Houston Texans: Good, bad and ugly in loss to Titans

The Ugly: Offensive line pass protection

The Houston Texans offensive line play was possibly one of the worst performances in Week 2 of the NFL. Quarterback Deshaun Watson didn’t have proper time for most of the game to find receivers, and it showed in the overall flow of the offensive unit.

Watson finished the day by being sacked four times, twice by defensive tackle Jurrell Casey and once each by Kamalei Correa and Logan Ryan. Thus far in two games this season, the Texans offensive line has given up seven sacks.

The offensive line did have offensive tackle Roderick Johnson ruled out for the AFC South game, but according to the depth chart, he’s listed as the second right tackle on the roster to begin with.

Since 2014, the Texans have drafted an offensive lineman on three occasions, with one of those being Xavier Su’a-Filo in the second round in 2014 no longer even on the roster. In ’17, the Texans drafted tackle Julién Davenport in the fourth round, and this past April, tackle Martinas Rankin was selected in the third round, as he’s the backup to Davenport.

Sooner or later, the Texans have to address the offensive line because if they don’t, they are going to cause their franchise quarterback to get injured and miss games. He’s been sacked not just seven times this season, but he was also sacked 19 times in seven games last season as well.

Granted, the run blocking was fine for the Texans, but it comes back to protecting Watson, which is object No. 1 each and every week. Thus far, it isn’t happening.

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