Houston Texans: Is this team ready to make a run?

The Houston Texans have cleaned up their locker room and made it a point that they don’t tolerate selfish players. The coaching staff is all in on Brian Hoyer as the starting quarterback, and he has actually performed well.

Then there is DeAndre Hopkins, the receiver who is turning heads at an alarming rate with his amazing catches. On Sunday the defense came alive too as they recorded seven sacks as a team with linebacker Whitney Mercilus accounting for 3.5 of those and another 2.5 from defensive end J.J. Watt.

Rookie cornerback Kevin Johnson also showed up this Sunday as he recorded his first career interception off Tennessee Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger.

And that is where we stop. While Sunday was a complete beat down, the facts remain the same, the Texans beat up on a poor team, the 1-6 Titans. To make matters worse, the Titans were also using their backup signal-caller in the game and Houston still took a while to get going (as they have done every game this season).

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Still, a win is a win and no one will complain about the 20-6 beat down of the lackluster Titans. The team did what they needed to do by handling the Titans, keeping within striking distance of the Indianapolis Colts.

Expectations still need to be tempered though. The Texans have not turned a proverbial corner, instead they simply beat a bad team. The real test to see if they have made any progress comes on Monday Night Football in two weeks (Houston is on their bye week now) as they travel to Cincinnati to take on the 7-0 Bengals.

The last time Houston faced a team that was undefeated they lost in embarrassing fashion as the Atlanta Falcons (who were 3-0 at the time) cruised to a 48-21 victory. Sadly, the game wasn’t as close as the score indicates. And the score indicates a blow out.

If Houston is able to make a run at the AFC South it really won’t matter if they can only beat teams like Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Houston. They will have to compete with the best of the best, and this next game features the exact type of team they will face if they manage to get to the top of their division.

For head coach Bill O’Brien and company, this game may not be a must-win, but if they have any hope of reaching their goals for the 2015 season, this is at least a must-compete game. Another blowout could lead to even more people being shown the door.