Last week’s franchise turning point, in their thrilling win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was a realization that the Houston Texans, in rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, have one of those elite level, late game quarterbacks that scare the bejeezus out of opponents, if they leave him any time on the clock at the end of games.
On Sunday, against the Cincinnati Bengals, a decidedly better opponent than Tampa Bay, playing them in Cincinnati. the Houston Texans pulled off their biggest win in years, a 30-27 last second win on a Matt Ammendola field goal. Whereas the win over the Bucs was more about Stroud, this win over the Bengals was about the franchise.
This organization was jettisoned into the middle of an NFL desert by the horrible decisions made by Bill O’Brien and Jack Easterby back in 2019 and 2020. Deshaun Watson’s legal situation buried them in the sand 2021, at least. With this win, they are out of the desert. They’ve made it to the other side. The Houston Texans can play with anybody.
On Sunday, there were winners and losers, so let’s dig in!
WINNERS
4. C.J. Stroud
This game didn’t need to end the way it did. It was actually what could have been Stroud’s most crucial mistake of the season, his second interception of the season, with under four minutes to go, that could have turned this win into a heartbreaking loss. Give Stroud credit, because as he’s done countless times already, he bounced back. On the game winning drive, he converted a huge 3rd and 6 to Dalton Schultz, and a 2nd and 5 to Noah Brown to set up the game winning field goal. Stroud continues to pile up records for rookie quarterbacks, and is firmly in the conversation for best rookie QB in league history. This is fun!
3. Sheldon Rankins
The Texans defense did a fine job overall containing Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ offense. It may not look like it, what with Burrow having thrown for over 340 yards, but he was pressured pretty steadily throughout the afternoon by the Texans’ front four. Rankins was the leader in that effort, as he earned three sacks, and was constantly causing havoc in Burrow’s pocket. In fact, the theme today was the performance of some of the one year veterans signed by Nick Caserio this past offseason. Rankins was one. Let’s recognize two more.
2. Devin Singletary
Singletary signed a one year, $3.5 million deal with the Texans this past offseason, which at the time, looked like a great signing, considering Singletary had been solid starting back for a playoff team in Buffalo the last four years. The Texans’ running game, as a whole, has been abysmal this season, but with Dameon Pierce nursing an ankle injury, Singletary got the call again on Sunday, and responded with a 30 carry effort for 150 yards, and a touchdown. This was a monster performance, and maybe it kickstarts things for Bobby Slowik’s rushing attack.
1. Noah Brown
Noah Brown signed a one year, $2 million deal with the Texans this offseason. All he’s done in the last two games is catch 13 balls for 325 yards and a touchdown. He’s been a machine catching deep comeback routes, when C.J. Stroud gets in trouble, and I would submit he’s been part of two of the biggest plays in the last two wins — his 75 yard touchdown, which opened the offensive floodgates against Tampa, and his final catch, which included 12 crucial yards after a broken tackle, to set up the winning field goal. Brown has been absolutely huge for this team.
LOSERS
4. Mac Jones, and by proxy Bill O’Brien
Hey, the Patriots and the Colts played a game over in Germany on Sunday morning! Let’s check in and see how things are going for former Texans head coach and current Patriots offensive coordinator, Bill O’Brien….
Ah, so that’s how it’s going! Final score — Colts 10, Patriots 6.
3. Sherrone Moore
If you haven’t been following the college football news circuit, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been suspended from coaching in Big Ten games the rest of the season. He can still attend practices during the week, but on game day, the replacement coach is someone by the name of Sherrone Moore. On Saturday, after a big 24-15 win over Penn State, Moore couldn’t contain his tears… or his potty mouth:
Hey, I love the emotion as much as anybody, and I’m even willing to give a pass for a curse word leaking out in the heat of the moment. However, if Moore has aspirations of being a head coach someday, that extra f-bomb at the end, where he had like 12 seconds to think about, might give some AD’s and school presidents reason to pause. Good win, though, dude.
2. Joe Burrow
If you’re the Texans, you probably go into Sunday’s game thinking that you might need something unexpected to happen, in order to go into a place like Cincinnati and get the win. The unexpected positive development for the Texans was Burrow’s getting careless with the football in the fourth quarter, tossing two interceptions, the second of which was a Shaquil Griffin snag in the end zone. That Griffin pick should have been a game clincher, but the Texans let the Bengals back into it. In the end, this game was about Burrow versus Stroud, and the rookie came out on top.
1. Bengals playoff fortunes
As a result of Sunday’s game, the Bengals, a team who’d won four in a row and are, no doubt, in the “Super Bowl or bust” category of teams, are now 5-4, and at least a game back of everybody in the AFC North. In addition, they have yet to win a division game, sitting at 0-2 in the division, and now they play a Ravens team this Thursday, on the road, after the Ravens blew a huge lead to the Browns on Sunday, losing 33-31. Yesterday went about as bad as it could go for the Bengals.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
