There will come a time, probably much sooner than we all planned, where merely making the playoffs won’t be good enough for the Houston Texans. It won’t be good enough for the players, it won’t be good enough for the coaches, it won’t be good enough for ownership, and certainly, as fickle as we all are, it won’t be good enough for the fans and media (of which I am both).
But today is not that day. Today, as we all wake up on Sunday morning, is a day where we can celebrate a playoff berth as insane progress, a gift from the football gods (thank you, Tyler Goodson) after three full years of the gods mocking us in EVERY (Bill O’Brien, the GM), WAY (Deshaun Watson lawsuits) POSSIBLE (suck it, Jack Easterby).
The stocking stuffer was the actual 60 minutes of football, a 23-19 Texans win over the Colts, sending the Colts home for the offseason and the Texans to a TBD venue for more football. The TRUE GIFT was everything surrounding the win — the grind, the joy, the realization that the rest of the country got to see what a problem DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud are going to be for them for the next decade.
If you want a video version of what I just described, carve out 18 minutes for this, and then another two hours for the amount fo times you’ll rewatch it:
So bask in it, Houston. Let’s enjoy this house money that the Texans have given us for however many more weeks this season lasts. It’s been a joy. Onto the winners and losers…..
WINNERS
4. Dalton Schultz
Stroud came into this game with a very, VERY thin group of pass catchers. Tank Dell has been out for the season since Week 13, and veterans Noah Brown and Robert Woods were just too banged up to go on Saturday night. After Nico Collins( who we will get to in a moment), the Texans next wide receiver on the depth chart was struggling second year guy John Metchie III. The Texans were going to need a big game out of tight end Schultz. Schultz only had five catches for 46 yards on the game, but four of those (for 37 yards) came on the go ahead TD drive, including back to back plays — a 17 yard catch and fantastic run on 2nd and 20, and then a catch to convert 3rd and 3 on the next play.
3. Third down defense
On defense, the Texans did some things very well, and they did some things shockingly poorly (which we will get to in this post). The saving grace for them defensively was the complete smothering of the Colts’ offense on third down. It didn’t matter if it was 3rd and 18 or 3rd and 1 — until late in the game, the Colts didn’t convert a single third down. Their only touchdown came on an explosive 49 yard touchdown run by Jonathan Taylor. When you look at the box score, the one stat that really embodies the disparity between the two quarterbacks in this game was the Colts 1-11 conversion rate on third down, versus the Texans’ more respectable 5-13 conversion rate.
2. C.J. Stroud
Or, if you don’t feel like scouring the box score, and you just want some visual evidence of the disparity between Stroud and Minshew, just rewatch the game. Stroud is elite, in every way. The circus throws he made on the go ahead touchdown drive are throws that maybe five guys walking the earth can make. I don’t think he made a single bad decision the entire game. “Efficient” doesn’t begin to do justice to just how in control he was of everything out there, given the stakes, give the environment. Stroud is unflappable, and he is a Houston Texan. The nation got to see it on Saturday night. When you get tired of rewatching the game, just read this paragraph for about an hour or two. Feels good.
1. Nico Collins
Stroud is the star of this team, but Saturday night was the next step in the evolution of Nico Collins as a true, number one wide receiver. As mentioned earlier, on the depth chart, there was very little in the way of help to draw defensive attention away from Collins. Under those conditions, he went out and had the biggest game of his career, in the biggest moment of the season for him and his team — nine catches, 195 yards, including a 75 yard touchdown on the Texans’ first offensive play from scrimmage. On top of that, Collins made every type of catch you could put into an “elite WR checklist” — screens, crossers, deep balls, all of it. The real winners might be Nico Collins’ unborn children and grandchildren, who will never have to work a day in their lives after he gets paid this offseason.
LOSERS
4. The rest of the AFC South
We will get into the granular details of losers from last night’s game in a minute, but for a moment, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of our rivals. As we bask in the afterglow of a return to the postseason and the dawning of the Age of Stroud, know that the rest of the AFC South has to know that whatever they have as their head coach and QB combo is not going to be good enough. The Colts know it, the Titans certainly know it, and yes, even if they win the AFC South this season, the Jaguars know that, long term, Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson are not good enough to stand in against the combination of DeMeco Ryans and C.J. Stroud.
One side note —if I were a fan of the Carolina Panthers, I think I would just stop watching football. They traded up to draft Bryce Young, who’s been an abject failure, ahead of Stroud, and they hired Frank Reich as their head coach, who they fired after a 1-10 start. Last night had to be torture for them.
3. Texans run defense
This was a shocker. For a team whose run defense had rapidly evolved from one of the worst in NFL history in 2022 to one of the best in the NFL this season. Coming into the game, the Texans were allowing only 3.3 yards per carry, and just had two games in the last three weeks where they extinguished Derrick Henry’s will to live. So seeing Jonathan Taylor go off for 188 yards on 30 carries was beyond unsettling. For the game, the Texans allowed 227 yards on the ground, while grinding out only 60 yards rushing on offense. If you told me before the game that the rushing stats would look like that, I’d say “Texans lost by three touchdowns.” What a resourceful group.
2. Tyler Goodson
1. Shane Steichen
Ultimately, the game was decided on this play, the Colts first fourth down attempt of the night, with about a minute to go in the game:
There’s not much to say, as the video speaks for itself. For the player, that drop is a moment that stays with you for the rest of your career. Maybe the rest of your life. For the head coach, who calls the plays, despite the play being executed to where it SHOULD HAVE worked, the drop by Goodson immediately begs questions like “Why are you throwing it to a guy with six catches on the season?” and “Was Jonathan Taylor in the bathroom or something?” Tough moment for a head coach who’s been awesome this season.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
