TEXANS OBSERVATIONS
The good, bad and ugly from the Texans 20-13 win over Buffalo
Oct 14, 2018, 3:46 pm
Jonathan Joseph had the game-winning pick 6. Zach Tarrant/Houstontexans.com
The Texans like things the hard way. I’m talking about making three lefts instead of making one right hard. I’m talking trying to assemble anything from Ikea without instructions in the dark after taking six shots hard. The 20-13 win over the Bills was about as dirty as a win could feel. Here’s how I saw things:
The Good
-JJ Watt got his seventh sack of the season today. He’s rounding into form. However, my concern is that these sacks are coming against subpar offensive lineman.
-Alfred Blue has been the team’s most consistent runner outside Deshaun Watson. He averaged 4.5 yards a carry today on only six carries. His decisiveness, vision, power, and pass blocking makes me wonder why he hasn’t gotten more playing time.
-Jonathan Joseph picked off Nathan Peterman and took it to the house to put the Texans up 20-13 with 1:23 left in the game. The old man showed it’s all about the preparation. He read the comeback route and knew Peterman was going to it. That was a pick six from the moment I saw him break on the ball.
The Bad
-Negative plays in scoring range continue to plague this team. Early in the second quarter saw DeAndre Hopkins (yes, you read that right) throw incomplete on first down, Lamar Miller lose five yards on a second down run, then Hopkins gain 12 on 3rd & 15 and settling for a field goal. Bill O’Brien’s play calling may not be the best, but neither is the team’s execution.
-Speaking of O’Brien, he chose not to use any of the three timeouts after the Bills got a turnover with 39 seconds before the half. What made the decision even more baffling was LeSean McCoy losing five yards on first down. That could’ve gotten the Texans an extra possession before the half. Maybe that’s not his job and I’m assuming it is.
-Shareece Wright got beat badly on a 16-yard touchdown by Zay Jones to put the Bills up 13-10 early in the fourth quarter. It was a double move that Wright bit on and made Jones/Peterman look like an All Pro receiver/quarterback combo. It’s the kind of play that highlights the depth woes at corner.
The Ugly
-Jadeveon Clowney tackled Chris Ivory by one of his dreadlocks and it came out! I was nervous about it being called a horse collar penalty. The sheer pain of being pulled down by your hair and having it come out makes my skin crawl. And this is coming from a bald guy.
-Watson looked really timid in the pocket today. Sure his protection is not the best, but he was indecisive and got himself hit several times. He was also sacked seven times for 35 lost yards. Some of those sacks were the line’s fault, but a handful was his fault. He should have run with the ball a few times, but decided to look for the big play down the field instead.
-One of Watson’s picks came when they were in scoring range, up 10-0 right before halftime. He scrambled outside the pocket after breaking away from a sack and launched a ball into the end zone where the safety was waiting on it like a fair catch punt. Had he simply thrown the ball away or run then slid, the score could’ve been 13-0 heading into the half and the momentum would have shifted more in their favor. Instead, it gave the Bills hope.
Watson continues to get hit. The run game hasn’t looked the same for the third game in a row. Cornerback depth, as well as offensive line play, will be an Achilles heel for this team until next season. Despite all of this, the team is on a three game win streak and find themselves possibly back in the playoff hunt. With the Jags banged up and the Titans not proving to be anything special, the division isn’t out of reach. But the way this team has played, I wouldn’t get my hopes up just yet.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.