Someone finally pushed back against media’s anti-Houston Texans agenda
TEXANS ON TAP
23 May 2024
How good will the Texans be this season? Composite Getty Image.
Shannon Sharpe and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson recently reacted to Bleacher Report's offensive power rankings, which have the Dallas Cowboys (9th) ranked ahead of the Houston Texans (12th).
Both Sharpe and Johnson believe Houston should be ranked ahead of Dallas, especially after the additions of Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. Outside of superstar receiver CD Lamb, the Cowboys don't have any playmakers on the level of Diggs, Nico Collins, and Tank Dell.
In fact, Sharpe goes as far as to rank the Texans in the Top 10 above the Bengals and Bills.
Which we completely agree with. We have the Texans firmly inside the Top 10 and maybe as high as seventh overall.
That covers the offense, but here's the real question:
How many games will the Texans win?
The Texans win total is out, and Vegas has the team's over/under set at 9.5. We think that sounds about right with a very tough schedule on the horizon.
But NFL Network's Maurice Jones-Drew has the Texans going 8-9, with them losing 5 straight games to finish the season!
Don't miss the video above as we react to Sharpe and Johnson's thoughts on the Texans offense, Jones-Drew's win prediction for Houston, and the latest updated odds out of Vegas.
José Ramírez homered for a third straight game, Angel Martínez also went deep and the Cleveland Guardians got a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
It’s the first time the Guardians, who entered the series on a 10-game skid, have won three in a row since a four-game winning streak from May 21-24.
Slade Cecconi (4-4) allowed five hits and two runs with a career-best nine strikeouts in 7-plus innings for the win. Paul Sewald pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Martínez homered for a second straight at-bat with his shot to the Crawford Boxes with one out in the first inning. His grand slam with two outs in the 10th inning Tuesday night lifted Cleveland to a 10-6 win.
Four pitches after Martinez’s homer Wednesday, Ramírez also connected off Brandon Walter (1-2) to make it 2-0. Walter settled in after that, retiring the next 17 batters, with seven strikeouts before Bennett Sousa took over to start the seventh.
Ramírez and Carlos Santana hit consecutive singles with no outs in the inning before David Fry walked to load the bases. Johnathan Rodríguez then singled to score two and extend the lead to 4-0.
The Astros had managed just four singles when Taylor Trammell walked with no outs in the eighth and scored on a double by Mauricio Dubón that cut the lead to 4-1. There were two outs in the inning when Jose Altuve’s RBI double made it 4-2.
The AL West-leading Astros went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position to cap this disappointing series which came after they swept the Dodgers in Los Angeles over the weekend.
Key moment
Martínez and Ramírez had back-to-back homers in the first.
Key stat
Ramírez, who dropped out of next week’s All-Star game Wednesday to rehab a nagging Achilles injury, has four homers and seven RBIs this month.
Up next
LHP Logan Allen (5-7, 4.07 ERA) will start for Cleveland in the opener of a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox Thursday night. The Astros are off Thursday and haven’t announced their rotation for their weekend series against the Rangers.
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