STOOTS ON TEXANS
11 observations from Texans' 23-10 loss to Commanders
Nov 21, 2022, 8:45 am
The Texans had five net yards at halftime. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
The Houston Texans played one of their worst games of the season. The Washington Commanders marched their way to a 23-10 victory. Here are 11 observations from the thrashing.
1. The offense was anemic in the first half. There was nothing working at all and it frequently drew boos from the crowd. It was the worst half of offense this team has played in a long time.
2. The Texans had five net yards at halftime. Per TruMedia Sports there have only been 11 instances this century of a team failing to get 10-plus yards in the first half. The Texans were the last team before today when they had negative yards last year in Buffalo against the Bills.
3. The offensive play calling is putrid. Pep Hamilton’s offense, when it is executed, is bad. There is no faith in this team to throw the ball deep, and if the rushing attack gets stuffed it is almost assuredly a punt.
4. Davis Mills threw a bad interception to start the game. Mills shouldn’t be staring down wideouts, much less Brandin Cooks. Terrible job by the future backup quarterback.
5. Kenyon Green has had a bad stretch the past few weeks. This was among his worst games. One play saw Green used to tackle Davis Mills basically as he got blown off the football. Another play saw Green quickly dispatched and his man earn the sack. Kenyon Green hit the rookie wall and then it fell on him.
6. The entire offensive line played poorly on Sunday. Thankfully this hasn’t been an every-week occurrence with the full line playing poor, but it tanked the offense. Lovie Smith said after the game the performance of the offensive line kept anything from being able to happen on offense.
7. Lovie Smith was incredulous when it came to being asked about changes on the team. Smith was adamant the team played the players they believed helped them win. It doesn’t sound like changes on offense are coming.
8. The Texans should consider making a change to the offensive staff. Pep Hamilton has been poor this year. Ben McDaniels is the wide receivers coach & passing game coordinator and the younger brother of Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels. I would see if he can call an offense like his brother.
9. Jalen Pitre must catch interceptions when they hit him in the hands. The game might be totally different if the rookie safety holds on to the early opportunity. He bounced back well from a subpar performance last week.
10. The defense was fine. Nothing amazing from the defense, and the offense put them in some unfavorable spots. The defense doesn’t possess the ability to win the team games nor can it overcome this level of offense, but it was a fine performance from the unit.
11. The fans that attended the game made their presence known. NRG Stadium was maybe sixty percent full and had a good amount of Washington fans. The Texans fans were loud with boos a few times. The Commanders fans were very loud with a “defense” chant late in the game. The rest of the home games should be interesting observations in the fan base's interest in the team. Especially the next home game against the Browns with Deshaun Watson’s debut.
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Astros lose tight one despite brilliant outing from Hunter Brown
May 15, 2025, 10:29 pm
It’s a fun series between the Astros and Rangers through the weekend in Arlington, but by no means is it a critical series. It would be nice for the Astros to not lose three out of the four games (or obviously all four) to their upstate rivals. The Astros have lost their last five road series, dropping two out of three games in each of them. As with the Astros, pitching has been the strength of the team for the Rangers thus far. After the humdinger Hunter Brown-Jacob deGrom mound matchup Thursday night, the Rangers give the ball Friday to Nathan Eovaldi with his earned run average at 1.78, then Saturday it’s Tyler Mahle with his even more sparkling 1.47 ERA. Heading into Thursday play, the Mariners having lost five of their last six games meant just a game and a half separate first from fourth place in the American League West. The Astros, Rangers, and Athletics are all right there. Only the Angels are inconsequential.
Star power!
There is an asterisk to attach but Jeremy Pena is making a real charge at becoming a first-time All-Star game selection. Among American League shortstops, the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is clearly the best. The clear number two in the pecking order coming into this season was the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, who is on fire after a slow start that began with him missing seven games on the injured list. Athletics’ rookie Jacob Wilson goes into the weekend batting .350 and amazingly has struck out just nine times in 164 at bats. Rangers’ stud Corey Seager being on the injured list with a balky hamstring for the second time this season helps the Astros this weekend and likely frees up an All-Star spot.
Now to that aforementioned asterisk. Pena has been sensational so far, indisputably the Astros’ best everyday player. We just need to see more staying power of performance before fully slotting Pena in the top tier of shortstops. Pena’s four-hit game Wednesday night hiked his batting average to .315, his OPS to .840. Well, last year Pena put head to pillow the night of May 15 with his batting average at .333, his OPS at .830. The rest of the season Pena hit .240 with a meager .653 OPS. That Pena drew a paltry 18 walks over his last 114 games. 2025 Pena has showed markedly better plate discipline. He’ll never be a high walks-drawn guy but incremental improvement matters, and can bear fruit in other ways.
Fruitless continues to describe an awfully high percentage of Christian Walker’s plate appearances. 2023 Jose Abreu was better (2024 Abreu was not). Plenty of season still remains for a turnaround, but more than a quarter of the season is gone and it’s not as if Walker is trending in the right direction. In three games against the Royals he went zero for 12 with seven strikeouts. With his final whiff, Walker reached the 50 strikeout “milestone” for the season in his 154th at bat. Feeble and lousy are fair characterizations of a .208 batting average and .625 OPS, magnified for someone batting clean-up most nights. Starting play Thursday 13 big leaguers actually had struck out more than Walker so far this season, among them only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds carries a lower OPS. Walker has been even worse with runners in scoring position, batting just .171, with a sub-abysmal 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
Using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement statistic, the Astros’ three worst non-pitchers this season are Walker, Yordan Alvarez, and Jose Altuve. Those are the three highest paid players on the team. Altuve’s extended funk has him hitting .202 over his last 27 games with a .538 OPS. Altuve was dropped to second in the batting order basically at his request. It has not sparked him. If Altuve doesn’t pick it up, manager Joe Espada will have to consider dropping Altuve several more spots down the lineup. Alvarez is at 11 games and counting missed with a muscle strain in his right hand. He will not be approaching the career-high 147 games played last season.
Relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a revelation last season. Before joining the Astros at age 31 Scott had a big-league ERA of 9.00 in 46 innings scattered over three seasons. So it was pretty much out of nowhere that the only South African pitcher in MLB history posted a scintillating 1.36 ERA into early August before fading and winding up with a still stellar 2.23 mark. The clock struck midnight on his Cinderella story this year though, and with the Astros needing to open a roster spot this week, Scott was designated for assignment.
Book it!
Longtime Astros’ broadcasting stalwart Bill Brown has authored several books. His latest is Wartime Athletes, which tells the stories of athletes across a number of sports who served in the U.S. military during various wars. If you know anything about Bill Brown, you know each story was meticulously researched and makes for an interesting read. I’m no Oprah when it comes to the power of suggestion for reading material, but Wartime Athletes is worth your time and/or is a worthy gift for someone else.
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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