Houston Texans Daily Roundup: Tied for 1st place in AFC South

After starting the season 0-3, the Houston Texans have managed to get to the .500 mark after defeating the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The past three weeks the Huston Texans have done nothing but win, and though those wins might not have been as dominate as they would have liked, they are wins none the less. Those victories have put the Texans in a three-way tie with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.

All three of those AFC South teams are 3-3 overall, making the race for the AFC South top spot a bit more interesting as the season continues, especially with the Texans facing the Jaguars next Sunday. Within the division the Texans are 1-1 as they’ve defeated the Indianapolis Colts — who are 1-5 overall — and lost to the Tennessee Titans.

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After the mess that was the first three weeks of the season it is very surprising to see where the Texans stand. They’ve been able to do enough the past three weeks to gain wins has also not just been surprising, but exciting too. The defense of the Texans was a big reason the Texans won on Sunday (with the two fourth quarter interceptions), but the offense needs to get fixed soon or the spot in first place won’t last long.

But today is victory Monday for the Texans and here are the headlines following the 20-13 win.

• Mark Lane of TexansWire.com from the USA Today Network wrote about the sacks allowed by the Texans’ offensive line, but also how quarterback Deshaun Watson took some of the blame for those sacks. Lane quoted Watson on the matter at hand:

"“As a whole, we’ve just got to do better,” Watson said. “Me getting the ball out, those guys doing their job, making sure the play calling is right, just all on the same page.”"

Watson is being a good teammate in taking some of the blame with the sacks, but it is very evident there are issues with the offensive line after the first six games of the regular season. Even with how poorly the offense has looked at times this season, the Texans are on a winning streak and they have started winning on a consistent basis, and for now that works.

• John McClain of the Houston Chronicle gave his report card for the Texans’ win over the Bills on Sunday. One of his grades was a C to the Texans’ running back duo of Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue, writing the following:

"“It’s not all their fault. It’s hard to run when you have nowhere to run on most of your carries.”"

Again, the issues of the Texans offense comes back to the offensive line, but this time with their run blocking and not their pass protection. The Texans do need more than a combined 72 yards from their running backs (which is what they gained on Sunday), but the longer this season continues the less likely it is likely to occur if the o-line keeps playing like they have thus far this season.

• Sean Pendergast of the Houston Press wrote about his winners and losers for the Texans win over the Bills on Sunday. Pendergast wrote:

"“Special teams essentially won the game for the Texans, setting up both of their first half scoring drives inside the Buffalo 30 yard line. At the center of all of that was outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett.”"

It is good to see the Texans being improved on special teams and doing the best they can to help the struggling offense all they can. The Texans need to keep seeing their special teams playing at a solid level and and seeing players like Brennan Scarlett provide production for the team is great to see occur.

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Again, three wins in a row following an 0-3 start is something to be proud of for the Texans and now they’ve given themselves a chance to really battle for a division title in a division that isn’t playing great football right now.

The rest of the season will be interesting and now being tied for first place brings hope for this franchise and after six games that is all that can be asked for, but now it is time for the Texans to really amp up their play and take advantage of the opportunity in front of them.