When it comes to Saturday’s game in Kansas City against the Chiefs, there was no losing result on the scoreboard that would seriously damage the Houston Texans’ 2024 season. The fact of the matter is (and was) that the Texans are likely destined to be the 4-seed in the AFC. Certainly, they will be no worse than that. As the champions of the AFC South, that’s the lowest they’ll be seeded. They’ll get at least one home playoff game.
However, there was the opportunity for functional loss against the Chiefs, if injuries were to hit, and hit they did. On the list of potentially catastrophic injuries, the Texans sustained at least two that are fairly high up the list, as safety Jimmie Ward left the game with a foot injury and wide receiver Tank Dell sustained a “significant” knee injury catching this touchdown pass:
Amidst a frustrating season, Dell had just begun clicking at a high level again on Saturday afternoon before this unfortunate catastrophe. A healthy Dell changes everything for the Texans’ offense, opening things up for others, and giving the Texans a threat in the return game, as well. Now, like 2023, the Texans will head into the postseason with Nico Collins, and that’s pretty much it, at wide receiver. Brutal.
Here were winners and losers from the Texans’ 27-19 loss at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with a visit from the Baltimore Ravens coming on Christmas Day:
WINNERS
4. Henry To’o To’o
To’o To’o’s second season in the NFL has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. If I had to guess before the season, my ceiling for To’o To’o would have been “reserve linebacker and special teams contributor.” Instead, wIth Christian Harris missing all but the last two games and Azeez Al-Shaair missing three games due to injury and three due to suspension, To’o To’o has been the most available and consistent performer in the linebacking corps. On Saturday, he once again led the team in tackles with 10 total, had a tackle for loss, and would have had a fumble recovery for a touchdown if the officials didn’t have their heads up their collective butt.
3. Kendrick Green
The day-ending injury for the Houston Texans actually wasn’t Ward or Dell, but instead it was right guard Shaq Mason, who went down with a knee injury in the first half. Mason has struggled mightily this season, so while I don’t wish injury on anybody, I wasn’t moved to the extent that I thought this injury would hurt the Texans. Mason was replaced by Kendrick Green, who largely did a decent job in the snaps where I watched him. If Mason is out for an extended time, Green will get a chance to prove that perhaps he can be a bigger part of the Texans’ future plans along the offensive line.
2. Healthy Tank Dell
The injury to Dell was brutal, as we saw in the footage above, but in the spirit of trying to convey positive thoughts toward Dell, let’s acknowledge that he was having his best game of the season (6 catches, 98 yards, touchdown catch) when he suffered the injury. He looked like the Tank Dell that was dominant at times in his rookie season. It appears that the first trickle of news about Dell’s injury after the game was positive, insomuch as the injury, a disclosed kneecap, is a much easier injury to return from than structural damage in the knee. Dell remained in Kansas City overnight on Saturday so they can run more tests. Fingers crossed that the news is positive.
1. The damn Chiefs, I hate them
They’re just so good. They’ve been middle of the rod offensively this season, at best, but they are on another level when winning time rolls around in the fourth quarter. That’s how you win 16 consecutive one score games. Read that again — they’ve won SIXTEEN consecutive one score games. If you’re looking for the most stark evidence that the Chiefs operate on a different plane than the Texans, know this — in the final 11:51 of this game, the drive chart went like this:
* CHIEFS: 14 plays, 60 yards, 6:33 (FG)
* TEXANS: 3 plays, -13 yards, 1:37 (PUNT)
* CHIEFS: 7 plays, 46 yards, 3:41 (END OF GAME)
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 5.0 yards per play for the Chiefs, and -4.3 yards per play for the Texans. The Chiefs also shut down the two things the Texans do well defensively — rush the passer (one sack, four QB hits) and cause turnovers (zero turnovers caused).
LOSERS
4. Officiating
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned officiating as a significant facet of a game ever in this space, and I’ve been writing recaps of Texans games here for 16 seasons now. (Damn, that makes me feel old.) However, I can’t let this go. The Texans got screwed continually in this game. Up 10-7, a Patrick Mahomes fumble call (returned for a touchdown) was reversed, AND the refs tacked on a nickel-dime hands to the face (of Mahomes) for 15 yards and a first down. Tank Dell was the victim of an offensive pass interference call that looked completely fabricated, and Derek Stingley was called for a defensive hold that was absurd. I would roll my eyes, at times, at people so fixated on the Chiefs getting every call, but I’ll be damned if Saturday didn’t move me to their side of the argument.
3. Ka’imi Fairbairn
Through five weeks of the season, Fairbairn was the best kicker in football, having made a record number of 50-plus yard kicks, including a game winning 59 yarded against the Bills, and having won two AFC Special Teams Player oft he Week awards. However, over the last few weeks, he’s missed a chip shot to tie the game in the loss to the Titans, and on Saturday, he missed the point after the Dell touchdown, at a time where the Texans needed a shot of positivity. The trust factor in Fairbairn is not rock bottom, but he invokes a little more nervousness than earlier this season.
2. These stupid screens to wide receivers
Bobby Slowik loves to call screen passes to wide receivers on the edge. He loves them like every red blooded American loves apple pie and Netflix. In this game, Slowik had Stroud throw, by my count, four of them, all of which were stopped behind the line of scrimmage, going for a combined total of -9 yards. The four passes left the Texans in the following down and distance situations:
2nd and 12
3rd and 10
3rd and 13
3rd and 9
Slowik has to stop with this garbage.
1. C.J. Stroud, post Tank injury
The visual of C.J. Stroud reacting to Dell’s injury was tough to watch. The two are very close, each saying the other is his best friend, so it’s understandable that someone as connected to his teammates as Stroud is would be visibly upset. Eventually, though, you have to start playing ball again, and unfortunately, in the three remaining Texans drives in the game after the Dell injury, Stroud sandwiched two three-and-outs around a field goal drive in which Stroud had two delay of game penalties and a five yard sack in which he ran out of bounds, when he could have thrown the ball away. I have no idea how much cause and effect there was between Dell’s injury and Stroud’s performance, but the optics make it appear as though Stroud was deeply affected.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
