The Houston Texans have started the season 0-2. Unfortunately, that eight word sentence is one that the odds tell me I should just save in my “DRAFTS” folder, because I’ll need it again next season. After a boring, frustrating, infuriating 20-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the Texans have now started 0-2 in three of DeMeco Ryans’ four seasons as head coach of the Texans.
Some of you will undoubtedly point out that, after the previous two 0-2 starts (and last season’s actually became an 0-3 start), the Texans were able to pull the plane out of its nosedive, and go on to win 10 and 12 games in those two seasons, respectively, and make the playoffs. That’s all well and good, but with only six home games remaining, and a slew of cold weather games coming up late in the season, this particular 0-2 start is far more problematic than either of the previous two.
In fact, the predicament that the Texans have put themselves into is probably worthy of its own article., For now, let’s look at what went right (very little) and wrong (a ton) on Sunday:
WINNERS
4. Ja’Marr Chase
Ja’Marr Chase had just two catches for 12 yards in the Bengals’ season opening win over Tampa Bay, so you just knew that the best receiver in football, which he is, would not be held down two weeks in a row. Chase finished with a respectable seven catches for 75 yards, but it was his two touchdown catches which literally made the difference in this game, including a spinning, twisting touchdown catches for the first score of the game that maybe one or two other people on the planet can make. Chase’s greatness, especially with Nico Collins out for the Texans, was one of the biggest positional discrepancies in the game.
3. Will Anderson
There were only a few morsels of good news for the Texans. Most of the good news was on the defensive side of the ball, as the offense was awful and the special teams were hot garbage. After a very quiet Week 1, by his standards, Anderson was the Texans’ best player on Sunday, with eight tackles, a sack, a pass defended, and three tackles for loss. Anderson was incredibly active, and the defense rushed the passer very well, with five sacks. The lack of turnovers, zero forced through two games, is problematic, though.
2. Dalton Schultz fantasy owners
C.J. Stroud had one of the stranger games you’ll see, in that he threw the ball an exorbitant 55 times for 353 yards, and somehow that equated to just six points. Schultz had a very respectable five catches for 62 yards going into the fourth quarter, and then when the Bengals went into a “prevent” defense and just allowed all sorts of Texans short passes, so as not to give up big plays, Schultz absolutely ate. He finished with 12 catches for 140 yards on the day, making owners who picked Schultz up on the waiver wire in fantasy football very happy.
1. Al Golden
Golden was one of the best assistant coaches in college football two seasons ago, when his Notre Dame defense was the foundation for an Irish team that made a run to the College Football Playoff title game. Following that season, Golden made the jump to the NFL, and inherited one of the worst defenses in football. In the offseason, the Bengals traded for Dexter Lawrence, signed Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen, as well as safety Bryan Cook. The end result, especially along the defensive front, is a much more competitive defense, and Al Golden likely getting more love from Bengals fans this season.
LOSERS
4. Frank Ross
Ross is the Texans’ special teams coordinator. The Texans’ special teams have been a bad joke so far this season. On Sunday, poor coverage, silly penalties, and a missed field goal (more on that in a minute) allowed the Bengals to start five of their first eight drives with field position of, at worst, their own 40 yard line. Miraculously, the Texans managed to hold them off the scoreboard on the first three of those drives. However, the return game for Texans was ineffective, and the Texans didn’t start a drive beyond their own 36 yard line until the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter. And then there was….
3. Kai Kroeger
….this guy. Kroeger is the punter and the holder for the Texans. After a more than stellar Week 1 punting the football, Kroeger was atrocious in this one, averaging 41 yards per punt. However, where Kroeger really failed his new team was as the holder on field goals, where he fumbled the snap on the Texans’ first field goal attempt, costing the team three points and some early momentum.
2. Nick Caley
Caley is another one who displayed encouraging signs in Week 1, as the offense was able to run the ball effectively and put up 31 points. Week 2 was an entirely different story. The Texans’ running backs carried the ball 14 times for 18 yards. Caley had zero feel for what plays to call in this one. On a fourth and two inches in the first half, instead of having C.J. Stroud just fall forward on a QB sneak to keep the chains moving, Caley called a slow developing, off tackle run for David Montgomery that Dexter Lawrence predictably blew up. Caley was terrible in this game. The worst part is that the failure on fourth and inches likely led to….
- DeMeco Ryans
….one of the worst calls by a head coach in Texans’ history. In the third quarter, trailing 10-3, with a fourth down and one yard at the Bengals’ 40 yard line, Ryans, perhaps terrified that his revamped offensive line couldn’t gain one yard, opted for a 58-yard field goal attempt. Last I checked, 58-yard field goals are not chip shots, while gaining one yard on offense is a far more feasible endeavor. Not for ol’ DeMeco, though. No way. He sent Ka’imi Fairbairn out there, and Fairbairn’s field goal attempt landed in the back of the end zone.
The worst was yet to come, as the Bengals then were able to take over at their own 48-yard line, and eight plays later, Chase scored his second touchdown, and the score was 17-3. It may as well have been 47-3 with the way the Texans were playing offensively. Ryans failed his team, but he made sure to assign the blame in his postgame press conference to the team’s inability to make plays. This is the most disappointed I’ve been in Ryans in a long time.
