Houston Texans vs. Cleveland Browns: Full Report Card Grades for Houston
Bill O'Brien seems to talk about "complementary football" in nearly every press conference he holds and finally it all seemed to click with his team arguably putting together its most complete game this year of "complementary football" with their win over the previous leader of the AFC North, the Cleveland Browns.
What is "complementary football" some of you might be asking? Simple really, it's each phase or part of the game contributing and setting up the other phases of the game. An example being when a turnover caused by the defense gives the offense great field position that helps them put up a touchdown.
The Houston Texans didn't have amazing field position—got nothing from their return game once again—but did score 10 points off the two turnovers from Cleveland.
Overall Houston dominated the game—could have easily won by more—in nearly every phase.
They converted more third downs, won time of possession, committed fewer turnovers, committed fewer penalties, ran the ball better and were more efficient with the passing game; hard to lose when you check off all those boxes.
Like many others I've been calling for Ryan Mallett to start for several weeks, but I certainly didn't expect him to play this well. Coming into the game the Browns were ranked first in opponent's completion percentage and quarterback rating, but Mallett carved them up throughout the majority of the game.
More on Mallett on the next slide, but obviously I was very impressed with his performance.
The Texans only passed up one team—the Buffalo Bills—in the AFC playoff race with the victory, so at 5-5 and still only in 11th place in the AFC as of the end of the early games, their odds of making the playoffs remain long and unlikely.
However with three combined games remaining against Tennessee and Jacksonville and two very winnable games against Cincinnati and Baltimore coming up, if Mallett continues to play this well, then going 4-2 over their final six games to reach 9-7 is a real possibility.
The only remaining game that feels like a lock for a loss is the road game at Indianapolis where no Texans team has ever won.
With tiebreakers on the line, their games against Baltimore and Cincinnati will be very important; don't think they can get in at 9-7 if they lose to both the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
Their odds are long, but this win had to build some confidence on the team that they can compete in the playoff race and at the very least be a team on the rise for next season.
Quarterback
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It was just one game, but man Mallett was impressive against the Cleveland Browns during his first career NFL start.
Mallett of course showed off the arm strength several times like we all expected him to, but more than just his arm strength stood out to me.
He looked like he was in complete control by the way he orchestrated their hurry-up offense and showed good anticipation by knowing exactly where to go with the ball on each play and getting it out of his hands quickly; something Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled with quite a bit earlier in the season.
Honestly, despite it being his first start, Mallett looked like he understood the offense better than the 10-year veteran Fitzpatrick. He was poised and decisive in situations where Fitzpatrick would miss reads which caused him to hold the ball for too long and often make a mistake with his pass.
The offense just seemed drastically sharper with Mallett at quarterback as compared to Fitzpatrick. His passes had zip, were for the most part accurate, they were on time and he seemed more equipped to read the defense and get the ball to where it should go and not lock onto certain receivers.
Almost makes you wonder, why did it took so long for O'Brien to turn to him as the team's starter?
For the game Mallett finished 20-of-30 for 211 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a 95.3 quarterback rating. That one interception by the way was more on the play call—more on that on the coaching page—and a great play by Joe Haden than a bad decision or bad accuracy from Mallett.
Fitzpatrick only had one game in his nine starts with two or more touchdowns and a completion percentage at or over 66 percent like Mallett had against Cleveland; that one game was against the winless Oakland Raiders.
Despite wanting him to play, coming into this game I underestimated what Mallett could do in his first start; glad he proved me wrong.
Grade: A
Running Back
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Rookie running back Alfred Blue came into the game against the Cleveland Browns averaging just 3.4 yards per carry, but he ran the ball very well while filling in for star back Arian Foster. Before this game Blue's season best for rushing yards in a game was 78, but he beat that in the first half with 80 yards after two quarters. Per ESPN's Tania Ganguli, Blue made history as a rookie with his performance:
"Blue is the first #Texans rookie since Arian Foster to have 100 yards in a game. #Texans
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) November 16, 2014"
For the game Blue finished with an impressive total of 156 rushing yards, while Jonathan Grimes also chipped in with 54 yards on 13 carries.
