Texans vs. Dolphins: Houston Grades, Notes and Quotes
What an embarrassing, pathetic effort from the Houston Texans this week against the Miami Dolphins.
How does a coaching staff survive a loss like this?
Calling it a loss is a massive undersell, actually. This destruction at the hands—or flippers—of the Dolphins is an indictment of the coaching staff, general manager and even the owner. Bill O'Brien hasn't made his players better, Rick Smith hasn't picked the right players and Bob McNair hired them all.
This blowout defeat felt like the last game of Gary Kubiak's career with the Texans, when the team went to Jacksonville and got humiliated by the Jaguars on the first Thursday night in December of 2013.
The Jaguars only won four games that season, with two of the four coming against Houston over a span of three weeks.
Who really deserves to keep their job at this point?
The players look unmotivated, the tackling is awful, the blocking from the offensive line has been poor and they're making the same mental mistakes every week; would it really be a knee-jerk reaction to clean house with the coaching staff?
To make matters worse, O'Brien left key veteran starters in the game for the entire second half.
If you follow me on Twitter—@sackedbybmac—then you know I was calling for Arian Foster, J.J. Watt and others to be taken out of the game after halftime for precautionary reasons. But unfortunately the worst-case scenario played out with Foster suffering what looks like a major injury.
"#Texans announce Arian Foster out for the rest of the game with an Achilles injury
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) October 25, 2015"
What did the Texans have to gain by leaving Foster in a game that was over by halftime? Leaving him in during a blowout was inexcusable with nothing to gain, but everything to lose. If O'Brien wants to preach accountability, then he better take responsibility for the injury to Foster.
That decision was the coaching equivalent of malpractice.
It's unrealistic to say the entire coaching staff should be let go during the middle of the season for pure logistical reasons, but some changes have to be made.
Position Grades for the Texans
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| Quarterback | D |
| Backup Quarterback Alarm Clock | F- |
| Running Back | C- |
| Wide Receiver | C- |
| Tight End | F |
| Offensive Line | F |
| Defensive Line | F |
| Linebackers | F |
| Defensive Backs | F |
| Special Teams | C |
| Coaching | F |
| Overall | F |
Being overly negative isn't enjoyable, but giving out "F" grades to most of the roster after this debacle isn't being overly negative or even an overreaction.
The grades for the quarterback, running back and wide receiver positions were graded on a bit of a curve because of the poor play of the offensive line, but their play was awful as well.
Just look at some of these first-half stats and try to find a silver lining.
| First-Half Stats | Texans | Dolphins |
| Total Yards | 65 | 392 |
| Yards Per Rush | 2.0 | 10.1 |
| Yards Per Pass | 1.4 | 15.0 |
On offense, this embarrassing performance started with the offensive line, which got physically dominated by the Dolphins defensive front. That's not an excuse for the poor play of Brian Hoyer, but he had pressure in his face before even finishing his dropback several times in the first half.
Hoyer deserves some blame as well because his accuracy was inconsistent and his reads both pre-snap and after the snap were baffling, but his offensive line often gave him no chance.
Just take that third-and-5 play in the red zone toward the end of the second quarter. The Dolphins didn't even have a defender lined up over the receiver at the bottom of the field, yet Hoyer didn't audible, and they still ran an inside zone with Arian Foster; what happened there?
Quarterbacks for Gary Kubiak here weren't allowed to audible, but that's not the case in O'Brien's offense.
On the very next play, Hoyer again failed to make a proper read by opting to throw a jump ball to Jonathan Grimes in the corner of the end zone, instead of giving DeAndre Hopkins a chance to make a play on a slant from the slot.
Really? Hoyer would rather try to fit a pass into a corner to a reserve running back than throw it to one of the best receivers in the league on a two-way go route? Regardless of the play of the offensive line, they're not going to win many games with that type of decision making.
The running game did nothing, but as mentioned earlier the offensive line play was a disaster. Even when Foster didn't get hit in the backfield, he frequently had to come to a full stop or dance around because the offensive line couldn't open up a hole big enough for a mouse to run through.
Given the failures of the offensive line and quarterback, it should come as no surprise that the wide receivers didn't produce much either. It's hard to make plays when the quarterback is lying on his back or missing his target on nearly every play.
At least the wide receivers didn't drop easy passes and turn them into interceptions for touchdowns like the tight ends did today.
"Miami Dolphins pick 6 and an awesome backflip #texans pic.twitter.com/OjqmwXLDmj
— SN0WBLACK_THE_ALMOST (@sportsmediaLM) October 25, 2015"
That third-round pick from 2014 spent on C.J. Fiedorowicz has sure paid off.
Their other 2014 third-round pick spent on Louis Nix has really helped the team also.
That second-round pick spent on Xavier Su'a-Filo, though, might have been their best from the 2014 NFL Draft.
How fortunate are we that the Texans selected all of those studs instead of taking a quarterback like Derek Carr or trading up to pick Teddy Bridgewater? Alright, enough sarcasm; how is Rick Smith still employed?
Over to the defensive side, the plethora of missed tackles was their biggest problem against Miami and the reason why the Texans not only lost this game, but got publicly humiliated.
