NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Football didn’t look easy for the Houston Texans against the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday.
That’s not to say NFL contests should be that way for even the best of teams, especially games in-division. But Houston couldn’t even operate its offense at times against Indianapolis. C.J. Stroud was running for his life, particularly in the first half, when he was pressured on an astounding 71.4% of his dropbacks. One of his offensive linemen, former first-round left guard Kenyon Green, was benched. And the Texans almost gave up a 10-point lead they had halfway through the third quarter.
“Happy to come out with the win,” coach DeMeco Ryans said postgame, “but there will always be things to clean up.”
At what point should Ryans & Co. be concerned, though?
As the Texans enter their Thursday night game against the New York Jets, they are 6-2 and on the fast track to making the playoffs for a second consecutive year. But they haven’t looked like a team equipped to build off their surprising divisional-round appearance last season. Certainly not like the juggernaut they were made out to be in the offseason after the flurry of moves they made to bolster the roster around Stroud.
The loss of star receiver Stefon Diggs to a season-ending ACL injury doesn’t help the cause — on top of the fact that leading receiver Nico Collins will miss at least one more game on injured reserve while he tends to a hamstring issue.
Houston is 4-0 against teams that are .500 or worse, including a season sweep of Indianapolis. But it’s 2-2 against clubs that have a winning record. One of those victories came against the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams, who was making his second career start. The other came versus the Buffalo Bills, against whom the Texans blew a 17-point second-half lead and needed a 59-yard field goal as time expired to win.
Five of Houston’s six wins have been decided by six or fewer points. The one that wasn’t was a 20-point victory over the 2-6…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/texans-playoff-team-not-super-bowl-caliber-reason-for-concern
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-31 12:34:11
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
