On the heels of an eighth straight week of last second drama, and a huge win over the Denver Broncos, the Houston Texans came into Week 14 with all sorts of hype. They opened the week as nearly a touchdown favorite on the road against the New York Jets. That should have been the warning sign, because this team showed, like they did against Carolina earlier this season, they’re clearly not ready to be a favorite on the road.
In a game that embodied the definition of “worst case scenario,” the Houston Texans were blown out by the 4-8 (now, 5-8) New York Jets, 30-6. Jets QB Zach Wilson, back from yet another benching, threw for over 300 yards. Nico Collins and Blake Cashman left the game with injuries. And the big one — C.J. Stroud left the game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be concussion symptoms.
Whether the game was a reality check, an outlier, or a wake up call, that will be determined next week in Nashville, but for now, the Texans remain a team fighting for their playoff lives, in a week where a shot at the AFC South title had started to come into focus. Let’s get to winners and losers….
WINNERS
4. Mother Nature
One of the biggest storylines for this game coming in, for me, was the fact that the Texans hadn’t played a game all season in any type of poor weather elements. All of their outdoor games were in bright sunshine, and the rest of their games were indoors. Add in the fact that the last three games have been at home, and they seemed shellshocked by having to play in bad weather and in front of hostile fans (although the swaths of Denver fans in NRG last weekend were kind of hostile). Hopefully, if this is a playoff team, they learned some lessons they can take to the road in a wild card game in January.
3. Sauce Gardner
One of the other big storylines coming in was the two top cornerbacks from the 2022 draft lacing them up in the same game. Derek Stingley, Jr., finally healthy, was the reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week, and Sauce Gardner was a first team All Pro last season. This game goes to Gardner, who had two pass breakups and was all over the field. It likely helped that, by the second quarter, Noah Brown was the Texans go-to receiver, but credit the Jets defense. They were on point all day long.
2. Wilson & Wilson
When the Jets made Zach Wilson the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, it was games like Sunday that they envisioned. When the Jets made Garrett Wilson a top 10 pick coming out of Ohio State, it was games like Sunday that they envisioned. The latter Wilson, last year’s offensive Rookie of the Year, has had far more success. The former was subject of rumors this past week that he was basically quitting on the team. I have no idea what the truth is, but this combination tore the Texans up, and if there’s a performance that begins a resuscitation of Zach Wilson’s career, Sunday was it.
1. Nathaniel Hackett
I thought the biggest mismatch in this game was Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans calling the Texans’ defense against Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who basically has a job in the NFL because he is buddies with Aaron Rodgers. Well, maybe I am the Nathaniel Hackett of media personalities analyzing football because Hackett called a phenomenal game, making Ryans’ defense look confused all day, making Zach Wilson look like a second overall pick, and pushing the buttons on an offense that scored 30 points in the second half of this game.
LOSERS
4. Wide receiver depth
The Texans were already paddling upstream in this game without dynamic rookie Tank Dell, who had his season ended by a broken leg against Denver last weekend. On Sunday against the Jets, the next worst thing that could happen to the receiving corps, Nico Collins leaving with an injury, happened. This time it was a calf for Collins, who’s had trouble with injuries throughout his career. Once Collins went out, it was curtains for the Texans passing game, as all of a sudden, Noah Brown is your go to receiver, and the Jets’ combination of D.J. Reed and Sauce Gardner feasted in coverage. If Collins is out for any extended period of time, it’s going to be bad for this offense.
3. Will Anderson
This past week, Anderson had the biggest jump in the buzz surrounding his rookie season, as he went off for multiple sacks and a ton of QB pressures against the Broncos. He was so good, his Defensive Rookie of the Year odds went from +1400 all the way down to a whopping +140. Well, this week isn’t going to help his cause, as Anderson was held off the sack stat sheet, and more importantly, he committed a bone headed roughing the passer penalty to move the chains on the Jets’ second touchdown drive. It was a rare rookie moment for the Texans’ stalwart defensive end.
2. Dameon Pierce
I feel awful saying this, because Dameon Pierce was one of the most exciting things (maybe THE only exciting thing) about the 2022 Houston Texans, but I do not like seeing him come into games, and I cringe every time the ball is handed off to him. It’s not like Devin Singletary is Terrell Davis or something, but compared to Pierce he may as well be. Pierce had yet another Sunday where he couldn’t get out of first gear. Four carries, nine yards. His carries are a big null set right now. That said, it’s not all his fault….
1. Bobby Slowik
Some of the blame needs to be placed on offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. It’s inexcusable for a team with this much talent to be so bad at running the football this late in the season. Maybe some of the blame deserves to go to offensive line coach Chris Strauser, and certainly the players are to blame, too. The overall offensive line play, though, run game and pass protection, have deteriorated the last few weeks, and on Sunday, the continued battering of C.J. Stroud came back to roost in the worst possible way, as he was knocked on his head in the fourth quarter and is now in concussion protocol for this week. So we could see a Texans offense against the Titans skippered by Davis Mills with Noah Brown, Robert Woods, John Metchie, and Brevin Jordan as the lead pass catchers. This feels a whole lot like last season. Good luck with that, Bobby.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
