Buccaneers vs. Texans: Houston Grades, Notes & Quotes
No one could blame fans of the Houston Texans for getting down on the team after falling to 0-2 with two really poor performances to open the season, but fortunes can change quickly in the NFL.
With the Indianapolis Colts' win and Jacksonville Jaguars' loss, along with the Texans' own win, they're now in a four-way tie for first place in the AFC South at 1-2.
Hey, no matter what their record is, it's still first place, right?
""There's no such thing as 1st place after 3 games," #Texans Bill O'Brien when it was pointed out to him #Texans are in 1st place in AFCSouth
— Adam Wexler (@awexler) September 27, 2015"
You're right, coach, sorry.
This game wasn't a pretty showcase performance with flawless execution, but the Texans played into what most fans hoped would be their strengths as a team coming into the season.
The Texans held the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the lowest total yards mark of any opponent this season—318—and rushed for a season-high 186 yards, nearly double their previous high for the season.
They also held the Buccaneers to a lousy 1-12 conversion rate on third down.
Regardless if it's Ryan Mallett or Brian Hoyer under center, the Texans aren't likely to get great play out of their quarterback this season, so the formula of running the ball well and playing strong defense will be critical to their success going forward.
Position Grades for the Texans
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| Quarterback | C |
| Running Back | A |
| Wide Receiver | B |
| Tight End | D |
| Offensive Line | B+ |
| Defensive Line | A |
| Linebacker | C- |
| Defensive Backs | B- |
| Special Teams | C- |
| Coaching | C |
| Overall | B |
I liked the tempo Ryan Mallett was able to get the Houston Texans offense into during different parts of the game. His touch could be better with the medium-depth passes, but the tempo seemed to create easier throws with the Buccaneers having to go with a more basic look.
On the negative side, I will say that Mallett was lucky to only have one interception on his stat line instead of three or four.
Mallett struggled several times to read and recognize linebackers dropping underneath routes over the middle after starting the play up close to the line. The Buccaneers linebackers flat out dropped what should have been at least two easy picks, reminding me of many games I've played on Madden 16.
Did the Texans trade for a new running back before this game? Because I didn't recognize the player wearing the Alfred Blue jersey.
He still had a few plays where he ran up the back of his blocker or missed a cutback lane, but his burst, decisiveness and ability to make defenders miss all looked a lot better. This might be a reach, but maybe having the new artificial turf instead of the mess of sod improved his ability to make quick cuts.
For the game, Blue carried the ball 31 times for 139 yards and a touchdown.
The Texans offensive line didn't play a perfect game, but I did like what I saw from recent addition Oday Aboushi. He opened up a few nice holes for Blue and looked a lot more comfortable at left guard than when Derek Newton slid over there against Carolina.
Credit Newton, though, for playing a third different position for part of the game after another injury to a Texans lineman.
Cecil Shorts III had a nice game among the receivers, but the star from that group was unsurprisingly DeAndre Hopkins. Any doubts fans had going into the season about whether or not he could be a true No. 1 receiver should be gone by now.
Hopkins torched the Buccaneers for eight receptions, 101 yards and one touchdown. Imagine what he could do with consistent quarterback play.
Up front the Texans defensive line did a nice job holding the Buccaneers to just 57 rushing yards on a pitiful 2.8 yards per carry.
Not surprisingly J.J. Watt had another great game and was a disruptive force. Watt didn't get a sack for the first time this season, but did record three quarterback hits, one tackle for loss and finished tied for second on the team with five total tackles.
Watt also forced a couple of quick throws by getting penetration into the pocket on plays that won't show up on the stat sheet.
The linebackers obviously contributed to keeping the Buccaneers running game in check, but three players from that group made some really big mistakes.
Akeem Dent picked up a personal foul on special teams during the second quarter on a return which gave the offense bad field position, which is not something easily overcome by this offense.
Later in the first half, fellow linebacker Justin Tuggle got shaken out of his shoes on a screen pass to Charles Sims which allowed the running back to score.
In the third quarter, John Simon picked up a roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-down play where Jameis Winston threw an incomplete pass which should have ended the drive. That Buccaneers drive still ended with a punt thanks to a successful challenge by Coach O'Brien, but it was a potential killer mistake.
Obviously, Brian Cushing and Jadeveon Clowney will always get more headlines at the position, but unintelligent plays and poor fundamentals from role players can just as easily turn a game in the wrong direction.
The secondary gave up a few plays, but considering most of the Texans' corners are five inches shorter or more than Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, I'll cut them some slack. Credit is also due to Winston for throwing up some Madden 16-style jump-ball passes to let his tall receivers make a play.
Johnathan Joseph didn't play well through the team's first two games, but made some plays today with an incredible five pass breakups, an encouraging sign.
The defense definitely did their job against Tampa Bay.
"#Texans D allowed 1 TD (on a 26yd drive after Mallett INT). Winston: 17-36, 261 yds, TD, INT, 69.3 rating. Held Bucs to 2.8 yds/carry
— Adam Wexler (@awexler) September 27, 2015"
With the exception of Shane Lechler, who continued his role as "Mr. Reliable," the Texans special teams disappointed once again. For the game, three of Lechler's six punts—should have been four—were downed inside the 20-yard line.
His teammate, Randy Bullock, has unfortunately been the opposite of reliable over his short NFL career. Bullock made two field goals during the game, but missed an extra-point attempt and one relatively easy field goal from 43 yards.
That's not a distance where kicks are automatic, but with narrower hash marks than the college game and no wind since the game was played indoors, that's a kick Bullock has to make.
Bullock was solid last season, but it seems like he's regressed back to his poor 2013 form.
