Cody Stoots: 3 headlines, 2 questions, 1bet
Plenty of reasons Texans win streak can continue
Nov 27, 2018, 1:24 pm
Bill O'Brien's comments when he was asked about the future beyond Cleveland were fantastic. He is right. This league will have you tumbling from the top of the hill in no time. The Texans though have not tumbled yet. They have won eight games in a row and just finished perhaps their most impressive win of those eight. There is still room to get better for this team too which should scare the rest of the NFL. This is the longest win streak in franchise history and the first time a team has started with three straight losses and followed it with eight straight wins.
The Browns are a team that is playing well now so there is no pushover element like previous Cleveland teams. Baker Mayfield is playing really well right now and they are a team on the rise with two wins in a row.
"It's definitely understood," O'Brien said when he was asked if he had explained to the team it isn't the Brown of old. "This is a big challenge. Big, big challenge."
The Texans set a franchise record for rushing yards in their win over the Titans with 281 yards. Let's first praise the offensive line. They have really come together as a unit in the back part of this win streak and rarely do they struggle in pass protection and rushing the ball. Monday, they struggled a little in pass protection but they were mauling the Titans on the ground early. This is a unit that week to week can really set the tone, good or bad, for the offense.
Lamar Miller went nuts in this game. One of this best as a Texans player. You can read more about him being the player of the game here.
Let's talk about one of the most important developments for this team, the return of Deshaun Watson's legs. He had just 74 yards on the ground in the past five games. Those were the five games after he suffered an injury against Dallas. Against Tennessee, he rushed for 70 yards. It can't be understated just how big of a weapon his rushing ability can be. You saw it on the scoring run where the play call was executed to perfection and he went almost untouched for six points.
"You have to be able to run the ball," Bill O'Brien said. "I know the league and the stats say it is a passing league, and I think we've thrown the ball pretty well...We want to be a physically tough, smart football team. We feel like we have to be able to stop the run and we have to be able to run the ball."
The rushing attack getting going the past few weeks has been a pleasant surprise and has helped ease the sting of D'Onta Foreman's long road back to the field. The Texans still aren't activating Foreman. O'Brien said he is feeling "better" but the team had a "little more time" to make the decision. Foreman can be activated to the roster or put on injured reserve.
Welcome back to two pass rushing presences that have been sorely missed in Christian Covington and Whitney Mercilus. Both had struggled to get going this season but it seems now they're hitting their stride much to the chagrin of opposing offenses.
Mercilus had been a step slow to start the season but he is starting to ramp up. He has at least a sack in back to back games and is hitting the quarterback regularly. Plenty has been made about how the team is using him as to why his sack numbers and other pass-rushing elements have been down but he has been better the past couple of weeks. The injury in training camp torpedoed his start to the season but he's grooving now.
Covington played his best game as a member of the Texans against the Titans. It was the first multi-sack game of his career as he had two solo sacks and split one with J.J. Watt. Covington was starting to come into his own last season before an injury ended his season and he's been up and down for most of 2018. He has even been inactive for some of the games despite being healthy. The most important element of his game last night was he brought pressure up the middle. If he is adding that type of rush while Watt and Jadeveon Clowney go to work on the outside it will be tough for opposing quarterbacks to get comfortable.
The team can count on Keke Coutee when he is healthy. He has had some really nice snaps this season but from the preseason he has been bothered by a recurring hamstring injury. He missed all of the preseason and the first three games with the injury. Then he played in four games before missing two games. After the bye, he had a big performance against Washington but he left the Titans game again with the hamstring injury.
He is clearly a playmaker when healthy but he hasn't been healthy all year. The best the Texans can hope for is he can manage this and after a good offseason program, he doesn't have to deal with this injury anymore. He didn't run into this problem at Texas Tech so I imagine it is very frustrating for him to go through as well. DeAndre Carter caught a pass and ran some routes from the slot so if Coutee has this issue continue it seems likely he is the guy that could benefit.
Good, it would seem. Baker Mayfield has taken to his new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens well and it has showed. The top pick from 2018's draft has tossed seven touchdowns his past two games. Nick Chubb has been a monster since taking over as the lead back. Their defense has held two pretty impressive offenses, albeit Andy Dalton got hurt in one of the game, to tiny scoring outputs. Though they have a slim chance to make the playoffs in the AFC, this season is all about building momentum for this team. Mayfield has helped change the culture and their defense has plenty of talent. This won't be an easy out on Sunday.
I bet Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield battle in the playoffs more than a few times in their careers. They have matched up once before, in 2015 in the college football playoff. Mayfield had the better game passing by far but Watson's rushing ability and the Clemson defense was the difference maker. They both are a part of the young and talented quarterback crop in the NFL right now. If the Browns rise continues and the Texans can solidify their footing we are in for some epic battles between the two, hopefully in January.
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.