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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BUYER'S REMORSE?

How the media in New York could make Rockets fans feel better

The media has mixed feelings about the James Harden trade. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

James Harden was 100-percent exactly right earlier this week when he said the Houston Rockets were "just not good enough."

How could they be? Not when their moody superstar scorer, who makes about half a million dollars per game, shows up chubby, looking like a kielbasa about to explode in the microwave. Hey, some people eat when they're unhappy, it's a defense mechanism. In Harden's case, the only defense he's exhibited this season. At least he had a good excuse for missing pre-season training camp and alienating his teammates - he was busy partying with Cinnamon and Cherish in Atlanta and Vegas without a mask. Worst of all, he went into the tank his last four games in a Rockets uniform, standing around, arms folded, scoring fewer than 20 points each time, all Rockets losses. Fans in the front row were asking him to move, he was blocking their view of players who cared about winning. James Harden sabotaged his own team, a team that offered him $50 million a year to stay. Something that crazy could only happen in professional sports these days.

There's a saying that drives the American labor movement: "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work." It's the motto of the American Federation of Labor. The National Basketball Players Association is not a member. Harden's sulking on the court, cheating the Rockets and their fans, was unforgivable.

Harden, sitting out games while somehow being on the court, forced the Rockets to trade him - and quick - to Brooklyn. The trade, when you ignore the fine print and unindicted co-conspirators Cleveland and Indiana, sent Harden to Brooklyn in exchange for Caris LeVert (immediately flipped for Victor Oladipo), Jarrett Allen, three first-round draft picks and four swapped first-rounders. It's true, when you trade a superstar, you never get back equal value. The other team wins.

If it makes Rockets fans feel any better, the media in New York already has problems with their new problem child. I should say newest problem child. Kyrie Irving plays for the Nets.

"They (the Nets) gave up everybody! There's nothing left now. I just want to cry, It's awful," weeped WFAN Radio talk host Evan Roberts. For those who don't subscribe to weekly Arbitron ratings reports, WFAN is the most powerful, top-rated sports talk station in the Apple.

"You're leading down the road of doom. Harden and Durant could be gone in a year and a half. I'm not convinced this gives them a better chance to win a title. I'm living a nightmare again. They better freaking win."

Circle March 3 on your Rockets schedule. That's when the Brooklyn Nets, with their Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden and possibly Kyrie Irving visit Toyota Center. I hear talk radio salivating over the record jeers that will cascade over Harden's name, although I'm not buying it. Fans don't think like the media does. I'm thinking that Rockets fans will welcome Harden back - one night only - with cheers.

Toyota Center public address announcer Matt Thomas: "Usually when former Rockets come to town for the first time since leaving, I give them a positive introduction. It's up to the fans how to react."

James Harden spent eight seasons with the Rockets. He is a spectacular player who watched other NBA players engineer trades so they could compete for a title. Harden didn't think the Rockets were good enough, and he's right. So he wanted out. We've all been there, a job we didn't like for a company we didn't like, for a boss we didn't respect. Harden wanting to be traded is understandable. How he went about it was deplorable. He hurt his co-workers.

Houston will make Harden pay for his disrespectful departure. He has an upscale restaurant set to open here. The name of the steakhouse will be "13." Harden's business partners may want to change that number ... before the restaurant's telephone number is disconnected. There are plenty of other restaurants in Houston. Rich people who can afford steakhouse prices hold grudges.

Rockets fans searching for a silver lining say, "We got two decent players and a whole bunch of precious first-round picks" for a malcontent who would rather be anywhere (except maybe Sacramento) than Houston." Yes, a bunch of first-round picks does bode well for the future. Anywhere, except maybe Houston.

Houston's draft war room isn't the most successful operation in the NBA. Over the past decade prior to 2000, under the direction of general manager Daryl Morey, the Rockets made 16 draft picks. Not one of them is still in a Rockets uniform, many of them have sought employment outside of America, some outside of basketball. Among their first-round whiffs: Nikola Mirotic, Terrence Jones, Sam Dekker - all out of the league. Best of all, Royce White, who played three whole games in his NBA career and finished with a scoring average of 0.00 points per game.

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