie the game at 10. To start the 2nd half, the Texans failed on a 4th&3 conversion. The Colts went on an 11 play drive (10 runs, one pass) and scored after Benardrick McKinney failed to make the tackle when he met Jonathan Williams in the gap.

-The Colts ran the ball 39 times for 175 yards at a 4.5 yard per carry clip. Losing the rushing yardage differential by -76, turnover game by -1, and time of possession by almost seven minutes is normally a recipe for a loss. These metrics need to be cleaned up moving forward, or else this team will be out early in the playoffs.

The Ugly

-The Colts convderted 9/15 of their 3rd down conversions. Giving up 60% on 3rd down conversions isn't what good football teams do. If the Texans expect to advance in the AFC playoff picture, they have some work to do as far as 3rd down conversion percentage.

-Dylan Cole went down with a calf injury in the 2nd quarter. He's not only one of their more athletic linebackers, he's alos the leading special teams tackler. Hopefully he's okay as this team, particularly the defense, has suffered enough injuries.

-After the field goal early in the 2nd quarter, I heard them playing "Football Time In Houston" by Clay Walker. Will they PLEASE get rid of that damn song?!? I'm sure there's a rap song they can use that's better. Hell, get a local band to do a rock song. Anything but that tired ass song!

Now that the Texans have won this game and firm control of the AFC South, they have about a 75% chance at making the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Colts have only about a 20% chance to make it. The Texans have five games left: Patriots, Broncos, @Titans, @Bucs, and Titans. None of those teams pose a serious threat outside the Pats. Winning all these games would give them a 12-4 record and a shot at a first round bye depending on what happens with other teams. Winning this game puts them in the driver's seat in the AFC South, and helps them in the race for a first round bye. They'll need some out side help to get first round bye in the playoffs, but health is a major component moving forward. Especially on the defensive side of the ball. With the Pats coming into town next Sunday night, the Texans have a chance to make some noise in the AFC. Next week will be the new biggest game of the Bill O'Brien era.

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