Houston Texans vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Full Report Card Grades for Houston
What a wild and sudden swing of momentum, illustrated by Awful Announcing's tweet:
"It took the Steelers 7 plays from scrimmage to score 3 TDs. pic.twitter.com/GxoIQ52ILy
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 21, 2014"
There are numerous things to point to as a reason for this collapse from the Houston Texans, but leaving points on the field by settling for field goals and losing the turnover battle were the obvious causes for the loss.
The Pittsburgh Steelers offense was ranked near the bottom of the league in both points scored and red-zone offense coming into this game, but when they gift-wrap points for them by turning it over inside their own 20, even a struggling offense will put up points.
This Texans coaching staff needs to do some soul searching after this loss. It wasn't like they lost to the Denver Broncos; the Steelers just got crushed by Cleveland last week. The Steelers aren't a good football team which unfortunately makes the Texans a bad football team.
Very few jobs should be safe from competition with so many position groups struggling. Quarterback, slot receiver, tight end and inside linebacker in particular need a shake-up on the depth chart.
The Texans won't lose out like they did last year, but like 2013 they seem to find new ways to lose each week.
Against Dallas it was poor play-calling on offense in overtime. Against Indianapolis it was an early 24-0 hole in the first quarter. This week against Pittsburgh it was a horrific three-minute stretch to close the second quarter where they gave up three easy touchdowns.
Losing has become contagious for this team.
Quarterback
1 of 11
What can I say about Ryan Fitzpatrick and his struggles this season that I haven't already said before or after other games?
He's a limited player with a short ceiling; we shouldn't be shocked by Fitzpatrick's poor performances. Not surprisingly, the mediocre quarterback put up a mediocre stat line, with 262 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 98.7 QB rating.
Actually that stat line doesn't look mediocre which is another example of how stats can be misleading at times. A 98.7 QB rating is a very good number, but no one can argue with a straight face that Fitzpatrick played well against Pittsburgh.
It's time for a change at the quarterback position.
I'm not saying that Ryan Mallett will cure all that ails them, but it's clear that Fitzpatrick can't get the job done, so why not give the younger guy with a bigger arm a chance?
Grade: C-
Running Back
2 of 11
When the blocking holds up and his shoes don't lose their grip, Arian Foster makes a lot of plays. Unfortunately, the two factors I mentioned went against the Texans too often in their loss to the Steelers.
Even with those factors working against him, Foster still managed to run for over 102 yards on 5.1 yards per carry. Foster also had a touchdown catch along with 13 receiving yards as he showed off his versatility.
Foster really has looked great this season when he's been healthy. Specifically what makes him great is his vision to identify holes opening up on the back side of the offensive line and his explosiveness to get through the holes for big gains.
One play that stood out as a great example of that came during the first half when Foster was given the ball on a draw play. He carried the ball into a small hole in the middle of the line, but he then made a terrific jump cut to the left, away from where the play was designed to go, and picked up a good chunk of yards.
It really is stunning how well he's run the ball this year considering his age, heavy usage and recent injury problems.
Grade: A
Wide Receiver
3 of 11
Same story as most of the Texans' games this year: The receivers catch almost everything that hits their hands, but the play from the offensive line and quarterback has limited their opportunities to make plays.
Well that at least goes for Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins, but unfortunately slot receiver Damaris Johnson dropped a nice pass from Fitzpatrick that would have put the Texans in a goal-to-go situation.
More than just yards, the drop cost the Texans possibly four points as they would have had a first down inside the 10-yard line, but instead they had to settle for a field goal early in the fourth quarter while trailing by 11 points.
Despite catching the ball well, Hopkins again failed to execute in other painfully damaging ways, a fact highlighted in a tweet by the Houston Chronicle's Randy Harvey:
"Jon Gruden: "That is bad football by DeAndre Hopkins. Put the ball away."
— Randy Harvey (@randyharvey) October 21, 2014"
The effort to pick up extra yardage is appreciated, but he has to put the ball away. Even on plays before the killer fumble, Hopkins often held the ball with one hand away from his body giving the defender a chance to punch the ball out. Frankly they were lucky that he didn't fumble multiple times.
He's a very talented receiver, but he has to work on his ball security.
For the game Johnson and Hopkins combined for 11 catches for 185 yards. They have top-end talent at the top of the depth chart at receiver, but limited quarterback play, drops and fumbles over these last couple of weeks have killed their potential impact on winning and losing.
Grade: B-
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Tight End
4 of 11
Just an invisible group, the Texans' tight ends have made no impact this season and came up small once again against the Steelers.
For the game the group had three catches for 33 yards, which sadly might be a season high for the tight end group or at least close to it. PDS' tweet placed C.J. Fiedorowicz's false start in that dismal spotlight:
"CJF with the false start. Water is wet. #Texans
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
In addition to contributing nothing as receivers, they also didn't block well against Pittsburgh and committed costly penalties.
Grade: D
Offensive Line
5 of 11
It was a solid game overall in the running game with an average of 4.4 yards per carry and 132 rushing yards for the game.
The Texans' offensive line also only gave up one sack, so it looked better in pass protection this week than last week against Indianapolis when it allowed five sacks.
The Texans weren't perfect, however, as Fitzpatrick's ability as a scrambler saved them from giving up a few other sacks, but the pressure allowance still disrupted the play and forced him to move around and get rid of the ball earlier than planned.
In particular I thought right tackle Derek Newton had a rough game.
