The Jaguars hammered the Texans on Sunday. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images.
Texans fans in full-on panic mode after just one loss
The Houston Texans finished the home slate of their schedule with a loss falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-3. Here are 11 observations from the game.
1. It is the first time in franchise history the Texans have failed to win a home game. The Texans didn’t lose all eight, but they lost seven straight after opening the season with a tie against the Colts
2. This is the largest losing margin this season for the Texans. The last time Houston lost by this much was last season against the Colts. It came on the heels of three of the best weeks of play from Lovie Smith’s team.
3. The defense was horrid again, reverting to their early season form. The tackling was poor and the rush defense against the Jacksonville starters left a lot to be desired.
4. Jalen Pitre and Desmond King each had interceptions, but each had a hand in part of a horrible display of tackling on a 62-yard touchdown scamper from Travis Etienne. King just pushed him while Pitre failed to finish the play. There were plenty of poor tackling displays but this one stood out.
5. Jalen Pitre will end up as a bright spot. He will have played a ton and has solidified himself as something positive heading into next season. There were plenty of ups from his season to offset the downs.
6. This is one of the worst offenses in franchise history. The talent is lacking at skill positions, but the plays called for the players are bad too. The team ran a fade to Rex Burkhead on fourth down. Next year, it will be an offense that needs some reshaping with a different offensive mind.
7. The Texans should thank their lucky stars the Jaguars drafted Travon Walker. He’s been terrible compared to a number of other players selected in the first round. Walker amassed just one QB hit in the game. That’s all. Meanwhile, the number two overall pick Aidan Hutchinson has as many interceptions as Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley combined to go along with his seven-and-a-half sacks.
8. The loss secures a top-two selection for the Texans.
9. The Chicago Bears are the only team who can earn the top pick other than the Texans. A win by the Bears secures the top choice for the Texans. A loss next week in Indianapolis secures the top pick for the Texans. A win by the Texans and a loss by the Bears lands Chicago the top spot.
10. Lovie Smith said if he was a betting man he would bet the Texans show up against the Colts next week. The Colts are spiraling out of control, having been demolished by the New York Giants on Sunday.
11. Lovie Smith’s job is in jeopardy and if I was making a call as you read this, I would believe he is fired and the Texans have their third head coach search under general manager Nick Caserio.
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five feet six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond his grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Tim Raines (also originally a second baseman) was (and presumably still is!) five-foot-eight.
Here's another: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
And another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. 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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