We're all humans. No one is perfect, so mistakes from players can be forgiven, but it too often seemed like they were barely even trying against Miami in the first half. Let's not forget it was only three weeks ago that we saw a similar effort from the Texans against Atlanta; this is not an isolated incident.
In particular, the long touchdown to Jarvis Landry and the two from Lamar Miller were inexcusable.
"Seven Texans defenders try to tackle Jarvis Landry. Jarvis Landry wins. pic.twitter.com/Bb9poYlx9Q
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) October 25, 2015"
What was Andre Hal doing on that touchdown play to Landry? Did he think Landry would just run out of bounds for some weird reason? Maybe that could be forgiven as a momentary lapse if it didn't keep happening on every series from both Hal and their other safety Rahim Moore.
It was like watching a junior high football game with how often Moore and Hal were either out of position or whiffing on arm-tackle attempts. Honestly, how did they even make it to the NFL with that type of play?
"85 yards. 12 seconds. 6 points. @millertime_6. #HOUvsMIA https://t.co/yMTzco9Ciz
— NFL (@NFL) October 25, 2015"
If it were just one play in this game that'd be one thing, but the Texans safeties have been taking terrible angles and trying to make pathetic arm tackles all season long. Safety typically isn't a position of priority that teams look to take early in the draft, but the Texans have to address the problem.
The linebackers and defensive linemen obviously did a poor job as well today, but the effort of the safeties was glaringly awful.
Ryan Mallett Misses the Team Flight
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Dozens of factors go into what makes an NFL quarterback successful, but whether or not they're able to wake up on time, make it to practice and not miss team flights shouldn't be things a coach and front office have to worry about.
Ryan Mallett has many natural talents that can't be taught, but unfortunately maturity and professionalism aren't traits he's been able to learn. They shouldn't have to be taught, but he's clearly lacking in both areas.
As you've heard by now, the Texans' backup quarterback missed the team flight to Miami on Saturday and had to pay for his own ticket on a commercial flight to make the game.
"Texans QB Ryan Mallett missed team charter and had to fly commercial to Dolphins game. I can imagine Bill OBrien reaction.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) October 25, 2015 "
"Ryan Mallett on missing flight 'I got caught in traffic it's not the leadership role I need to exhibit'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 25, 2015"
This wasn't the first irresponsible mistake from Mallett this year.
"Ryan Mallett previously overslept and missed a practice after Brian Hoyer was named the starter
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 25, 2015"
"Ryan Mallett also overslept and was late for a team bus in Richmond, Va. during joint practices in camp with Washington, sources say
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 25, 2015"
Let's be honest here: If Mallett wasn't the only other quarterback on the Texans' roster beside Brian Hoyer, he would have been cut before this game. If they had cut Mallett, Hoyer would have been their only quarterback on the roster for this game against Miami.
"For those asking, Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett are the only QBs on the #Texans 53-man roster. Zac Dysert on p squad, Tom Savage on IR.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) October 25, 2015"
Mallett's contract doesn't carry a big guaranteed number for next year, so don't expect him to be on the roster next season.
"Ryan Mallett playing on a two-year, $7.005 million deal with $1.75 million guaranteed of his $2.5 million 2015 base salary, due $2.5M 2016
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 25, 2015"
The Texans might have already decided to move on from Mallett in favor of a quarterback they draft regardless, but he just made their offseason decision very easy.
Jadeveon Clowney Gets His First Career Sack
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The timing of this milestone is unfortunate, because it's impossible to celebrate given the outcome of the game, but it was nice to see Jadeveon Clowney finally break through for his first career sack.
Clowney had been close all season while consistently getting pressure, but that effort hadn't shown up yet on traditional box scores without a sack to his credit.
During that time, Clowney helped cause sacks for other players by forcing the opposing quarterback to leave the pocket and run into one of his teammates while trying to avoid him, and he was also second on the team to Watt in quarterback hurries through six games, but most fans don't notice that.
"Jadeveon Clowney got his first career sack and the first good play of the Texans day: https://t.co/8dv9XU0F1R pic.twitter.com/7MONppip0p
— SB Nation (@SBNation) October 25, 2015"
It probably wasn't a great idea for Clowney to celebrate after the play with his team losing 41-0, but considering what he's had to overcome with the multiple injuries suffered last year, I'm willing to let this one slide.
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The AFC South Is Still Wide Open
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The laughing stock that is the AFC South remains wide open to even bad teams like the Texans after Week 7 of the season.
Despite falling to 2-5 with their third embarrassing loss in four weeks, the Texans are still only one game behind the division lead thanks to another awful performance by the Indianapolis Colts.
"This is AFC South thru 7 weeks: Colts 3-4 Texans 2-5 Jaguars 2-5 Titans 1-5 TEN at HOU, IND at CAR (SNF), Jags off, next wk
— Adam Wexler (@awexler) October 25, 2015"
Looking at the schedule for next week, if things play out the way Vegas will likely favor them to go, then the Texans will find themselves in a tie for first place heading into their bye after Week 8.
How that's possible is baffling, but they're very much alive mathematically.
Forget 9-7 being enough to win this division; even 7-9 would probably take the division comfortably.
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