Grade: C+
Defensive Line
6 of 11
When he wasn't triple-teamed or outright tackled by the Pittsburgh Steelers' lineman, J.J. Watt was able to be very disruptive. PDS tweeted some advice regarding Watt:
"Can't block J.J. Watt? Tackle him. #Texans https://t.co/jCY3K19ueM
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
Obviously it's concerncing when that much attention is given to you, though your opportunities to make plays won't come often enough to make a huge impact. The Texans really need Jadeveon Clowney back on the field to take some attention away from Watt and open up opportunities for every lineman.
Watt still had a solid day with one sack, two quarterback hits and one tackle for loss—great by the standards of most defensive lineman—but he didn't make enough of an impact to lead the Texans to victory. That's not a knock on Watt who did what he could; it's just an obvious fact.
Also on the defensive line I thought both Ryan Pickett and Tim Jamison played well. Pickett was again very solid up the middle against the run, while Jamison's execution on plays where the line ran a stunt was excellent which opened up holes for other players to make plays. PDS felt Jamison needed some "dinners" as a thank-you gesture from Mercilus:
"Mercilus owes Jamison some dinners this week. Sack #2. #Texans https://t.co/3p4iY116FX
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
The Texans were solid against the run once again as they held Pittsburgh to 76 yards on just three yards per carry.
Grade: B
Linebackers
7 of 11
What has happened to Brian Cushing? PDS is not sure:
"Sigh. #Texans https://t.co/pFzHzgFPfr
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
He looks slow, he absorbs blocks instead of shedding them and beyond the physical mistakes or limitations coming off surgery last year, he's also making mental mistakes by not getting lined up in the correct spot. PDS' tweet may be highlighting one of those mental mistakes:
"Swearinger is telling someone to get out there. But who? #Texans https://t.co/SJWGBAnHe0
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
Without knowing exactly what the play call was, it's hard to say with 100 percent certainty who should have covered the running back there, but typically that assignment would fall to an inside linebacker and D.J. Swearinger appeared to be yelling at Cushing who was the closest defender.
Swearinger should have probably just run over there once he realized Cushing was confused, but these mistakes with blown assignments have happened multiple times now and are sadly becoming a trend with Cushing. Despite the Cushing concerns, Gulf Publishings' Ben DuBose saw a "silver lining" in Mercilus' performance:
"If there's a silver lining to Clowney's injury, and it's a small one, it feels like the light bulb is finally coming on for Mercilus.
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) October 21, 2014"
On the opposite side of this surprisingly poor play from Cushing has been the surprisingly good play from Whitney Mercilus over recent weeks.
For the game Mercilus had two sacks, two other quarterback hits and one pass breakup. Before Clowney's injury the second outside linebacker was Brooks Reed, but I hope Mercilus gets a chance to play with Clowney when the first overall pick returns.
Mercilus still has many flaws and areas that need work, but he is explosive, which has helped him become a playmaker over the last couple of weeks.
Grade: C
Defensive Backs
8 of 11
Not a great night for the Texans secondary as it allowed too many easy completions.
Ben Roethlisberger averaged 8.0 yards per attempt and had a QB rating of 113.8—both his second-highest mark for the season—all from a quarterback who went 21-of-42 with one touchdown and one pick last week.
Overall the defense wasn't awful, and once you remove the 14 points the Steelers scored off Texans turnovers, the Texans really only allowed 14 points to the Steelers offense.
One thing to watch going forward is the play of Johnathan Joseph who continues to slip over the hill—PDS is taking notice:
"JJo shook. #Texans https://t.co/cdrYBTDROw
— PDS (@PatDStat) October 21, 2014"
It's not good at all and a discouraging sign for the remainder of the season.
Grade: C
Special Teams
9 of 11
The special teams were one of the few groups that did their job and did it well against the Steelers on Monday.
For the game kicker Randy Bullock was a perfect 3-of-3 on his field-goal attempts. Punter Shane Lechler had a punt downed at the 1-yard line and averaged 45 yards per punt for the game.
Grade: A
Coaching
10 of 11
I'm still not in love with Bill O'Brien's play-calling.
The first thing I didn't like was the continued use of empty formation sets with no backs in the backfield. Why tip your hand that the upcoming play isn't going to be a run? Running the ball is what this team does best, but you're taking it off the table as something the defense needs to worry about, why?
Not to mention, the Texans' offensive line has struggled in pass protection, so leaving it in a situation where the defense can go all out with its pass rush with no back or tight end to help is asking for disaster.
Before next week I need to find a site where you can see what its production has been in empty sets against formations with a back, but it seems like every time the Texans use it, Fitzpatrick gets in trouble and either has to scramble or throw the ball before he's ready.
The second thing I didn't like from this game was a call for a draw play late in the game. Backed up against their own goal line, the Texans came out in a shotgun formation and ran a draw. It was a predictable play that could have been thought out a lot better.
With where the ball was and who the Texans quarterback is, I didn't believe there was any chance the Texans would come out firing by passing the ball out of the shotgun; the Steelers probably felt similarly. Therefore once they lined up it that formation, the call was pretty obviously a draw.
I don't have a problem with the decision to run there, but they should have lined up under center with the option for Fitzpatrick to check to a play action depending on the look of the defense.
From under center there would at least be some room for surprise regarding the type of run; it would be like an inside-zone, outside-zone, counter-trap or toss play. Besides the Texans—not surprisingly—seem to run it more effectively when coming downhill from under center compared to shotgun runs.
Both of those issues might seem minor, but they're apart of what has held back the Texans offense. The other thing holding back the offense of course has been the play from the quarterback position; it's time for a change.
Grade: C
Final Grades
11 of 11
| Quarterback | C- |
| Running Back | A |
| Wide Receiver | B- |
| Tight End | D |
| Offensive Line | C+ |
| Defensive Line | B |
| Linebackers | C |
| Defensive Backs | C |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | C |
| Overall | C |
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