JAKE ASMAN

Tony Dungy: I like where the Texans are right now

Tony Dungy: I like where the Texans are right now
Tony Dungy likes the Texans. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

After an 0-3 start, the Houston Texans have won six games in a row, joining the 1970 New York Giants as the only teams to win six consecutive games after starting 0-3 in NFL history.

Super Bowl winning Head Coach and current NBC Sports Analyst Tony Dungy has been impressed with the Texans resolve after the terrible start to their season. Appearing on The Jake Asman Show on SB Nation Radio, Dungy talked about how he believed in Houston from the start of this season.

“I picked the Texans to win that division this year,” Dungy said. “I thought that if Deshaun Watson was healthy and if there defensive players were healthy, Whitney Mercilus and JJ Watt and (Jadeveon) Clowney, I thought they would have enough to do it.

After beating the Denver Broncos 19-17 last Sunday, Dungy, said he believes those are the type of games the Texans are going to have to play in order to win meaningful games the rest of the season.

“These are the types of games I think they are going to play,” said Dungy. “Where the defense hangs in there, gets some turnovers. Deshaun (Watson) makes just enough plays and they win and it’s going to be a tight fought game. I like their competitiveness and their belief in each other and I think those defenders are just going to get better and better... I like where the Texans are right now.”

Leading the Texans during their current winning streak has been the strong play of second year QB Watson. In Watson’s last six games, he’s thrown for 1,518 yards, 12 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions including a 68% completion rate. Watson has also not turned the ball over during the last three games. When asked what has stood out about Watson’s recent performance, Dungy said Watson’s playmaking ability has caught his eye.

“To me it’s his ability to make that big play and create that big play… When the design of the play breaks down, the defense does a good job, most of the time the QB says ‘OK, that’s it, I’ll live to play another day, I’ll throw the ball away, I’ll take a sack, and we'll get ‘em the next play’”, Dungy said. “Deshaun Watson has the ability that when the defense does everything properly and there is no where to go, he can still create things. To me that is a great quality to have and that is what separates Deshaun. He doesn’t have it all down yet and he’s going to get better and better but that ability to make something out of nothing in a crucial situation, that’s what he brings to the table.”

You can listen to the entire interview with Tony Dungy here: https://audioboom.com/posts/7076725-tony-dungy-interview

 

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The Angels beat the Astros, 4-1. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.

Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.

The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.

Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.

Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.

Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.

Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.

Key moment

Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.

Key Stat

Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.

Up next

Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.

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