If you would have predicted that Blue and Grimes would finish with 210 combined rushing yards Sunday with Foster out, I would have probably said that you were crazy and needed to stop drinking.
The Browns' rush defense has been garbage all year and looked pathetic Sunday, but regardless the Texans were able to finish the game with their second-highest total of the season in rushing yards with Foster not playing; very impressive.
Grade: A+
Wide Receiver
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Did the Texans trade for Andre Johnson earlier this week? A quarterback change and suddenly Johnson was targeted like a No. 1 threat once again and made plays like one as well. PDS was impressed:
"Andre Johnson with an amazing catch. #Texans https://t.co/Pl2mcnP9Mt
— PDS (@PatDStat) November 16, 2014"
Johnson didn't have his biggest statistical outing of the season, but he seemed more involved with the offense instead of being used as a decoy or possession receiver; his role had almost become that of what Kevin Walter use to do in years past.
Instead of only throwing it to him on slants and bubble screens, Johnson was able to work down the field, some on double-moves, and was a bigger piece of the offensive package and game plan. He did have a couple of drops, but overall he played pretty well and should see his numbers increase over the remaining games.
For the game Johnson led the team with nine targets and came away with seven receptions for 68 yards.
Hopkins wasn't targeted as often, but he also had a solid game with four receptions for 80 yards against Cleveland.
Slot receiver Damaris Johnson was highly involved in the offense with as many targets as Hopkins—eight—however, he dropped a couple of passes and was mostly used as a quick underneath outlet.
Grade: B
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Tight End
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Wait a second, when did "tight end" become a position in the NFL? After watching the Texans play over their first nine games I forgot that the position even existed. Grantland's Shea Serrano was impressed by Garrett Graham's dove release:
"i need more garrett graham touchdowns if he's gonna release a dove every time he scores one https://t.co/X7YIP04m96
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) November 16, 2014"
We can take Graham off the milk carton after he caught not only his first touchdown of the season but also—and sadly—the first touchdown pass for any Texans' tight end this season.
The use of the tight ends was short-lived, but Graham did finish the game with two receptions—the only two times he was targeted—for 34 yards and a touchdown.
Grade: C
Offensive Line
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Maybe the offensive line wasn't as bad in pass protection as many of us thought it was earlier in the year. It wasn't perfect against Cleveland, but having a quarterback under center that gets rid of the ball on time makes a big difference.
For the game the offensive line gave up just two hits on the quarterback and didn't allow a single sack on Mallett. So much for the theory—admittedly one that I believed—that Mallett's inability to scramble would be a huge issue behind this offensive line.
In the running game the line played well while opening up holes for Alfred Blue who had 156 yards on 4.3 yards per carry against Cleveland.
Arian Foster can often pick up yards on his own without great blocking because of his great vision for the cutback lanes, but Blue doesn't have that same ability. Finishing the game—despite how poor the Browns' run defense is—with their second-highest single-game mark in rushing yards without Foster was impressive.
Grade: A
Defensive Line
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J.J. Watt is Superman; there's simply no other way to describe him. CBSSports.com's Will Brinson agreed with that assessment, and SportsCenter chimed in with stats to back up that claim:
"JJ Watt scores ANOTHER TD. What a catch! https://t.co/ubuWVbnhV2
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) November 16, 2014 "
"J.J. Watt is 2nd player ever w/ 2 Rec TD, Fumble recov TD, Int ret TD in a season (Jay Arnold). (via @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/kxckUEtAYI
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 16, 2014"
Watt added to his MVP resume with five tackles, three of those tackles for a loss, one sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a receiving touchdown.
This has nothing to do with the performance of the actual defensive line but the fact that Watt—an interior defensive lineman—has the athletic ability to split out wide like a receiver on offense, run a fade route correctly and come down with a difficult catch is crazy.
The pass that Mallett threw him was a route that is usually reserved for guys such as Calvin Johnson and Dez Bryant, and yet Watt as a defensive lineman made it look easy; just ridiculous what that guy can do.
Back to the performance of the defensive line, it helped hold the Browns to just 58 rushing yards on a tiny average of 2.4 yards per attempt; great effort from the group up front.
