2019 Houston Texans Season

[eagle eye]

It’s time to give some props to the Texans. They have shown to the world and, more importantly, to themselves that they belong in the playoff conversation as a legit contender. Houston may only be 8-4 on the season but this win over the Patriots on Sunday night will go a long way toward bolstering their confidence now that December has entered the room. They haven’t wrapped anything up yet because the Tennessee Titans are right on their heels at 7-5 and they just put a whuppin’ on the Colts to take sole possession of second place in the division. Both teams have 4 games left and two of them are against each other. Houston hosts the struggling Broncos while the Titans have to go to Oakland to face a slumping Raiders team. The steam from this past Sunday night’s win should propel the Texans over the Broncos who can’t seem to get out of their own way.

The Texans, on the other hand, have been pretty consistent. They also have good wins over the Chiefs, the Chargers and of course the Patriots. They were just seconds away from beating the Saints in the season opener. The only bad loss was the 41-7 drubbing the Ravens put on the Texans two weeks ago. It appears that nothing is going to stop these Ravens unless the injury bug gets them but, there is no reason to believe that Houston can’t rise up and upset the Ravens if it comes right down to it. We’ve seen way too many times that what the pundits say should happen has nothing to do with what actually takes place on the field every week. If you look at the standings the Patriots and Ravens are tied with 10-2 records and Houston and Kansas City are tied with 8-4 records. Houston is clearly a top 4 team in the AFC and that’s no fluke. You want a fluke? How about the Cowboys leading the NFC East with a 6-6 record? The other NFC division leaders are NFC West teams San Francisco and Seattle at 10-2, NFC North has Green Bay at 9-3 and the NFC South has the 10-2 Saints. The Cowboys are not considered a threat to win a Super Bowl at this point and there is no guarantee they will even make the playoffs. Houston is all about being a contender and that’s without JJ Watt, most of the defensive secondary they started the season with and O-line issues that don’t seem to want to go away.

The only thing I’m pissed at the Texans about is how they let the Patriots James White go off on them in the 4th quarter of the game. With the yards gained running and receiving to go along with a rushing TD and a receiving TD it cost me a win in my fantasy football league this past weekend. Oh well, I’ve been up and down all season in fantasy but that loss cost me a spot in the playoffs. Thanks Romeo Crennell for playing prevent defense in the 4th quarter. That defense prevented me from making the playoffs.

[eagle eye]

I just don't understand this Texans team. They beat a New England Patriots team and get smoked by the Bronco's? The loss to the Broncos puts the Texans in a tie with the Tennessee Titans for the division lead and these two teams play each other twice in the next three weeks and at the very least Houston will need to split these games and win the Week 16 matchup with Tampa Bay. This week is in Tennessee for the outright division lead. Maybe the Texans can win on the road but given the inconsistent nature of this team it appears to be a hit or miss proposition.

[eagle eye]

The Texans beat the Titans in Week 15 and unbeknownst to me they played the Tampa Bay Bucs yesterday. On Saturday? Imagine my surprise when I found out there were actually three games played yesterday and I had already missed one. I actually missed the one I would have wanted to see! Houston beat the Bucs 23-20 thanks in large part to the Bucs themselves. Jameis Winston threw 4 INT's and the Bucs added a lost fumble to the 5 turnover total. Bradley Roby got one of those picks and he took it to the house for a pick 6. Offensively, the Bucs outplayed the Texans gaining 435 yards of total offense to Houston's 229. Houston got short fields and played good D when they had to to pull out the game. The win was a big one as Houston clinched the AFC South and it just remains to be seen if the Texans will be the 3rd or the 4th seed in the playoffs. All the divisions have been decided all that remains is to sort out what the seeding will be. New England clinched their 11th straight division title with a win over Buffalo yesterday now the Patriots will be sitting back hoping Cleveland can beat the Ravens. The Browns did it once already in Baltimore so, even though the Browns got embarrassed by Arizona last week, they could still pull out a win. Buffalo is the only wild card set in the AFC and they other wild card is up in the air between Pittsburgh and Tennessee. Tennessee hosts New Orleans today while Pitt travels to New Jersey to play the Jets. You'd have to give the advantage to the Steelers based on matchups but, you never know what will happen on a give Sunday. Way to go Texans! Beat Tennessee next week at home and head into the playoffs on a roll!!!

[Dracula]

All three were on NFL network. I couldn't see any of them.

