The Houston Texans are 4-1 to start the season, and along the way they’ve gotten significant contributions from key players on both sides of the football. C.J. Stroud has picked up, for the most part, where he left off during last year’s dynamite rookie season. Nico Collins (now injured), Stefon Diggs, WilL Anderson, and Derek Stingley have all been very, very good.
However, the most valuable player on the team so far this season, might be a guy who hasn’t caught a pass, nor made a tackle. Without kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s performance this season, in which he’s made 50-plus yard field goals look highly routine, the Texans might be, at best, 2-3. The latest clutch performance came on Sunday in the final seconds against the Buffalo Bills:
So, for the second time already, in five weeks this season, Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn has been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, the NFL announced on Wednesday morning. This is the third time in five games that a Texan has taken home Player of the Week honors, two by Fairbairn and one from RB Joe Mixon, after the Week 1 win against the Colts.
Week 5 against Buffalo was yet another record setting performance for Fairbairn, as he connected on all three of his field goals attempts and notched 11 points on the afternoon. The 11 points allowed him to surpass Kris Brown and become the Texans’ all time leading, with 773 points tallied over his career.
Again, like the first two games of the season, Fairbairn hit multiple field goals from 50-plus yards against the Bills, including the 59-yard game winner. Fairbairn now has eight field goals from 50 yards or more. the most in a single season in franchise history. He currently leads the NFL in that category, and his eight 50-plus yard field goals are the most in NFL history through the first five games of a season. Fairbairn’s 59- yard game winner was the longest game winning field goal in franchise history.
This is the fourth such honor in Fairbairn’s career, tying him with former quarterback Matt Schaub, and putting him behind only Deshaun Watson (5) and J.J. Watt (7) for total career Player of the Week accolades as a Texan. At the rate Fairbairn’s 2024 season is going, he might catch Watt by Thanksgiving!
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
