Injuries and hopefully penalties will be gone after the bye week
Credit due to two members of Texans as bye arrives at perfect time
Nov 6, 2019, 12:30 am
Injuries and hopefully penalties will be gone after the bye week
Texans offensive lineman Tytus Howard
3 headlines 2 questions and 1 bet heading into 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 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.
It's time to give Bill O'Brien some credit#Texanshttps://t.co/sqJTJxBsIl
— ESPN 97.5 Houston (@espn975) November 5, 2019
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.
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.
Fun fact: #Texans' Deshaun Watson's hurdle on Sunday was over the same player (Ronnie Harrison) he hurdled in the National Championship with #Clemson in 2017. It was also in the same end zone. pic.twitter.com/Q51rAK6zT8
— Avery Duncan (@averydduncan) November 5, 2019
"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.
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.
Tari Eason scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Houston Rockets to an easy 133-96 win over the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
Jalen Green added 23 points with nine rebounds, despite sitting the entire fourth quarter to help the Rockets to their fifth straight win, tying their longest such streak of the season.
Houston led by double digits most of the night and was up by 16 in the third quarter before scoring the next seven points, with a 3 from Eason, to make it 80-57 midway through the quarter.
The Rockets were up by 21 later in the third before using a 10-0 run to push the lead to 96-65 near the end of the period, and most of their starters didn't play in the fourth.
Brandon Williams scored 25 points off the bench for the Mavericks as they lost for the seventh time in eight games. Klay Thompson was 2 of 16 for five points with nine rebounds.
Mavericks: Dallas continues to struggle with most of its top players out with injuries and lost another one Friday with coach Jason Kidd saying that Dante Exum sustained a broken left hand that will likely end his season.
Rockets: Houston has taken advantage of a schedule with six straight home games, going 4-0 so far on the homestand as it tries to climb the Western Conference standings.
Houston was in control of the game from the start but put it out of reach with its 37-point third quarter.
The Rockets had 29 second-chance points to just two by Dallas on a night Houston had a 17-6 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Houston hosts Chicago on Saturday night and Dallas hosts Philadelphia on Sunday.