[eagle eye]

The Texans went into the season finale with nothing to lose. They had clinched the AFC South just before Christmas so the game with Tennessee was really meaningless to them. The game was not meaningless to Tennessee. A win over Houston then the Titans earn a spot in the playoffs. Houston didn't care about Tennessee, you could tell by the six starters who were inactive Sunday and by the way they benched Desean Watson and played Carlos Hyde very little. AJ McCarron got his first start as a Texan and he didn't do bad considering he was playing with one arm tied behind his back with all the players that sat out that included DeAndre Hopkins. McCarron might have had Will Fuller if not for the pulled hamstring he's dealing with. I like Fuller when he plays but when you miss half the season with soft tissue injuries you aren't doing your team any good. Fuller has got to have the worst hamstrings in the history of the NFL. If it's me, I'm targeting a new WR in the draft like LSU's Ja'Marr Chase or Justin Jefferson or Oklahoma's CeeDee Lamb. Somebody good will be available in low to mid 20 range when Houston drafts next April. Of all the people who didn't play last Sunday Fuller is the only one who wouldn't have played even if the game meant something. The defense was hampered too without Bernardrick McKinney and the Texans lost both CB Bradley Roby and Jonathan Joseph to hamstring injuries. The Texans should beat the Bills with all their pieces back in place. The only question mark is Fuller. A week of rest and recuperation for the players who got a break last weekend will do them a world of good. I think the Texans did the right thing sitting the players they sat because the playoffs was the most important thing. The Texans are home in front of a very vocal crowd and there seems to be nothing to keep them from playing a really good game. The Bills are no pushovers but Houston should win the game. Nobody is really afraid of the Bills running game but they seem to make do very well thank you. You cannot take the Bills for granted, after all, they have the same 10-6 record the Texans have. Hope the Texans start the new year off right with a win. Don't forget, the AFC Wild Card round is on Saturday with the Texans-Bills leading things off at 3:35 PM followed by the Titans-Patriots at 7:15.

[eagle eye]

I’m glad the Texans won. They finally showed up after halftime. Desaun Watson put the team on his back and JJ Watt stepped up too.

I am glad for the Texans but I can tell you I hope somebody else broadcasts the game because Joe Tessatore and Booger McFarland are terrible. I’d rather Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Or Jim Nance and Tony Romo. Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd would be better than the ESPN pair.

[Dracula]

Man, Those long time Bill's fans must be shaking their heads and wondering what did they do to deserve this kind of playoff bad juju. They watched two DL crush Watson, watch their guys fall down, and then watch Watson loft a pass , which set up the game winning OT field goal. There's some bad JuJU around that team come playoff time.

[eagle eye]

The Texans did it. For an entire half of the game it didn't look like they would, in fact, it looked like they were going to lay another colossal playoff egg like the one they laid last year against Indianapolis. The got down 21 zip in the first half on the way to a 21-7 loss last January. One year later the Texans floundered around for the first half and found themselves down 13-0. After trading possessions at the start of the 3rd quarter Buffalo took a fumble by DeAndre Hopkins on his first reception of the game Buffalo kicked another field goal to extend their: lead to 16 zip. At the midpoint of the 3rd quarter Houston finally started playing some football. The Texans offense finally started clicking and they drove to the Bill's 20. Deshaun Watson ran the 20 yards powering his way through 3 tacklers for the last 5 to score the Texans first points of the game. Watson followed that up with a 2 yard run for the 2-point conversion which cut the Bills lead in half as the 3rd quarter came to an end. Houston got a fumble recovery to start the 4th and they drove down to the Bills 23 where the drive stalled. Houston's Ka'imi Fairbairn nailed a 41 yard field goal to make the score 16-11 in favor of the Bills. After a 3-and-out by Buffalo Houston got possession at their own 26 after a punt by the Bills. All Houston did was drive the ball down the field on an 8 play 74 yard drive that ended with a 5 yard pass to Carlos Hyde and 2-point pass to Hopkins that gave Houston their first lead of the game at 19-16 with 4:37 left in the game. Buffalo had an 8 play 14 yard drive when they turned the ball over on downs. If not for a 15 yard personal foul on Buffalo the Bill may have tied the game on this drive. Houston got the ball with 1:35 left in the game on the Bills 39. You figured Houston could run out the clock but they got very conservative and Buffalo had all 3 of their time outs left. Houston went 4 and out and the 4th down play was aggravating to say the least. Buffalo had 5 D-linemen stacked between the Texans guards as they figured Houston was going to try a quarterback sneak. Watson should have seen the alignment and checked out of a play. A quick slant to Hopkins or Kenny Stills would have given the Texans a first down and iced the game. But, Watson didn't change the play and the Bills easily stuffed the QB sneak so the Bill had one last shot with just 1:16 left in the game on their own 30. Josh Allen ran for 20 yards to midfield on 1st down to midfield. Buffalo converted two 3rd and 10 plays to get down to the Texans 29. The Bills were unable to move the ball any further and they kicked a 38 yard field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. The Texans and Bills traded possessions in overtime until Houston took the ball on their 2nd possession in overtime at their own 17. They drove the ball 73 yards in 9 plays to the Bills 10. Houston picked up yardage in chunks as the drove the ball down the field. A 27 yard pass and run to Hopkins, a 37 yard catch and run by Duke Johnson on a 3rd and 18, a 10 yard pass to Kenny Stills and a 37 yard pass to TE Jordan Thomas to cap the drive. Fairbairn kicked the 28 yard field goal that gave the Texans the win. The good thing that helped Houston was that Tennessee beat New England last night which means the lowest remaining seed will have to play Baltimore which means Houston will travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. Good weekend for the Texans which I hope continues next week in Kansas City.

