Washington Redskins vs. Houston Texans: Full Report Card Grades for Houston
A win is a win.
The Houston Texans weren't extremely impressive, but they got the job done in Week 1 against a mistake-prone Washington Redskins team. It felt like Christmas in September as the Redskins continually hurt themselves with big penalties and turnovers in crucial spots.
Each phase of the game had its moments where the team played well and played poorly, but not surprisingly the defense carried more of the load than the offense in the opening-week victory. Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't play great, but he didn't turn the ball over, which is what the Texans need him to do as a game manager.
Speaking of turnovers the Texans caused a couple that prevented at least six points and possibly a total of 14 points; that's the ballgame right there.
It's just one win, but this was a game they had to win if they were going to make this a big bounce-back season. If they're going to surprise the league and get back to the playoffs, this was a winnable game that they had to take advantage of Sunday.
Quarterback
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Ryan Fitzpatrick was what we thought he was. Well, maybe I should amend that a little bit because I thought he was going to be a turnover machine, but he never made the killer mistake.
Fitzpatrick's accuracy was shaky and inconsistent as he missed wide, high, low and any which way possible, but those misses never ended up in the hands of the opposing team. No one thought he would play great, but he did play efficiently enough to win, which is all they need him to do.
Overall, Fitzpatrick completed 14 of 22 passes for 206 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, earning a 109.3 quarterback rating. He took what the defense gave him and made the most of his limited ability.
One thing I'd like to see the Texans do more of in the future is push the ball deeper down the field. Arm strength isn't an asset for Fitzpatrick, but they need to keep the opposing defense honest.
Eventually when the tape is circulating and revealing that the Texans' passing game is nearly exclusively based upon short and medium passes, defensive backs will start to creep up and play tighter coverage to take that away with no fear of getting beat deep over the top.
The Texans don't need to become a team that routinely throws long bombs as a part of their regular offense, but they have to show that wrinkle to make opponents respect that play as a possibility.
Grade: B
Running Back
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The Texans ran the ball pretty well Sunday, but in my opinion they didn't lean on it heavily enough. In particular, early on in the game, the Texans went with empty formations several times with no running back even on the field.
Arian Foster looked like his former self with his slow-to-fast run-through style, quick cuts and great vision. That is until he unfortunately fumbled inside the Redskins' 10-yard line and kept Washington in the game. I'm not worried long term about Foster holding onto the ball, but this offense can't afford those mistakes.
For the game Foster rushed for an impressive 103 yards. His yards-per-carry average wasn't great, but the offensive line also didn't get a great push. There were holes, but they seemed to be more due to Foster's great vision and the Redskins lineman running themselves out of position.
In particular the offensive line wasn't able to move the defender off the ball in short-yardage situations, which is probably why the Texans went to the shotgun on third down late in the game on a couple of occasions.
Overall the backs played well given the situation they had to deal with. It was a solid running game, but the offensive line getting more push and a passing game that opponents don't respect are holding the Texans back from being great.
I wanted to give them an "A" here, but with a fumble and a yard-per-carry average under 4.0 for Foster, I had to drop the grade down a notch.
Grade: B+
Wide Receiver
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The wide receivers caught everything that hit their hands, but with Fitzpatrick's inconsistent play, not many balls hit their hands Sunday. What was surprising was how the Texans decided to use their wide receivers early in the game.
With DeVier Posey out—their third receiver—they lined up many times with three or more receivers and even a few times in a five-wide formation. Without Posey on the field, the Texans don't have three wide receivers worth being out on the field at the same time very often.
When the Texans finally did start to have success, it was with 21 or 12 personnel with multiple backs or tight ends in a heavy look. They ran the ball better out of those looks, and it set up play action with Washington creeping up to the line, which led to the big touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins in the second quarter.
The Texans two marque receivers—the ones who should be on the field in those heavy formations—both had big games, especially considering the quarterback they had throwing them the ball.
Andre Johnson and Hopkins combined for 10 catches for 182 yards and one touchdown. If Hopkins hits his potential, the Texans' receiver group has a chance to be the best duo or at least one of the best duos in the league.
With Johnson's big game he passed an NFL legend as he moved up in the record books.
"Andre Johnson passes Art Monk for 16th place all-time in career receiving yards.
— James Palmer (@JPalmerCSN) September 7, 2014"
Grade: A
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Tight End
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This was an invisible group Sunday.
Starting tight end Garrett Graham missed the game, which didn't seem like it would be a problem initially considering the depth they have at the position. Whether or not Graham would have made a big difference is debatable, but the tight ends behind him made no impact in Sunday's game.
For the game Ryan Griffin and C.J. Fiedorowicz combined for one catch for six yards.
Both players had decent moments with their blocking, but the Texans will need a lot more from the duo going forward.
Grade: D
Offensive Line
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It was a solid outing for the Texans' offensive line, but there were a few bad moments. In particular, Chris Myers got pushed around a little and had a poor snap in the shotgun formation in the first half.
Overall, though, Fitzpatrick had plenty of time and rarely faced any pressure; Foster had plenty of holes to run through.
There will, however, be room for improvement going into next week and the rest of the season with the run blocking. Foster was able to find holes, but the Texans didn't get much push in short-yardage situations or moving their defender off the ball.
Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but Foster made the Texans' run blocking look better than it actually was in this game. The Texans didn't push around defenders like they should have or are capable of, but Foster having used his elite level vision found the holes that did exist.
Overall the Texans averaged just 3.5 yards per carry against Washington.
Their performance was surprising because many—including myself—assumed their run blocking would be more of a strength than their pass blocking. However, Fitzpatrick rarely faced pressure, and the team only allowed one sack.
