Houston Texans Daily Roundup: Time to gain credit deserved

The Houston Texans have the longest current winning streak in the NFL and for that they deserve more credit than they’ve been given.

After the New Orleans Saints lost to the Dallas Cowboys by a 13-10 score on Thursday Night Football, the Saints saw their 10-game winning streak erased in four quarters. That loss allows the Houston Texans to take over that spot as they enter Week 13 with an eight-game winning streak to their credit.

Since the Texans now have the longest current winning streak on their side, plus with the eight-game streak also being the best in franchise history, it is time for the Texans to be give the proper respect they’ve earned as they are also in first place in the AFC South. This comes one season after being last place in the division. Even with the Texans starting the season with three straight losses, they’ve worked and worked, and now they are one of the more intriguing teams in all of the NFL.

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Sure the offensive line is troublesome, but that is offset some with all the other talent on the offensive side of the ball, and the defense is playing at an excellent level too. Now that brings up to this Sunday when the Texans host the Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland is an interesting team at 4-6-1 overall. Not only are they playing better without Hue Jackson as their head coach, but they are becoming an exciting team that many are saying will be one of the top lineups in future seasons.

That is where the Texans come in as well, because they seemed to be overlooked by the national media during all of their consecutive wins, because turn on most NFL shows and the Texans aren’t a main topic even though they are playing excellent football with the likes of Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyrann Mathieu and of course J.J. Watt.

Maybe if the Texans can earn their ninth straight win it will open up the eyes of many and make everyone take notice that maybe the Texans are for real after all.

Here is a look at more on the Texans for Friday.

• Sean Pendergast of the Houston Press gave everyone four things to watch for in the game vs. the Browns. One of the things to watch for was the “energy level” of the Texans:

"“So how will the Texans’ energy level be on a short week of prep, as a decided favorite (the spread is Texans -7), and with a more important game lurking the following week against the Colts?”"

Pendergast makes great points in being concerned with the energy level of the Texans for Week 13. Even after a tough few days last week, the Texans seem to be on a mission and there should be no problem with the energy level for the team, especially with their winning streak on the line.

• Brian K. Patterson of House of Houston — a FanSided site — wrote about how Hopkins leads the NFL in an important stat:

"“Hopkins ZERO DROPS through 101 targets and has caught 73 balls in all 11 games this season.”"

Having no drops on 101 targets is absolutely amazing and even more than that shows just how good of a wide receiver Hopkins has been this season. This season, Hopkins has 73 receptions for 1,024 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 14.2 yards per reception in games the Texans have won. Hopkins’ current streak of no drops is impressive to say the lease and it will be exciting to see how long he can keep it going.

• Cole Thompson of the TexansWire of USA Today wrote an article on Justin Reid and how he has helped the special teams of the Texans, quoting head coach Bill O’Brien:

"“I’m always impressed with his ability to decipher the call and make sure – he went to Stanford, so. I would tell you he’s putting the Stanford degree to very good use.”"

As the Texans did gain an excellent player in Reid when they drafted him, the rookie has played beyond expectations in his first year in the league and O’Brien is correct in his view of Reid in how smart he is. Being just a rookie it has been a pleasure so far to watch Reid’s game progress and the exciting part is he’s only going to get better with the more experience he has.

• Tweet of the Day

The Texans are lucky to have a solid kicker in Ka’imi Fairbairn in making 27 field goals and being third in the NFL in points scores with 99. Having a solid kicker is just one less thing the Texans have to worry about as they work towards making the playoffs.