I see a lot of posts that disparage Bill O'Brien. They want to see him fired because they believe he is a bad coach. O'Brien has been coach of the Texans for six seasons now and they have gone to the playoffs 4 of those six seasons. He missed his first season because he just didn't have that much talent. The team did improve from 4-12 the previous season to 9-7 barely missing the playoffs. In 2017 Houston got Deshaun Watson in the draft but between Week 8 and Week 9 Watson tore his ACL and was done for the year. The 12 losses exceeded the 7 losses total between 2014 and 2016. The past 2 seasons the Texans have been to the playoffs and they have won the AFC South 4 of the six years he's been head coach. O'Brien learned the pro game coming up through the Bill Belichick regime working his way up from offensive assistant to OC and the Patriots went to the Super Bowl with O'Brien as the OC. O'Brien actually turned the Penn State program around. A program racked by the child abuse scandal that got the Nittany Lions banned from bowl games for 4 years and a loss of 40 scholarships. Despite all that O'Brien turned the program around actually winning multiple Coach of the Year awards in 2012. When he took the Texans job in 2014 the Penn State was well on its way back to being a legit Big 12 contender. Do the Texans need work? Yep, there is no doubt but, there is no doubt the Texans have a lot of talent to build around. O'Brien became the defacto GM back in June and he's made some nice moves that helped improve the Texans roster. Laramy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, Bradley Roby are amoung the additions to the roster. The Texans have the duo of Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson which makes an interesting dilemma for O'Brien next off season when the Texans should get RB Lamar Miller back. Before then the Texans have to make a trip to Kansas City for a divisional round playoff game. My point is maybe we should appreciate what we have. There are sure a lot of other teams that would like to have the success the Texans have had.

[eagle eye]

3 out of 4 ain't bad. I was right about the Packers, Titans and 49ers winning last week. If I was a betting man I would have won a bunch of money. The only game I missed on was the Texans-Chiefs and after the 1st quarter it sure looked good didn't it? 24 zip but the lead wasn't nearly big enough as the Chiefs roared back to take a 28-24 lead into halftime. For all intents and purposes the game was over then. The same thing that had plagued the Texans all year, a spotty defense, let the Texans down big time. It wasn't all bad defense, KC is really good and that offense is difficult to stop. I think Houston had a good defensive game plan, as pointed out by Jim Nance and Tony Romo, the Texans copied the defense New England used in the 2019 playoff game which the Patriots won. Play man on the receivers with a single high safety and rush everyone else. The trouble was, Houston's personnel aren't as good as New England's was in that playoff game. The thing that helped Houston to that early lead were dropped passes, at least 3 on 3rd down by the Chiefs and a blocked KC punt and a fumble recovery when Houston punted to KC which gave the Texans the ball at the Chief's six. It looked like Houston had it made but then the breaks started going KC's way. After a KC TD Houston had to punt on their next possession but Bill O'Brien rolled the dice and tried a fake which was stopped just a half yard short. KC got the ball near midfield and scored yet again. From this possession the dropped passes by KC ceased and the Texans defense failed to stop the Chiefs again until the score rolled up to the final tally of 51-31. The Chiefs set all kinds of records against the Texans defense in what turned out to be a rather embarrassing. Scoring 31 points in a playoff game is pretty good except when the opponent scores 51. The defense needs some serious upgrade to their pass rush which would help out their secondary immensely.

Earlier this week on 97.5 ESPN on the drive time show, The Blitz, host Fred Faour and AJ Hoffman ripped the Texans in general and Bill O'Brien in particular. Generally speaking Fred and AJ don't have much good to say about Houston sports franchises but this was a venom filled indictment of O'Brien and the McNair family for allowing O'Brien to continue. Faour said that yes Houston has made the playoffs 4 of his 6 years as head coach but none of those teams has the juice to really be a threat to actually contend for a Super Bowl. It is Faour's contention that as long as O'Brien is head coach/GM the Texans will never be anything but mediocre. He compared O'Brien to Marvin Lewis who won a lot of games for Cincinnati and made the playoffs almost every year but the Bengals never won a single playoff game. O'Brien's teams have won playoff games but they haven't been able to advance past the divisional round of the playoffs. There are a lot of fans who agree with Faour's opinion. I would be more prone to compare O'Brien to Jason Garrett whose had very limited success in the playoffs in his ten years in the NFL. The defenses in Garrett's tenure failed the Cowboys in the big moments way too often and it seems the Texans are on that same path. The question that will not have an answer until a change is actually made is, how long will the McNair family continue to support O'Brien if he can't get the Texans in position to win a championship? Just how patient will they be?

It's now the off season and all Texans nation can do now is look forward to pre-draft activities like the college All Star games, the scouting combine and and college pro days. The draft is an entity all to itself and is closely followed by undrafted free agent signings, OTAs rookie camps and mandatory mini camps all leading up to training camp. The NFL is a 24-7 365 business but right now the games are over for the 2019 season and we won't have them again until September.