DEATH BLOW FOR TEXANS
Here's why the loss of Bradley Roby couldn't have come at a worse time for Texans
Dec 3, 2020, 10:35 am
The Texans have no answers for top tier receivers.Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
Late Monday afternoon, the NFL distributed a six-game suspension for Houston Texans receiver Will Fuller — who violated the league's drug policy. Nearly four hours later, the NFL suspended Texans cornerback Bradley Roby for the same purpose. The news of both Fuller's and Roby's suspensions could not have come at a worse time.
After winning back-to-back games following their Thanksgiving victory over the Detroit Lions, the Texans were on the verge of turning their disastrous season around. Entering Sunday's game against the Colts at 4-7 could have given the Texans little hope to qualify for the playoffs with a victory inside NRG Stadium.
But instead of becoming the second team in league history to reach the playoffs after an 0-4 start, the suspensions place the Texans with a daunting task of replacing the talents of Fuller and Roby. Despite losing their No. 1 receiver for the rest of the season, Houston is in a substantial position to overcome Fuller's absence.
Brandin Cooks has been just as important to the Texans' receiving corps, and the additions of Keke Coutee and Isaiah Coulter could be enough to fill in Fuller's void. Unfortunately, Roby's void appears to be an unenviable feat.
"Anytime you have someone on your team make a misstep — that's disappointing," Romeo Crennel said. "Particularly when they are team contributors, so, what we'll have to do now is everybody as a group will have to play to belt straps, and put our best foot forward and get ready for the game on Sunday."
The 28-year-old Texas native has been Houston's best defensive back all season. In 337 coverage snaps, Roby has only allowed 23 receptions with a PFF grade of 71.6 overall — the highest among all Texan corners.
Prior to his PED suspension, the Texans received a small dose of life without Roby's on-field contributions. In the two games he missed, Houston's secondary gave up an average of 285.5 yards against the Packers and Jaguars. Both franchises' top receiver had a field day in Roby's absence — which included a career performance from Davante Adams (196 Yds., 13 Rec., 2 TD) during the Texans' 35-20 loss to the Packers.
Texans killer T.Y. Hilton comes to NRG this Sunday
Houston's most challenging task could take place against Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton. Even when the Texans had an adequate secondary, Houston still struggled to contain the four-time pro-bowler.
In 17 career games against the Texans — including the postseason — Hilton has recorded 90 catches for 1,530 yards and 10 touchdowns. Albeit this season demonstrated that injuries and age hindered his production, Hilton could still have a massive game without a solid corner shadowing his every move.
During Wednesday's media availability, interim head coach Romeo Crennel gave no indication who will be assigned Hilton ahead of their match against the Colts. Keion Crossen and rookie John Reid have received a bulk of their playing time on special teams, while Eric Murray has to be used to cover the likes of the Colts' other receiver, Zach Pascal.
As Houston's most experience corner, Vernon Hargreaves III could potentially take over as Houston's primary defensive back, but there is a significant drop-off when compared to Roby. Among the remaining qualified candidates, Hargreaves has possessed the team's lowest PFF grade of 41.7 overall — while allowing 40 receptions on the season in 376 coverage snaps.
"When you lose production like that, it hurts," Crennel said. There's nothing we can do about it now, but it hurts not having them. But like I told them this morning 'we have enough in the room that we can win games, and everybody has to tighten their belt strap up and put that best foot forward and have great energy and effort and drive to win this game on Sunday.'"
All season long, Houston's inability to stop the run was the highlight of what has been a dreadful defensive year. However, without Roby, Houston's diminish secondary could make the final five weeks of the season miserable. In addition to facing Hilton twice over the next three games, the Texans will have to assign someone to cover the talents of Allen Robinson, Tee Higgins, and A.J. Brown to close out the season.
Coty M. Davis is a reporter for ESPN 97.5 Houston/SportsMap covering the Houston Texans. He is also the co-host of Locked On Texans, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Follow Coty on Twitter @CotyDavis_24.
