Texans 20, Jaguars 3
Texans clinch AFC South after 20-3 win over Jaguars
Dec 30, 2018, 3:17 pm
Benardrick McKinney and the defense came up big. Bob Levey/Getty Images
The Texans clinched the AFC South title with Sunday's 20-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars and now wait to see who their first playoff opponent will be. It started slowly for Houston's offense with the usual three-and-out to start the game, but they turned it around quickly with another stellar performance from Deshaun Watson and never looked back. It helped that the Texans' defense completely shut down Jacksonville's offense, whose only points were a field goal after a Houston special teams fumble that the Jaguars recovered at the Houston 10-yard line.
J.J. Watt and the defense got pressure on Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles early and often, including Watt's league-leading seventh forced fumble of the season. He finished the game with a half sack, giving him 15 for the season, and four seasons of 15 plus sacks in his career. Bortles finished the game with only 107 yards passing and the Jaguars offense managed only 119 total yards of offense.
Houston's offense didn't put up a lot of points on the scoreboard, but they didn't need to. They had a bad series inside the red zone after five plays on their second possession put them inside the 20. They made it first and goal at the five-yard line and two plays later looked like they had a touchdown run by Watson. Upon review, he was ruled down at the 1-yard line. They failed to punch it in on third down and were forced to settle for a field goal, the 36th one made by Ka'imi Fairbairn this season and a team record for most in a season. He added number 37 in the fourth quarter and with the two extra points he made, he added to his league leading points scored total to finish with 150.
While the defense was dominating Jacksonville in the first half, the Texans were able to string together two touchdown drives of 51 and 63 yards to go up 17-3 at the break. The first one came after the special teams made up for their earlier turnover that gave the Jaguars three points. After a three-and-out forced a Houston punt, and it was muffed by Jacksonville's returner Dede Westbrook and linebacker Zach Cunningham secured it at the Houston 49-yard line. Watson led a quick four play drive that he finished himself with a five-yard touchdown run. Later in the second quarter, the offense put together a nine play, four-and-a-half-minute drive that ended with Lamar Miller lowering his shoulder for a seven-yard touchdown.
All of the Texans' offensive success ran through Watson, but he got a lot of help from one of best wide receivers in all of football, DeAndre Hopkins. Watson ended the game 25 of 35 for 234 yards and a rushing touchdown and 12 of those completions went to Hopkins, who turned them into 147 yards. That's almost 50% of the passing game going through Hopkins. He didn't score today but he made everything Houston did possible. His season ends with 115 receptions (tied for franchise record with Andre Johnson), 1,572 yards and 11 touchdowns.
It wasn't a complete success though. Watson had a rough day behind his offensive line. He was sacked six times, for a total of 62 this season, the most an NFL quarterback has taken since 2006. Offensively Bill O'Brien has been playing with fire regarding Watson's health. The quarterback's running ability has been great for the offense and Watson again led the team in rushing today; but with the sacks and 13 rushing attempts he takes a lot of hits. His arm helped him finish the season with 4,165 yards passing and 26 touchdowns while his legs led to 551 yards and five touchdowns, the second leading rusher on the team. Lamar Miller led the team on the ground for the season, finishing with 973 yards and four touchdowns.
It was a great win for the Texans, who finish the season 11-5, after a 4-12 record just a season ago. They have secured their division again and hope for losses by the Chargers and Chiefs to get a bye next week. Barring that, they are the third seed and will have a home playoff game next weekend.
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The phrase most associated with the late former Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis was “Just win baby.” One has to think Al would strongly approve of the Houston Astros. Going to the fifth inning Sunday against the Mariners the Astros were facing a 3-0 deficit and staring at the prospect of being swept out of Seattle and having their American League West division lead slashed to just two games. Now after roaring from behind with 11 unanswered runs to take the series finale in the Emerald City, and then sweeping three games from the Diamondbacks in Phoenix, the Astros stand six games up with 60 games to go. So, if the Astros play just .500 ball the rest of the way (which would have them finish with 90 victories), the Mariners have to play .600 ball to catch them. If somehow the Astros are to maintain their season long win pace to the finish line they’d close with 95 wins, and the race is already over unless someone thinks the M’s are poised to uncork a finishing kick of 41-19 or better. It’s quite a pleasing perch from which the Astros survey the standings. Coupled with the freefalling Detroit Tigers having dropped nine of their last ten games, the Astros amazingly start this homestand sporting the best record in the entire American League. On the homestand they follow four games against the team with the second-worst record in the American League (Athletics) with three versus the team with the second-worst record in the National League (Nationals). I know, I know. There is fear of the Astros playing down to the competition, but that is not the way to look at it. A bad Major League team can beat a good team in a series at any time. If it happens it happens, but it wouldn’t mean it happened only because the Astros didn’t take their opponent seriously. This isn’t the NBA.
Trade deadline looming
Of course, It hasn’t been all good news with Isaac Paredes badly injuring a hamstring Sunday. Paredes could be back in three weeks (doubtful), he could miss the rest of the season. GET WELL SOON JEREMY PENA! Lance McCullers’s latest Injured List stint could be considered addition by subtraction for the Astros’ starting rotation. Whether impacted by his blister issue, Lance was lousy in four of his last five starts. So, one week from the trade deadline, if general manager Dana Brown has the ammo to get one deal done, where does he make the upgrade? The left-handed hitter everyone knows the Astros can use regardless of Yordan Alvarez’s status is a natural priority. With the Astros’ weak farm system it would seem difficult for Brown to put forth the winning offer for the top bats that could be in play. That probably rings even truer now, since if he wasn’t already untouchable, Brice Matthews may have cemented untouchable status by darn near winning the first two games of the Diamondbacks series by himself. Matthews is going to struggle mightily to hit for a good average if he can’t make notable improvement in the contact department, but the power is obvious, as is the athleticism in the field. The 23-year-old Matthews and 22-year-old Cam Smith (though presently mired in a three for 36 slump) are the clear (and right now only) two young shining beacons for the lineup’s future.
You can't have enough pitching
While Brandon Walter has been a revelation, a starting pitcher would make sense unless the decision is to hope Spencer Arrighetti and/or Cristian Javier can contribute meaningfully upon return to the big leagues, likely sometime next month. Going after a reliever or two may make more sense in terms of availability and transaction cost. Overall the Astros’ bullpen has been excellent, but Bryan Abreu is the only trustworthy right-handed option for Joe Espada. Back to Walter. Barely two months ago no way Walter himself would have believed he’d be where he is now. Nine starts since being summoned basically out of desperation, Walter has a 3.35 earned run average, and a stunning 13 to one strikeout-to-walk ratio with his 52 strikeouts against a measly four walks allowed in 53 2/3 innings. Walter has pitched fabulously in seven of his nine starts. He only has two wins, but that’s because in five of the six Walter starts the Astros didn’t win the game they failed to score more than two runs. Walter turns 29 years old in September. His only prior big league experience was 23 innings in relief with a 6.26 ERA for the Red Sox two years ago. The Bosox released him last August, the Astros signed him basically as minor league depth. Look at him (and the Astros) now.
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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