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DeAndre Hopkins
Off Sunday's humiliation in Baltimore beating the Colts was a quality bounce back for the Texans Thursday night. Neither team looked like a Super Bowl threat, and the prospect of the Texans winning another AFC South championship excites very few as a stand alone achievement. Still, if the Texans are to ever notably break through in the playoffs, being in the playoffs is a prerequisite. The Texans are now probable to secure another one of those cute little AFC South Champion banners.
I said on the radio this week that it was lame that the Texans offensive scheme had largely reduced DeAndre Hopkins to a possession receiver. Through the first 10 games D-Hop wasn't even averaging 10 yards per reception (9.9). His low for a full season is 12.2, second lowest 13.7. 35 and 30 yard touchdown receptions vs. Indy later, the words "about time" come to mind. About time in giving their best player a chance to make catches downfield once in a while.
At 7-4, the Texans last regular season game against a good team is vs. the Patriots a week from Sunday. Even if they do their usual and lose to the Pats, the Texans should win 10 games and for a sixth time in nine years their division. Over the last quarter of the schedule anything less than 3-1 would be something on the spectrum from disappointing to epic failure (should it cost them a playoff spot): two games with the currently 5-5 Titans, a home game vs. the 3-7 Broncos, and a road game at the 3-7 Buccaneers.
State of dismay
Except for Baylor and SMU (both 9-1!), what a crappola FBS Texas college football season is winding down.
Tom Herman's third season at Texas stands at a mediocre 6-4 heading into Saturday's game at Baylor. The Longhorns have no individually horrible losses, but TCU and Iowa State are nothing special, and they barely beat Kansas. UT's season makes a punchline of Sam Ellinger's "We're baaaaaack!" proclamation after last season's Sugar Bowl win. Mack Brown's third season in Austin produced the first of what would be 10 consecutive seasons finishing in the top 13 of the final AP poll.
Jimbo Fisher is in his second season at Texas A&M. The Aggies are a hollow 7-3 heading into Saturday's game at Georgia. The Aggies' three losses all came to excellent teams: Clemson, Alabama, and Auburn. But they weren't substantially competitive in any of those games. The Aggies seven wins have come over not bowl eligible squads, though Mississippi State could get to 6-6! If the Aggies don't pull a major upset at Georgia or next weekend at LSU, Fisher's second season is a definite disappointment. His first season in Aggieland high point was the seven overtime thrilling victory over LSU. Contrast the Aggies with the Tigers 12 months later.
Dana Holgorsen's first season at UH is a stink bomb, Mike Bloomgren's second at Rice has one win. TCU, Texas Tech, North Texas, UTSA, UTEP. Not one winning record in the bunch.
Fuss about Russ
Russell Westbrook is one of my top 10 all-time NBA favorite players to watch. That doesn't change the reality that his three point shooting is lousy and despite the Rockets' bombs away system he should basically stop shooting threes. Westbrook is literally the worst volume NBA three point shooter ever. Four of the last five seasons he has failed to crack 30 percent. 30 percent stinks! So far this season, West"brick" checks in at a sub-awful 22.7 percent. It's going to be a problem for the Rockets in trying to win at the championship level. On the plus side, Westbrook is a one man fast break who has elevated the Rockets from being one of the slowest tempo offenses to one of the fastest.
If you'd like to live in Edmond Oklahoma about 20 minutes from downtown Oklahoma City, Westbrook is selling his mansion there. Approximately 8400 square feet, it can be yours for $1,695,000! He's selling at a loss. Westbrook owns a 9000 square foot palace in the ritzy Brentwood area of Los Angeles, for which he paid a reported $19,750,000.
Big Bang coming
With the state of their payroll the Astros weren't going to spend much in free agency regardless this offseason, but it can't help that Jim Crane and his ownership partners are probably looking at a seven figure fine when Major League Baseball lowers the boom after its investigations of Astro cheating schemes, and the organization's indefensibly horrible handling of the Brandon Taubman fiasco. And it sure seems like it is when that boom is lowered, not if.
Buzzer beaters
1. If only Will Fuller wasn't so darn fragile. A healthy Fuller is a dynamic threat. 2. At this point in his contract who is more overpaid, Herman at six mil per season or Fisher at seven and a half? 3. Greatest Sports Leonards: Bronze-Dutch (the better one) Silver-Kawhi Gold-Sugar Ray
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Christian Walker, Yainer Diaz and Jose Altuve each homered, Ryan Gusto threw six strong innings, and the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Sunday to complete their first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since May 9-11, 2008.
The Astros scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when No. 9 batter Zack Short capped an eight-pitch at-bat by drawing a two-out bases-loaded walk off reliever Will Klein (1-1) for a 2-1 lead.
Walk(er) of Fame.#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/GdCh2o5Zq2
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 6, 2025
Walker and Diaz opened the eighth with homers off Dodgers closer Tanner Scott for a 4-1 lead.
Observe and learn, y'all.#BuiltForThis pic.twitter.com/0acIozb9Ye
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 6, 2025
And Altuve added a solo shot in the ninth off Anthony Banda, as the Astros improved to a major league-best 24-8 since June 1.
Shhh, watch the GOAT. pic.twitter.com/N85VyBr8RT
— Houston Astros (@astros) July 6, 2025
Gusto (6-3) wasn’t dominant, allowing one run and four hits and striking out one, but he held the top four Dodgers batters — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages — to two singles in 12 at-bats.
Bennett Sousa, Bryan King and Bryan Abreu each threw scoreless innings of relief for Houston.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second, an inning that began with Michael Conforto’s walk and Hyeseong Kim’s single. Conforto took third on Miguel Rojas’ double play grounder and scored on Dalton Rushing’s RBI double.
Houston tied the score 1-1 in the third when Short singled, took third on Isaac Paredes’ double and scored on Altuve’s sacrifice fly, a ball that Dodgers right fielder Esteury Ruiz caught while leaping into the screen in foul territory.
Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan, recalled from Triple-A to make his second big-league start in his return from Tommy John surgery, gave up one run and five hits in five innings, striking out four and walking one.
Key moment
The Dodgers threatened off reliever King in the eighth when Rushing singled and took second on Betts’ two-out single, but Astros center fielder Taylor Trammell, who entered for defensive purposes in the sixth, raced in to make a sliding catch of Freeman’s 104-mph liner to preserve a 4-1 lead.
Key stat
Walker, who entered with a major league-best 1.203 career OPS in Dodger Stadium, is batting .349 (53 for 152) with 21 homers and 38 RBIs in 45 games in Chavez Ravine.
Up next
Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6, 2.51 ERA) will face Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta (9-4, 2.91 ERA) Monday in Milwaukee.
Astros left-hander Colton Gordon (3-1, 4.37 ERA) will face Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-9, 4.20 ERA) Monday in Houston.