Grade: A
Linebackers
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The linebackers had a few down moments, but overall they played pretty well. Brian Cushing struggled some in coverage, and Jadeveon Clowney ran himself into blocks at times while trying to penetrate into the backfield, but as a group they made enough plays to overcome those shortcomings.
Speaking of Cushing he finished with the second-most tackles on the roster Sunday and also had two great clean and very hard hits on Brian Hoyer as a blitzer. He can't be all the way back physically after missing a couple of games, but he did show some of the explosiveness and instincts that made him a Pro Bowl linebacker.
The play of Mike Mohamed and Akeem Dent also stood out with one sack, one hit on the quarterback, three tackles for loss, three pass breakups and one interception combined against Cleveland.
Grade: B+
Defensive Backs
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Very physical game from the Texans' secondary Sunday; it seemed like every defensive back on the field had a highlight-reel hit at some point of the game.
Looking at the stats A.J. Bouye led the team in tackles with 10, Johnathan Joseph had two passes defensed and as a group the secondary held Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer to 20-of-50 passing with a 61.2 quarterback rating.
This group wasn't perfect as it had a couple of busts in coverage that led to big plays and a few others that could have been if not for bad throws or drops, but overall it performed very well.
One bust in coverage in particular that stood out from the secondary was on the first-half touchdown to Andrew Hawkins. Texans safety D.J. Swearinger bit hard on the Browns' play-fake which took him way out of position and allowed Hawkins to have an easy lane to the end zone after making the catch.
Grade: B
Special Teams
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Not a great day for the special teams.
Many players and parts of the game had their best game of the season Sunday, but the return game still hasn't contributed anything.
Punt returner Keshawn Martin had just five return yards on six punts from the Browns. Kick returner Danieal Manning didn't get many chances with just one score from the Cleveland offense.
Randy Bullock made a 50-yard kick late in the game that sealed the victory, but he missed a field goal for the second game in a row. His missed kick Sunday was over 50 yards so we shouldn't be too critical, but he missed it because of poor accuracy and not because he didn't have enough leg for the distance.
The usually reliable and consistent Shane Lechler also had a poor game—arguably the first time we can say that this season—with a punt average under 40 yards and no punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
Grade: C
Coaching
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Overall a pretty good game from head coach Bill O'Brien with his play-calling, but there were a couple of issues that stood out to me that I hope get fixed soon.
The first one being that the play-calling was too conservative in the first half with the Texans running draw runs up the gut on 3rd-and-4 or more to go three different times. Mallett looked in complete control of the offense and was throwing the ball well, but O'Brien didn't seem to trust him.
Another play-calling issue caused a turnover when the Texans ran the exact same play twice within a couple of possessions and a Mallett pass to DeAndre Hopkins was intercepted by Browns cornerback Joe Haden. The Texans threw the exact same pass to Damaris Johnson earlier; Haden read the second one and then outjumped Hopkins.
One other strange play call was partially to blame for missing out on three points when Randy Bullock missed a 52-yard field goal.
After a holding call on Brandon Brooks, the Texans were faced with a 3rd-and-12 at the Cleveland 34-yard line. Declining the penalty would have made it fourth down, but the Browns wanted to push Houston out of field goal range.
Bullock has a strong leg, but the best call in that situation would have been to run the ball—which the Texans had been doing very well—to probably pick up four or five yards and make the field-goal attempt shorter and easier. The Texans threw a nearly lateral pass to Damaris Johnson instead for no gain.
I appreciate and like that O'Brien is aggressive—thought his decision to go for it on fourth down later in the game was a smart gamble—but when he decides to get aggressive instead of conservative or vice versa is confusing at times.
Hate to nitpick because I thought his offensive game plan overall with Mallett was great and he obviously had his players ready to play a game that many thought they would lose, but those decisions stood out to me as things that could have been done better or differently.
Grade: B+
Overall
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| Quarterback | A |
| Running Back | A+ |
| Wide Receiver | B |
| Tight End | C |
| Offensive Line | A |
| Defensive Line | A |
| Linebackers | B+ |
| Defensive Backs | B |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | B+ |
| Overall | A |
Follow me on Twitter for more opinion and analysis on the Texans: @sackedbybmac
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