In the return game, rookie Chandler Worthy made a very rookie mistake by fielding a punt inside his own 5-yard line. Fielding a punt inside your own five is never a good idea, but the decision by Worthy was even worse considering he also backed up to catch the punt.
I wouldn't be surprised if the coaches told Worthy as soon as he got to the sideline to stand at the 10-yard line and let the punt go if he had to back up to make the catch. Worthy fumbled on the play, as well, but Texans got lucky with a recovery by Whitney Mercilus.
As far as the kick and punt returns for the Texans special teams, they provided nothing once again. Quintin Demps returned it twice on kickoffs with two equal returns of just 23 yards, while Worthy and Shorts averaged a combined 3.4 yards on five total punt returns.
I feel like a broken record having to tell you each week about the sorry state of the Texans' return game.
Finally, let's talk about the coaching decisions from Bill O'Brien.
Overall, I didn't have many problems with his game plan or strategy, but the overuse of quick wide receiver screens made me want to pull my hair out.
That play works for spread offenses in college football pretty well because teams at the college level obviously don't have the same high percentage of elite athletes on defense that the NFL teams put on the field.
On top of that, the Texans don't have a receiver with great evasive moves in space or enough good blocking receivers to set up lanes for that play to work.
It's a very low-percentage play that the Texans should only run to set up a fake screen with a pump fake for a deep pass or if the defense is giving it to them with soft coverage.
Alfred Blue Hits Rare Single-Game Personal Milestone
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The second-year running back from LSU finished with 31 carries for 139 yards against Tampa Bay, easily the second-best game of his short NFL career.
The only other time Alfred Blue topped even 20 carries or 100 rushing yards came during the Texans' 23-7 win at Cleveland last November.
To further illustrate how far out of nowhere this performance from Blue came: Of his now 19 career games he's only had four in which he rushed for better than 3.7 yards per carry. Blue rushed for nearly a yard per carry better today at 4.5 yards per carry.
Fullback Jay Prosch and new guard Oday Aboushi deserve some credit for Blue's big day as well because each player opened up some huge running lanes that nearly every NFL back would have been able to exploit.
That's not to take credit away from Blue, who looked much more decisive with his cuts up the field and burst through the holes provided, but Prosch and Aboushi played very well in the run game.
"Alfred Blue: 'As a runner, I got into a zone. I was reading the holes and getting yards.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 27, 2015"
Even with Arian Foster nearing a return, if Blue continues to make the right reads quickly instead of running up the backs of blockers or dancing in the backfield like he did previously, then he deserves to get a decent workload with the idea of not taxing their often-injured star.
DeAndre Hopkins on Pace for a Big Season
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DeAndre Hopkins has a long way to go—understatement of the day—to replace the production of Andre Johnson, but he's on pace for a big season.
After catching eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown against Tampa Bay, Hopkins is now on pace for 117 receptions, 1,344 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.
If Hopkins reaches those numbers, he would beat Johnson's best single-season total in both receptions and touchdowns.
There's no doubt any "on pace" stat after just three games is a little premature, but Hopkins has emerged as one of the best wide receivers in the league.
Despite being stuck with the likes of Matt Schaub, Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer over his short career, Hopkins has found a way to post some really impressive numbers.
Can you imagine the numbers he'd be capable of putting up if he had, I don't know, a good quarterback throwing him the ball?
Unfortunately, the man he's chasing knew that feeling all too well.
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Johnathan Joseph Examined for Possible Concussion
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The Texans survived a brief scare after starting corner Johnathan Joseph left the game in the second half to get examined for a possible concussion.
Thankfully, it turns out he didn't suffer one.
"Johnathan Joseph had a headache so they tested him for a concussion but he passed, he said. #Texans
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) September 27, 2015 "
"Johnathan Joseph didn't have a concussion, was examined under NFL concussion testing protocol
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 27, 2015"
Joseph played well against Tampa Bay with five passes defensed, and the Texans will face Julio Jones and the Atlanta Falcons next week, so it's a good thing Joseph is healthy.
New Turf at NRG Stadium Receives Positive Reviews
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If each of us had a nickel for every time the Texans' home playing surface at NRG Stadium—formerly Reliant Stadium—was complained about by visiting players, visiting media or even the Texans' own players, then we'd all be retired on some Caribbean beach by now.
The stories about, and injuries blamed on, their old system of inserting grass trays were numerous. Heck, the playing field even resulted in one lawsuit from a former Texans punter.
Remember this take on the NRG Stadium turf from former player Rodney Harrison to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk last year?
"The turf at [NRG Stadium] is the worst in the league. In the Super Bowl, we were slipping and sliding all over the place. We had a couple of opportunities to make plays and we slid past it. I also hurt my groin sliding on that garbage field.
Harrison said the stadium is beautiful, but the “field conditions were terrible.” He said that the turf was “one of the worst I’ve experienced in my 15-year career.”
"
Whether it's the Kansas City Chiefs being unhappy about the surface this year or the Philadelphia Eagles sort of blaming a severe injury to DeMeco Ryans on the surface last year, it finally got to such a ridiculous point that the organization was forced to make a change to an artificial field turf.
After the first game with the new surface at least one of the Texans' veteran leaders liked the new field:
""I thought the turf felt great," Johnathan Joseph. Said he'd be happy to play on it the rest of his time here. #Texans
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) September 27, 2015"
Without all the holes and seams in the field, this surface should have less of an injury risk, which is definitely desirable with a couple dozen million-dollar investments playing on it 10 to 12 times a year.
Follow me on Twitter for more news and opinion on the Texans: @sackedbybmac
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