Astros close series with a performance worth the wait
Jun 5, 2025, 11:59 pm
All-Star balloting opened up this week for what used to be known as the Midsummer Classic in Major League Baseball. I guess some still refer to it as such but the All-Star Game has been largely a bore for many years, though the honor of being selected on merit remains a big one. As always, fans can vote at all positions except pitcher. The fan balloting has resulted in mostly good selections for years now, though pretty much all teams still do silly marketing stuff trying to drum up support for their players. The Astros’ part in that silliness is their campaign to make it the “All-’Stros” game on the American League squad in Atlanta next month. It’s one thing to be supportive of your team, it’s another to be flat out ridiculous if voting right now for Yainer Diaz, Christian Walker, Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon, or Cam Smith. The Astros tried to game the system in submitting Jose Altuve as a second baseman where the competition is weaker than it is in the outfield, but given Altuve has played only about 25 percent of the games at second base this season he should not be an All-Star second baseman selectee for what would be the tenth time in his career.
Isaac Paredes’s recent freefall notwithstanding, he has a legitimate case as a backup third baseman, especially with Alex Bregman likely missing more than a month of games due to his quad injury. Jake Meyers is having a fine season but is obviously not an All-Star-worthy outfielder unless he is sensational for the rest of June. That leaves Jeremy Peña, who is simply the best shortstop in the big leagues so far this season. To be clear, no team in baseball (including the Astros) would rather have Peña going forward than the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., but we’re talking about the here and now. There are another 100 games to be played, but Peña not only is about a lock to deserve his first All-Star nod, but he is in contention to put in the books the greatest season ever by an Astro shortstop.
Over his first three seasons, Peña was a consistently mediocre offensive player. His highest batting average was .266, best on-base percentage .324, top slugging percentage .426. He is blowing away all those numbers thus far in 2025. While unlikely to come close to reaching his preseason goal of 50 stolen bases, Peña is swiping bags at the best success rate of his career. Add in Peña’s stellar defense and that he has played in every Astros’ game so far this season, and Peña has been irrefutably one of the 10 best and most valuable players in the American League. You could certainly argue as high as top three.
If Peña's productivity holds up for the rest of the season there are only three other seasons posted by Astro shortstops that are in the same league as what would be Peña’s 2025. Carlos Correa has two of them. Lack of durability may be the biggest reason Correa is not tracking to be a Hall of Famer. In only two seasons as an Astro did Correa play in more than 136 games. He was fabulous in each of them. 2021 was his peak campaign, playing in 148 games while compiling an .850 OPS, winning a Gold Glove, and finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. Correa’s Baseball-Reference wins above replacement number for 2021 was 7.3. Peña is at 3.6 with nearly 20 games still left before the midway point of the schedule.
For the other great Astro shortstop season you have to go back to 1983. Dickie Thon turned 25 years old in June of ‘83. He put up a .798 OPS, which gains in stature given Thon played his home games in the Astrodome when the Dome was at its most pitching-friendly. Thon won the Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive shortstop in the National League, and played superior defense. His Baseball-Reference WAR number was 7.4. He finished seventh for NL MVP playing for an 85-77 Astros’ squad that finished third in the NL West. Dickie Thon looked like an emerging superstar. Then, in the fifth game of the 1984 season, a fastball from Mets’ pitcher Mike Torrez hit Thon in the left eye, fracturing his orbital bone. Thon missed the rest of the ‘84 season. While Thon played in nine more big league seasons, his vision never fully recovered and he was never the same player. It’s one of the biggest “What if...” questions in Astros’ history.
Arms race
Players and the Commissioner’s Office pick the All-Star pitching staffs. Unless he suddenly starts getting lit up regularly, Hunter Brown can pack a bag for Georgia. Framber Valdez wouldn’t make it now but has surged into contention. Josh Hader’s first half is going vastly better than last year’s, so he is in line for a reliever spot.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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