For all the ups and downs this season, and for all the justified hand wringing over the offense (which will likely bleed into the upcoming offseason), the Houston Texans actually find themselves this week in a somewhat enviable spot. Their final regular season game of the year, a road tilt against the Tennessee Titans, means nothing. At least, mathematically it doesn’t.
Of course, it’s the Titans the Texans are playing, and for all the emotional reasons — hatred of the Titans, despising Amy Adams Struck, wanting to keep the team’s 10 game AFC South road win streak alive — we’d love to see a win, but health heading into the postseason is far more important than a trivial regular season win that ultimately has no bearing on anybody’s future.
To that end, the Texans obviously need to field a team, so they can’t rest ALL of their starters, but they should rest the most important ones. Before I get to the six players they MUST put in street clothes, let me say this — the starting offensive line, ALL of them, should play the whole game. The WHOLE damn thing. NO rest for them. First, they haven’t earned it, and second, unless a slew of them get hurt, there’s not a single offensive lineman whose absence kills a playoff run. Not one. Even Laremy Tunsil. So, send a message, and more importantly, give them more reps to get better at football.
Okay, that said, REST THESE SIX GUYS:
6. JOE MIXON, RB
Mixon has carried the ball 240 times this season. The rest of the team has carried the ball 165 times. That includes quarterbacks, wide receivers on end arounds, and various running backs. Hell, the second leading carrier on this team among running backs is Cam Akers (40 carries) and he’s on the Vikings right now! Mixon needs seven rushing yards to get to 1,000 yards on the season. Don’t risk it. He’ll survive having only 993 rushing yards. Hey, if you rest Mixon, maybe SOMEBODY shows enough to trust them with five or six carries in a playoff game.
5. NICO COLLINS, WR
I feel even stronger about Collins resting this coming week than Mixon, given Collins’ injury history, plus the fact that if Collins goes down, the Texans are utterly screwed at wide receiver. Like Mixon, Collins is within sniffing distance of being a 1,000 yards receiver (968 yards), but who cares? He got his big contract last offseason, so Collins doesn’t need the artificial accolades of the arbitrary number “1,000 yards receiving.”
4. DANIELLE HUNTER, EDGE
3. WILL ANDERSON, Jr., EDGE
I’ll group these two together, because collectively, despite a couple quiet games of late, the tandem of Hunter and Anderson are the best thing the Texans have going for them. Both have eclipsed the double digit sack mark, Anderson in two fewer games than Hunter, so there is no need to have some fat offensive lineman roll over one of their lower legs. Let Denico Autry, Derek Barnett and Jerry Hughes go earn their social security checks by taking all the defensive end snaps.
2. DEREK STINGLEY, Jr.
Through Stingley’s first two seasons, he had missed 14 of a possible 34 games played. Thus far, Stingley made it through the entire 2024 season healthy. In the process, he’s put himself in the conversation for All Pro honors. Nothing he does in this game will affect that. Whoever is voting for him is already going to vote for him, regardless of anything that happens this Sunday. With the lack of depth at cornerback, you have to sit Stingley, and I’d strongly consider sitting Kamari Lassiter, as well.
1. C.J. STROUD
In his post game press conference after the loss to the Ravens, Stroud mentions he’s “banged up”:
That’s enough for me. Rest the guy. Period, end of subject,
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
