PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS AND THE TEXANS

Texans defense boasts some of NFL's Best

Texans defense boasts some of NFL's Best
Kareem Jackson is having a monster year. Houston Texans/Facebook

Pro Football Focus grades each individual player's performance and assigns them a grade. All 32 teams use Pro Football Focus. 

Usually each week we will take a look at some of the good and bad from the Texans and a look at the upcoming opponent as well. With the bye week here will we look at Texans players to this point in the season. They also do great fantasy analysis and draft coverage as well. Stats are for the previous game unless otherwise noted. You can join Pro Football Focus here

Kareem Jackson - 90.1 defensive grade

Kareem Jackson is the third best defensive back by grading when accounting for playing for 50 percent of the team's snaps. He's the eighth best defender in all of football when including all players who have played 50 percent of their team's snaps. That's incredible when you think about the conversations about moving on from him this offseason. He has taken to his new role at safety well and he has had to fill in at cornerback a ton but played well. His run defense is astonishing and he's handled coverage well this year. 

J.J. Watt - 90.1 defensive grade

He's back. He's tied with teammate Kareem Jackson as the eighth best defender in football. Watt is tearing through defenses and has an average of a sack per game which is insane when you think how far removed he is from his healthy former self that was Defensive Player of the Year. He's a monster. His run defense is among some of the best numbers in his career and 

Justin Reid - 74.8 defensive grade

Justin Reid is the seventh rated rookie overall for defenders who have played 50 percent or more of their snaps. Let that sink in. Reid has six players playing regularly better than him on defense from this rookie class. That's it. None of them were drafted behind him they were all picks in the first or second round. That's an eye-popping number. He's gotten better and better too playing more snaps and posting three of his four best grades the past three weeks. Reid has been a true steal for the Texans and it's scary to think he may be getting better. Oh, and Reid has the best tackling grade in all of football.

Deshaun Watson - 79.8 passing grade

The Texans quarterback checks in at 15th in the NFL. It makes sense considering all he has dealt with so far this season. His offensive line struggled mightily and then he was injured. He's gotten going lately though. Two of his top three grades in overall offense and passing have come in the past two weeks and with the bye coming and a new wideout to get used to Watson should be back to his improving ways against Washington. He's on his way to being a dynamic force again. 

DeAndre Hopkins - 90.9 receiving grade

The second best grade in football for players that actually play most of the snaps for their team. He's only behind Michael Thomas of the Saints but Hopkins has no drops to Thomas' three drops so let's call Hopkins the best in football. He's playing like it. No one has slowed him and even with the shaky offensive line to start the season he's shown an ability to really blow up. He is tied for second in touchdowns and third in yards and he's just spectacular and getting better. The Texans have a bonafide superstar in Hopkins and he plays like it every week. 

As always, you can join Pro Football Focus here

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That's five straight losses for Houston. Composite Getty Image.

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a tiebreaking two-run homer for his first major league hit, and the Chicago Cubs swept the Houston Astros with a 3-1 victory on Thursday.

Nico Hoerner had three hits and Mike Tauchman went 1 for 1 with three walks as Chicago won for the fourth time in five games. Hayden Wesneski (2-0) pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings for the win in relief of Javier Assad.

Houston has lost a season-high five straight and eight of nine overall. At 7-19, it is off to its worst 26-game start since it was 6-20 in 1969.

First-year manager Joe Espada was ejected by plate umpire Jansen Visconti in the top of ninth.

Crow-Armstrong was recalled from Triple-A Iowa when Cody Bellinger was placed on the 10-day injured list on Wednesday with two fractured ribs. The 22-year-old outfielder, who is considered one of the team’s top prospects, made his big league debut last year and went 0 for 14 while appearing in 13 games.

He picked a perfect time for his first major league hit.

Houston had a 1-0 lead before Dansby Swanson scampered home on a fielder’s choice grounder for Miguel Amaya in the sixth.

Espada then replaced Rafael Montero with Bryan Abreu, who threw a wild pitch with Crow-Armstrong trying to sacrifice Amaya to second. Crow-Armstrong then drove his next pitch deep to right, delighting the crowd of 29,876 at Wrigley Field.

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