JAKE ASMAN

Tony Dungy: I like where the Texans are right now

Jake Asman
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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Braves beat Houston in extra innings, 5-4. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.

Marcell Ozuna hit his major league-leading eighth homer and Orlando Arcia’s RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

It completes a three-game sweep of the struggling Astros and is Atlanta’s fourth straight victory.

The Braves scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie it at 4-4. Michael Harris II started the 10th as the automatic runner on second and there was one out in the inning when Seth Martinez (1-1) intentionally walked Matt Olson.

Ozuna lined out to right field to send Harris to third base. Arcia then singled on a ground ball to left field to score Harris and put the Braves on top.

Pinch-runner Jake Meyers was on second when Kyle Tucker walked with no outs in the 10th. Meyers moved to third on a fly out by Yainer Diaz but Jeremy Peña grounded into a double play to end it.

A.J. Minter (3-1) got the last two outs of the ninth for the win and Raisel Iglesias earned his fifth save.

Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. added his first homer of the season to help the Braves to the victory. Ozuna also leads the majors with 23 RBIs and he extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties his career best and is the longest active streak in the majors.

Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubón both homered for the Astros, who fell to 6-14 and are last in the AL West.

There was one out in the first when Alvarez connected on his homer to the seats in left field to put Houston up 1-0.

Ozuna opened the second with his 432-foot shot to left field, which bounced off the wall and tied the game.

Acuña put the Braves up 2-1 when he sent the first pitch of the fifth inning to straightaway center field.

The Astros tied it on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fifth and Kyle Tucker’s RBI double came next to put the Astros up 3-2.

Dubón hit his first home run of the year off Jesse Chavez to start Houston’s sixth and push the lead to 4-2.

Harris singled to start the seventh before a ground-rule double by Austin Riley. Olson reached, and Harris scored on a fielding error by first baseman José Abreu when he couldn’t grab a routine ground ball.

There was one out in the inning when Riley scored on a sacrifice fly by Arcia to tie it at 4-all.

Houston starter J.P. France allowed four hits and two runs in five innings.

Max Fried gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings.

UP NEXT

Braves: Atlanta is off Thursday before opening a series against Texas on Friday night with LHP Chris Sale (1-1, 4.58 ERA) on the mound.

Astros: Houston is also off Thursday before ace Justin Verlander will make his season debut Friday night against Washington. The three-time Cy Young Award winner opened the season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder.

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