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In a Thursday Night Football battle, the Texans edged out the Colts in 20-17 hard fought victory. Here's how I saw things play out:
The Good
-DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller re-established themselves as one of the best wide receiver duos in the league this game. 13 catches on 19 targets for a combined 234 yards and two touchdowns (both by Hopkins). Whenever Deshaun Watson has Hopkins on the short to intermediate stuff and Fuller stretching the field, it gives him more options in the pass game.
-Deshaun Watson completed 63.3% of his passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. While he did throw an inexplicable interception and took a sack, he still did enough to guide his team to a win. This kid is going to be a star and eventually lead his team to great things one day.
-The defense came up big against a division rival. Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney combined for 27 tackles, 19 of those were solo tackles. This wasn't an easy game. It was a grinder, and the defense deserves some love for their contribution.
The Bad
-Watson's interception in the 2nd quarter hurt their momentum. The Colts had just punted the ball to the Texans. With a 3-0 lead, they could've taken a two score lead with a touchdown drive. Instead, pressure up the middle tipped the pass and Colts corner Kenny Moore made a great play to pick it off. Sometimes good defense beats good offense.
-Back to back Colt possessions swung momentum back in their favor. At the end of the 1st half, the Texans gave up a field goal to tie the game at 10. To start the 2nd half, the Texans failed on a 4th&3 conversion. The Colts went on an 11 play drive (10 runs, one pass) and scored after Benardrick McKinney failed to make the tackle when he met Jonathan Williams in the gap.
-The Colts ran the ball 39 times for 175 yards at a 4.5 yard per carry clip. Losing the rushing yardage differential by -76, turnover game by -1, and time of possession by almost seven minutes is normally a recipe for a loss. These metrics need to be cleaned up moving forward, or else this team will be out early in the playoffs.
The Ugly
-The Colts convderted 9/15 of their 3rd down conversions. Giving up 60% on 3rd down conversions isn't what good football teams do. If the Texans expect to advance in the AFC playoff picture, they have some work to do as far as 3rd down conversion percentage.
-Dylan Cole went down with a calf injury in the 2nd quarter. He's not only one of their more athletic linebackers, he's alos the leading special teams tackler. Hopefully he's okay as this team, particularly the defense, has suffered enough injuries.
-After the field goal early in the 2nd quarter, I heard them playing "Football Time In Houston" by Clay Walker. Will they PLEASE get rid of that damn song?!? I'm sure there's a rap song they can use that's better. Hell, get a local band to do a rock song. Anything but that tired ass song!
Now that the Texans have won this game and firm control of the AFC South, they have about a 75% chance at making the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Colts have only about a 20% chance to make it. The Texans have five games left: Patriots, Broncos, @Titans, @Bucs, and Titans. None of those teams pose a serious threat outside the Pats. Winning all these games would give them a 12-4 record and a shot at a first round bye depending on what happens with other teams. Winning this game puts them in the driver's seat in the AFC South, and helps them in the race for a first round bye. They'll need some out side help to get first round bye in the playoffs, but health is a major component moving forward. Especially on the defensive side of the ball. With the Pats coming into town next Sunday night, the Texans have a chance to make some noise in the AFC. Next week will be the new biggest game of the Bill O'Brien era.
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How Astros' dominance over Orioles could be season's turning point
Jun 24, 2024, 12:42 pm
Framber Valdez pitched seven solid innings and Jeremy Peña and Yainer Diaz had three RBIs apiece to give the Houston Astros a 8-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday and complete a three-game sweep.
It’s just the second time the Orioles have been swept this season after losing three in a row to the Cardinals from May 20-22.
Valdez (6-5) allowed six hits and a run with seven strikeouts in seven innings to bounce back after consecutive losses.
Jose Altuve hit a leadoff homer as the Astros jumped on Albert Suárez (3-2) for four runs in the first. Alex Bregman had a season-high four hits for Houston, which extended its winning streak to five games.
Jordan Westburg homered for a second straight game to extend Baltimore’s franchise-record streak of games with a home run to 22. But the Orioles couldn't do much else offensively as they managed just one run for a second straight game.
Suárez permitted a career-high 10 hits and tied a career-most with five runs in five innings.
Bryan King struck out one in a scoreless eighth for Houston in his major league debut and Luis Contreras allowed one hit in his debut in the ninth.
Altuve sent Suárez’s first pitch out of the park for his 38th career leadoff homer to make it 1-0. Bregman doubled and scored on a one-out single by Diaz.
Peña doubled to left field to drive in Diaz and extend the lead to 3-0. Mauricio Dubón made it 4-0 with his RBI single on a line drive to center field.
César Salazar hit a single to open Houston’s fourth before a one-out double by Bregman. The Orioles intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to load the bases and a sacrifice fly by Diaz left Houston up 5-0.
Colton Cowser singled with one out in the fifth but was erased when Adley Rutschman grounded into a force out. Ryan Mountcastle singled after that, but Anthony Santander also grounded into a force out to end the inning.
Westburg’s home run came with one out in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-1.
Bregman singled with one out in the sixth and a single by Diaz came with two outs in the inning. They both scored when Peña smacked a double to left-center field to make it 7-1.
Altuve and Bregman hit consecutive singles to start the eighth and Altuve scored on a sacrifice fly by Diaz with two outs to extend the lead to 8-1.
UP NEXT
Orioles: LHP Cade Povich (0-1, 3.94 ERA) starts for Baltimore in the opener of a three-game series with Cleveland on Monday night.
Astros: Houston is off Monday before starting a two-game series with the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.