Getty Images
Texans moved to 2-2 with a 16-10 loss to the Panthers. Winning the turnover battle and going +46 yards in rushing differential is making my analytic look bad two weeks in a row. Here's some other observations I had:
The Good
-Whitney Mercilus, JJ Watt, and Brennan Scarlett all had strip sacks of Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen. All three were recovered by the Texans (Carlos Watkins, Watt, and Benardrick McKinney). Playing against an inexperienced quarterback, this was the type of performance you expected from the pass rush.
-Last week, the team totaled 39 rushing yards in a win. This week, they got 136 yards on the ground in a losing effort. The fact that they were able to run the ball against a tough Panthers defense was a good sign for things to come.
-Duke Johnson seems to be hitting his stride. He had eight touches for 88 yards and looked at lot more comfortable in the offense. He ran hard and finished his six runs with some force, very uncharacteristic of him. Maybe Carlos Hyde is rubbing off on him? Or maybe he knows the oppotunity he has and isn't trying to lose it? Either way, I was pleased with his performance.
The Bad
-The Texans had 16 total yards to start their second possession of the game towards the end of the 1st quarter. They finished the quiarter with 53 after a couple good plays. To sputter against the Panthers defense isn't a big deal, but to look that inept to start the game was a little unnerving. Boiled down to a three yard average on their first 19 plays.
-Deshaun Watson was sacked six times today. A lot of those were on him. He holds onto the ball too long trying to make something happen and sometimes would not be aware of the rush around him. The offensive line can't keep taking the blame for Watson's lack of awareness and his committment to be a superhero.
-Watson's sacks lost a total of 32 yards, which left the team with 128 yards passing. Any time a team has more rushing yards than passing yards and wins the turnover battle, you'd think they'd win. However, the Texans create new ways to lose sometimes and blow my turnover/rushing yardage differential analytic out of the water.
The Ugly
-Kenny Stills limped out of bounds to end the first quarter and was taken back to the locker room for more observations.All we know is that it was a hamstring injury of some sort. Losing him hurt an already struggling offense. If they have to go it without him for an extended period of time, the offense may conrinue to struggle.
-DeAndre Hopkins threw an interception on a trick play pass intended for Carlos Hyde when the Texans were in the red zone in the second quarter. Plays like this are totally unacceptable! Sure, Hopkins threw a bad pass, but he's not a quarterback and that playcall was idiotic. I'm sure Bill O'Brien will either have a smartass reply, or use The Kubiak. (He owned it at halftime according to Lindsay Czarniak.)
-The challenge on Christian McCaffrey's catch early in the fourth quarter was dumb! It was clearly a catch when watching the replay. Whoever told Bill O'Brien to challenge that should be slapped, and O'Brien should slap himself as well. Not only did it cost them a timeout, but it was compounded by the other two timeouts they wasted in the second half, especially whgen they couldn't stop the clock on the Panthers' game-icing drive. O'Brien continues to prove his ineptness when it comes to game managment.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. More sacks, more baffling play calls, more game management ineptitude, more Watt whiffing on sacks in crucial situations, more of the same old crap in general. This was a game the Texans should've won and will regret when the playoff race is tight. That is if they manage to find themselves in the playoff race. Keep playing down to their competition and being their own worst enemies will take them out of the race before it starts.
-
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
While holding one’s breath that for a change the Astros aren’t publicly grossly underestimating an injury’s severity with Jose Altuve having missed the last game and a half with “right side discomfort…”
The Astros averting a sweep vs. Oakland Thursday was in no way a must-win, but getting the win allowed a mini sigh of relief. The Astros are NOT in the process of choking. Could they collapse? Sure that’s possible. Also possible is that they’ve just been in one more ebb phase in a season of ebb and flow. They certainly have left the door ajar for the Seattle Mariners to swipe the American League West, but with the M's simply not looking good enough to walk through that door the Astros remain in commanding position. The Astros made a spectacular charge from 10 games behind to grab the division lead. But there was a lot of runway left when the Astros awoke June 19th 10 games in arrears. September 3 the Astros arose with a comfy six game lead over the M’s. With Seattle blowing a 4-1 eighth inning lead in a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers Thursday night, heading into Friday night the Astros' advantage is back up to four and a half games despite the Astros having lost six of their last nine games and having gone just 10-12 over their last 22 games. Not a good stretch but nothing freefalling about it.
While the Mariners have the remainder of their four-game series vs. the dead in the water Rangers this weekend, the Astros play three at the lousy Los Angeles Angels. The Astros should take advantage of the Halos, with whom they also have a four-game series at Minute Maid Park next weekend. Since the All-Star break, only the White Sox have a worse record than the Angels 19-31 mark (the White Sox are 6-43 post-break!). Two of the three starting pitchers the Angels will throw this weekend will be making their third big league starts. To begin next week the Astros are in San Diego for a three-game-set against a Padres club which is flat better than the Astros right now. That does not mean the Astros can’t take that series. The Mariners meanwhile will be still at home, for three vs. the Yankees.
There are some brutal Astros’ statistics that largely explain why this is merely a pretty good team and not more. As I have noted before, it is a fallacy that the best teams are usually superior in close games. But the Astros have been pathetic in close games. There used to be a joke made about Sammy Sosa that he could blow you out, but he couldn’t beat you. Meaning being that when the score was 6-1, 8-3 or the like Sammy would pad his stats with home runs and runs batted in galore. But in a tight game, don’t count on Sammy to come through very often. In one-run games the Astros are 15-26, in two-run games they are 10-14. In games that were tied after seven innings they are 3-12. In extra innings they are 5-10. The good news is, all those realities mean nothing when the postseason starts. So long as you’re in the postseason. In games decided by three or more runs the Astros have pummeled the opposition to the tune of 53 wins and 28 losses.
General Manager Dana Brown isn’t an Executive of the Year candidate, but overall he’s been fine this season. Without the Yusei Kikuchi trade deadline acquisition the Astros would likely barely lead the AL West. Brown’s biggest offseason get, Victor Caratini, has done very solid work in his part-time role. Though he has tapered off notably the last month and change, relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a fabulous signing. Scrap heap pickups Ben Gamel, Jason Heyward, and Kaleb Ort have all made contributions. However…
Dana. Dana! You made yourself look very silly with comments this week somewhat scoffing at people being concerned with or dismissive of Justin Verlander’s ability to be a meaningful playoff contributor. Brown re-sang a ridiculous past tune, the “check the back of his baseball card” baloney. Dana, did you mean like the back of Jose Abreu’s baseball card? Perhaps Brown has never seen those brokerage ads in which at the end in fine print and/or in rapidly spoken words “past performance is no guarantee of future results” always must be included. Past (overall career) performance as indicative of future results for a 41-year-old pitcher who has frequently looked terrible and has twice missed chunks of this season to two different injuries is absurd. That Verlander could find it in time is plausible. That of course he’ll find it? Absolutely not. His next two starts are slotted to be against the feeble Angels, so even if the results are better, it won’t mean “JV IS BACK!”
Presuming they hold on to win the division, the Astros’ recent sub-middling play means they have only very faint hope of avoiding having to play the best-of-three Wild Card Series. Barring a dramatic turn over the regular season’s final fortnight, Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown are the obvious choices to start games one and two. If there is a game three, it is one game do or die. Only a fool would think Verlander the right man for that assignment. No one should expect Brown to say “Yeah, JV is likely finished as a frontline starter.” But going to the “back of the baseball card” line was laughable. Father Time gets us all eventually. Verlander has an uphill climb extricating himself from Father Time’s grasp.
*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.