Grade: B
Defensive Line
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J.J. Watt played very well, otherwise the defensive line unit was awful.
Jerrell Powe and Jared Crick didn't seem like they were even on the field with the huge holes the Redskins had to run through. The Washington backs didn't even have to make a bunch of nice cuts or break tackles as they ran through "the tackles" untouched. To put it simply, the Texans got pushed around.
Back to Watt, he said in the postgame press conference that he wanted to be viewed as a guy who was being underpaid; it's hard to say that convincingly with what he's making, but he at least earned his new contract Sunday.
Watt put pressure on Robert Griffin III, stuffed the run and just caused chaos for the Redskins' offensive line. For the game Watt finished with one sack, two other tackles for loss, a fumble recovered, five quarterback hits and one pass defensed; it was an impressive performance, which has become the norm for Watt.
If not for Watt's brilliance, I would have given this group a "D," as the Redskins averaged nearly six yards per carry, but the Watt rising tide lifted all the boats along the defensive line.
Grade: B-
Linebackers
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Is it a contract year for Brooks Reed? The answer is yes, and he's playing like he wants a new deal after this season. Reed still hasn't shown much as a pass-rusher, but he has set the edge and played his assignments very well.
In particular, there was a double-reverse play to DeSean Jackson where Reed stayed home, waited for the play to come back his direction and made the play for a big-yardage loss.
The star of the linebacker group, Jadeveon Clowney, didn't flash much on the field during the first half and then didn't play much in the second half as he dealt with a leg injury.
"According to #Texans Coach Bill O'Brien, good prognosis for Jadeveon #Clowney; not sure how much time he'll miss, if any
— Houston News (@abc13houston) September 7, 2014"
The Texans' other star, Brian Cushing, also failed to flash on the field Sunday. I didn't notice him miss any plays, but he also didn't make any plays. For the game Cushing had just five tackles with none of them for a loss of yardage.
That isn't a concern yet as Cushing was playing in his first real game back after a season-ending injury, but they'll need their Pro Bowl linebacker to be more of a playmaker this season.
Grade: B-
Defensive Backs
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The Texans gave up too many easy, uncontested short throws, but they prevented the deep pass and rallied well to the ball, so overall a solid effort.
My big concern coming into the game was the speed of the Redskins' receiving targets, with the possibility of them running past Houston defensive backs for big plays. That happened once with a big play to Andre Roberts, but D.J. Swearinger helped cause a fumble to prevent points from being put on the board.
Jackson and Pierre Garcon combined for 18 receptions for 139 yards, which speaks to the easy receptions underneath while not allowing the big play. They kept everything underneath and rallied well to the ball as evidenced by Johnathan Joseph leading the team in tackles with 11 on the day.
In fact the top three tacklers on the team Sunday—along with Swearinger and Kareem Jackson—were all defensive backs. It's not something you want to see every week, but it speaks to their overall strategy of forcing the Redskins to look underneath.
Speaking of Swearinger, the sometimes-controversial safety had a big game with the second-most tackles on the team, including a sack and a tackle for loss. I'm still not sure if I trust him in one-on-one man coverage, but he does play well as a box safety.
One thing about him that merits watching going forward is the weekly reputation flags he seems to get. Swearinger was flagged for roughing the passer on Griffin—a penalty that was an absolute joke and warrants a letter from the league saying that the call was wrong.
"D.J. Swearinger his with a roughing the passer call on the most textbook form tackle imaginable. Huge because it happened on 3rd down
— James Palmer (@JPalmerCSN) September 7, 2014"
Swearinger didn't make helmet contact and didn't hit him late; it was a clean shot on the quarterback.
Grade: C+
Special Teams
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The forgotten part of the team, special teams, made several unforgettable plays against Washington.
The first big play came from a usual suspect right after the Redskins scored on an impressive drive when J.J. Watt did J.J. Watt things by blocking the extra point. Watt rushed right up the gut and actually blocked it with his biceps as he got pretty good hang time.
Rookie Alfred Blue continued the block party later in the game when as an edge-rusher he made a nice move to the inside to make the block. The blocker assigned to him completely whiffed, which allowed Blue to come through and eventually score.
The return game didn't contribute much, but I don't think anyone will remember that with what Watt and Blue did Sunday.
Grade: A
Coaching
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There's not much to complain about when it comes to Bill O'Brien and the rest of the coaching staff in Sunday's matchup.
They may need to put an extra man in the box if the run defense continues to struggle, and they may need to consider playing their defensive backs closer to the line to take away all the short passes that were completed in this game, but again there were no head-scratching major mistakes.
The only other thing that is worth mentioning is how often the team used three or more wide receiver formations, which included multiple plays on 3rd-and-short out of a spread shotgun formation. Foster ran the ball well, surprising they didn't lean on him a little more.
With DeVier Posey out I didn't think the Texans had the personnel to warrant playing much out of the spread formations. Their strength with a good fullback and two quality tight ends seemed to be in heavy 12 or 21 formations.
I thought that, when they did use those formations, they ran the ball well and obviously the long touchdown pass that came on play action to DeAndre Hopkins came out of one of those formations.
The coaches will obviously watch the tape to see what worked and what didn't; I think they'll discover they need to feature more heavy sets than they did this week.
Grade: B+
Final Grades Breakdown
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| Quarterback | B |
| Running Back | B+ |
| Wide Receiver | A |
| Tight End | D |
| Offensive Line | B |
| Defensive Line | B- |
| Linebackers | B- |
| Defensive Backs | C+ |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | B+ |
| Overall | B |
Follow me on Twitter for more Texans opinion and analysis: @sackedbybmac.
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