Carlos Hyde's huge day helps plus how right was O'Brien to go for it late?

O'Brien's best coaching job to date has Texans rolling

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

3 Headlines, 2 Questions, and 1 Bet after the Texans defeat the Chiefs and get ready for the Colts.

Resiliency rules the day

There is a time where the Texans would have lost Sunday by about 20 or 30 points. We no longer live in that time.

-A broken play touchdown allowed

-Fumble on first play

-Top two corners out for majority of game

-Wideout who had fixed drop problems has drop problems

-Wideout who never drops the ball drops a touchdown

-Quarterback throws two interceptions when he had thrown one all year

-Kicker misses extra points and field goal

That's just a smattering of the things that could have derailed the Texans. In the past, just one or two of these would have doomed them. Instead, they dominated the second half and beat the Chiefs.

It is one of the most impressive wins in Bill O'Brien's tenure. Sure. It is also one of the most resilient wins in franchise history.

The offensive gameplan was awesome and well executed for the most part. The use of timeouts and challenges made sense. The team never spiraled out of control most importantly. Kudos to O'Brien for the successful day with the headset.

Bill "Coconuts" O'Brien

I thought the field goal to go up 10 points in the fourth quarter was the right move for the Texans.

O'Brien laughs in the face of the weak-minded who prefer to trust a shaky kicker over one of the best quarterbacks in football.

The above stats paint the picture of how smart it was to go for it.

I loved the gumption to go for it and the "trust the defense" mentality if the Texans failed to convert. There wasn't a "lose" situation short of a turnover and the Texans on the short and easy stuff had done a great job taking care of the ball.

It was something from a couple of seasons ago where I believe O'Brien would have attempted the kick and lived with the result. I also have faith the Texans defense could have stopped the Chiefs from scoring the way they played in the second half.

Runnin' Hyde

Carlos Hyde was a man on Sunday. He touched the ball 26 times after his fumble. He had 13 of those 26 touches go for at least four yards and six of those went for at least nine yards. He was a workhorse running back and a physical runner than punished the Chiefs.

I never could have seen this coming from him. He is the perfect back for what Bill O'Brien wants to do with his first running back. He's been very impressive and went over 100 yards rushing for the first time in two years.

As for his colorful language, Hyde knew he let it slip.

"With the offense clicking like that, it's so hard to stop us," he said. "I was caught up in the moment right there. I've got to watch my language though. But, I was just caught up in the moment.When our offense is moving the ball like that, things are clicking, it's just hard to stop us."

Is this level of offensive line play here to stay?

No sacks. Two quarterback hits. One tackle for a loss. Woo boy. What a showing from the Texans offensive line. They worked over the Chiefs for a good portion of the game.

Now, the offensive gameplan helped them. Getting the ball out quick helped a ton for the protection but even then, they did amazing in keeping Watson clean and keeping the lanes open for Hyde and later Duke Johnson.

There wasn't even a big drop off when Roderick Johnson came in for the injured Tytus Howard.

Howard is going to miss time, but his season is seemingly not over per Aaron Wilson.

This has been an incredible job by this group coming together and really playing well.

Should we worry about Will Fuller's drops?

Will Fuller didn't have the best day after an amazing one last week.

His first drop came in the end zone and led to the Texans settling for a field goal. It wasn't the easiest catch in the world but it hit his hands. In a close game, they could've used that to start the scoring.

The second drop came trailing by 14 points and again, wasn't an easy catch. I am giving him a pass on this one because it seems like it was a really hard catch to come down with. So, while he could have caught it, I am not sure he SHOULD have caught it.

The third one really hurt. The Texans led by six and had he reeled that one in, there's a chance the Texans blow the Chiefs out with plenty of breathing room on the scoreboard.

I am not worried about Fuller's drops. He had three all season before yesterday and had no drops last season. This seems like a hiccup more than an issue that could be popping up often.

I bet the loss to the Panthers really sticks with the Texans

When I asked Bill O'Brien about the offense and how they attack things quickly he mentioned the Panthers game. He was demonstrating they had bad second down situations that set them up for failure and called out their performance against Carolina by name.

While you can say the Saints and Jaguars games could have gone either way, the Texans absolutely should have beaten the Panthers. Kyle Allen didn't play well that day and the Texans offense has to be sick looking back on that performance. It was also the last time they looked bad on offense, so, if it got them going via fixing things, it is worth the headache.

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The Houston Texans approach to the offseason has caused quite a bit of controversy among Texans fans and media. Some really like what the team is doing in free agency, while others are underwhelmed.

But the argument that keeps getting thrown around is whether the Texans are ready to win this season, or if the team will have to suffer through another disappointing season. Most would agree the Texans roster has a number of holes, but how will that roster look after the NFL Draft and hopefully a new franchise QB is taking snaps for the team?

The great thing about the NFL is how fast teams can turn things around and start winning. When we looked at the teams coming off a bad season and drafting around the Texans in 2021, many of them showed a huge improvement the following season.

The Lions were 3-13-1 in 2021, last year? 9-8. The Jaguars went 3-14 in 2021. Last year they won the AFC South and notched a playoff win over the Chargers. Look at the New York Giants, they went 4-13 in 2021. They improved to 9-7-1 and also won a playoff game just one year later. And don't get us started on the Jets. They went 4-13 in 2021, improved to 7-10 with bad QB play, and now Aaron Rodgers wants to play there.

The point being, most of these teams hired new coaches in the last couple of years, added some talent through the draft and free agency and started winning. Why are Texans fans and media so convinced they're in for another season of losing? Why can't the Texans be the team that turns things around and competes for a division title? Especially if they land a franchise QB as expected.

The AFC South isn't a very tough division. In fact, the Texans beat the Jags, Colts, and Titans just this year. Shouldn't we expect them to take a step forward with better players and DeMeco Ryans leading the way?

Be sure to check out the video above as we break it all down!

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