Lovie Smith has to shoulder some of the blame. Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images.
9 important Texans takeaways from Lovie Smith's press conference
The Houston Texans lost yet another game as their own mistakes cost them. The Giants win over Houston 24-16. Here are 11 observations.
1. This team makes a lot of mistakes. It is a poorly coached team. Plenty of poor moments from this team keep it from achieving anything close to the consistency of winning football.
2. The offense is inconsistent. It lacks creativity, and some of the worst plays are the scripted ones to start the game. Pep Hamilton had a little pop here or there but success is marred by the trust of Rex Burkhead in key moments.
3. Davis Mills felt a little gun-shy today. He needs to pull the trigger on some of these opportunities. I would instead prefer a mistake down the field than succeeding short.
4. The offense needs to take attempts toward the sticks. The offense far too often is sitting there throwing well short of the sticks. It makes no sense.
5. Jordan Akins has been a nice surprise. He had a fantastic day in the passing game and is the best tight end in the receiving game. He’s playing the best football of his career.
6. Brevin Jordan being a healthy scratch says a lot. Jordan shouldn’t be a healthy scratch on a team lacking talent. None of these three tight ends who were active today were playing in training camp. Jordan was. Yikes.
7. Et tu Pitre? Jalen Pitre has been struggling the past few weeks. The rookie wall is here for him and he needs to pull out of it. The tackling prowess is there, he just hasn’t executed in recent weeks.
8. I was extremely disappointed in the defensive plan today. Lovie Smith loves to play zone coverage, but this was the team to play man coverage against. Derek Stingley is almost an afterthought on this defense, relegated to zone defense. It is a poor use of his skills, Steven Nelson’s talents, and the opportunity against the Giants today.
9. Christian Harris is fun to watch. You can see why the team was excited to draft him. I don’t know if he can ever be the best linebacker on a team, but if the Texans ever get a great linebacker, he will be a fantastic Robin to that player’s Batman.
10. Was anyone upset to see Brandin Cooks’ touchdown come off the board? Loaded question. I know. Kenyon Green has been sloppy these past few weeks more than you would like, but he’s the best left guard this team has had in years. There is something there. The Texans need to hope that jump happens for him.
11. The chase for the top pick got some help today. The Panthers had already won Thursday, but the Steelers and Lions won, putting a game between them and the Texans in the chase for the top spot in the draft. Houston will have to finish with fewer wins than all other teams to get the top spot based on their week one tie to the Colts.
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There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”