Not over yet: Most valuable takeaways from Houston Texans reality-check collapse
TEXANS ON TAP
11 December 2023
The Houston Texans knew that offense could be hard to come by after Tank Dell went down for the year against the Broncos last week. Things got even worse when Nico Collins left Sunday's game early with a calf injury, leaving CJ Stroud without his top two targets.
Houston managed only 6 points against the Jets, and lost the game 30-6, falling to 7-6 on the season. TE Brevin Jordan was the top pass catcher on offense, posting an underwhelming 3 catches for 35 yards. Noah Brown and John Metchie didn't factor into the game at all. Brown was held without a single catch, and Metchie hauled in one pass for 6 yards.
One thing is for sure, this offense has no chance without Tank Dell and/or Nico Collins.
What happened to the defense?
It's easy to blame the offense for the loss, considering how many injuries they were dealing with.
But the defense deserves their fair share of blame, allowing RB Breece Hall to easily catch 8 passes for 86 yards to go along with his 40 yards rushing. Receiver Garrett Wilson also had a big day, going over 100 receiving yards on 9 receptions.
The Texans had to come into this matchup knowing these are the two most important players to keep in check. Instead, they had no answers for Hall and Wilson, as Zach Wilson carved up DeMeco Ryans' defense all afternoon.
And just when we thought things couldn't get worse, Texans QB CJ Stroud left the game late with a concussion. His availability for their next game is at best uncertain. More often than not, players usually don't't come back the next game after entering the concussion protocol.
Which means Davis Mills or Case Keenum will likely be the starter against the Titans on Sunday.
Be sure to watch the video above as we share our top takeaways from the loss, and discuss how they can improve before next week's game.
Watch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) every Monday on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel.
José Soriano and two relievers combined for a two-hitter and Oswald Peraza hit his first home run since a trade from the Yankees to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.
Soriano (10-9) allowed one hit and struck out eight in seven innings. Luis García allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth and Kenley Jansen threw a perfect ninth for his 25th save.
There were two outs in the fifth when Peraza connected off Hunter Brown (10-7) into the bullpen in right-center field to put the Angels up 1-0. His homer comes after his two-run single in the ninth inning Saturday helped Los Angeles to a 4-1 victory that snapped a three-game skid.
Yoan Moncada walked to start the eighth and scored on Mike Trout’s double that bounced off the wall in center field to make it 2-0. Taylor Ward walked before Luis Rengifo reached and Trout scored on an error by Lance McCullers Jr. when the pitcher overthrew first base.
Yordan Alvarez singled with no outs in the first and Soriano walked a batter in the second and sixth innings. The Astros didn’t get another hit until Ramón Urías doubled with one out in the eighth inning. Los Angeles outfielder Taylor Ward was injured trying to make a catch on that hit when he crashed face-first into the metal scoreboard in left field.
He was carted off the field holding a towel to the right side of his face. He was taken to a hospital by ambulance where interim manager Ray Montgomery said he would receive stitches to close the cut and be evaluated.
Brown allowed three hits and a run with five strikeouts in six innings. McCullers Jr. allowed three hits and two runs in his first relief appearance since 2018.
Key moment
The home run by Peraza.
Key stat
It’s the fifth time the Astros have been shut out this month.
Up next
LHP Yusei Kikuchi (6-9, 3.68 ERA) will start for Los Angeles in the series finale Monday against RHP Luis Garcia, who’ll make his return after sitting out since May 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
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