Week 1 Recap: Texans vs. Chiefs
Hoyer showing us early in the first quarter what we already knew: He’s inaccurate and makes poor decisions. His first throw of the game was an interception to the Chief’s rookie Marcus Peters inside his own 20 yard line.
The Chiefs then cashed in on a TD pass to tight end Kelce. This began the short-lived Texans implosion of the first quarter. After a strong start by the Texan’s defense, they looked slow and demoralized after the interception. Kelce then ran wide open for a 42 yard catch and run TD to open the scoring 14-0 against the Texans.
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The Texans answered shortly after, capping an 8-play, 80 yard touchdown drive within the last minute of the first quarter on a fade route by DeAndre Hopkins.
One thing the Texans did well early on defense was getting in the face of Alex Smith and batting passes on the line of scrimmage. The Chiefs did a great job of trying to counter this by getting the throws out extremely fast on every play.
Throughout the first half, it seemed as if the season from 2014 was on replay. Short offensive drive and punt, rinse, lather, repeat.
Hoyer showing he’s trash yet again in the second quarter, turning the ball over again on a fumble inside his own 20 yard line. Chiefs converted yet another short touchdown.
Another note from the first half: The Texans were officially the first team to miss a PAT under the new distance rules.
Texans headed into halftime down 27-9. If Hoyer wasn’t playing quarterback and didn’t gift the Chiefs 14 points, the halftime score would have been 13-9. I’m sad to say I’m being proved right, and Hoyer is continuing what he’s already shown in his career.
I half-jokingly expected Ryan Mallett to trot out onto the field to start the second half, and then I remember that Bill O’Brien has some weird affectionate relationship and bias towards Hoyer.
Shocking thing happened on the Texan’s opening drive after Hoyer stayed in the game, three and out! Yet again, Hoyer proving that he is not worth a starting quarterback job.
One thing that I took as a great sign was how Jadeveon Clowney looked in his first action this season. He showed great lateral quickness on a 3rd and 1 on Kansas City’s first drive in the third quarter, keeping pace with Jamaal Charles and shoving him out short of the first, forcing a punt.
Hoyer had an issue holding on to the ball entirely too long on almost every pass play. It’s a general rule in the NFL that quarterbacks have three seconds or less to get rid of it, and it seemed like Hoyer was holding on for 4-5 seconds on average.
The offense was again stagnant throughout the entire third quarter, as neither team scored. They entered the fourth quarter still locked at 27-9, advantage Chiefs.
The Chiefs made it until 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter without getting called for a penalty. That was of course aided by terrible missed calls on blatant pass interference.
J.J. Watt was of course a huge factor all day, needless to say. His final stat line: 9 solo tackles, 6 TFL and 2.0 sacks.
Ryan Mallett entered the game with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and instantly looked sharp completing 4/5 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown, and the two point conversion. He truly made Bill O’Brien look like a complete idiot for choosing Brian Hoyer over him. His release time from the backfield mirrored that of 2014’s contest in Cleveland, where Mallett outplayed Hoyer in a dominating 23-7 road win.
Ryan Mallett led the team to 11 points in 6 minutes of playing time, whereas Brian Hoyer only could muster 9 points in 54 minutes. The advantage is overwhelmingly clear with Mallett at the helm.
A game that was over early was injected with life when Mallett came in for Hoyer. The crowd cheered, and the team scored points. Mallett brought the Texans within a touchdown with 1:23 left in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, the Texans couldn’t recover the onside kick and fell to the Chiefs 27-20.