Houston Texans Daily Roundup: Pro Bowl and Week 16 thoughts

The Houston Texans had four players named to the Pro Bowl and not only that they have a big game in front of them for Week 16 in Philadelphia.

There was cause for the Houston Texans to celebrate four of their teammates on Tuesday when it was announced that J.J. Watt, DeAndre Hopkins, Benardrick McKinney and Jadeveon Clowney were all selected to the Pro Bowl for the seasons they’ve all had up to this point of 2018.

All four are well deserving of the honor, and with three of the players being on the defensive side of the football it is easy to see that the Texans live off the success of their defense. With 10 wins this season the Texans have had individual success from many players, but having four players selected to the Pro Bowl is a special honor for the players and the franchise as a whole.

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As for who was selected to the Pro Bowl for the Texans they all deserve the honor, but should others have been selected as well? Another defensive player who should have had his name called was Tyrann Mathieu as he does have 82 total tackles (66 solo) with three sacks and two interceptions, but that is a discussion for another day.

Now onto Week 16 and the Philadelphia Eagles because this game won’t be a push over and there is also the fact the Eagles are the favorites according to the Las Vegas betting experts.

A win by the Texans and they clinch the AFC South and stay in the No. 2 spot in the AFC Playoffs without any stress. A loss and wins by others in the division and well that makes for a stressful Week 17 next Sunday.

This Sunday is the biggest game of the season for the Texans and they need to treat it as a playoff game because a win guarantees a playoff spot with a division title, and even more puts them even closer to wrapping up a bye week in the playoffs.

Here are more headlines for Wednesday for the Texans and Eagles.

• Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle wrote about how kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week following his Week 15 performance. Wilson wrote the following:

"“He leads the NFL with 34 field goals and 136 points and has made his last dozen field goals.”"

Fairbairn has been playing well as of late and the Texans are lucky they made the decision to keep the rookie kicker on the roster this season. He made five field goals this past Saturday against the New York Jets and he’s going to be very important moving forward the rest of the season.

• Jordan Godwin of ESPN.com wrote about how Watson has been sacked 52 times this season and there are still two regular season games left on the schedule. The article stated:

"“With Watson sitting at 52 with two games remaining, he likely won’t come close to Carr’s record, but considering only six quarterbacks in NFL history have been sacked 60 times in a season, keeping him as close to 52 would be ideal for Watson’s future …”"

It is very simple, but easier said than done as the Texans can’t keep letting Watson get sacked, as part of that is his own doing and a lot of it is the play of the offensive line.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the offense needs to play at a higher level with their pass protection from here on out. If they don’t they might risk having Watson getting injured, and if that happens at this point of the season that would be a tough pill to swallow.

• Tyler Lauletta of Business Insider wrote about the Eagles and the varying paths to the playoffs they have. He wrote the following:

"“But thanks to Nick Foles and an impressive upset victory over the Los Angeles Rams last weekend, Philadelphia is still alive in their hunt to repeat as champions.”"

The article went on to describe the ways the Eagles can make the playoffs. One thing is clear, this Week 16 games is like a playoff game for both the Texans and the Eagles and it should be played as such this Sunday.

• Tweet of the Day

Though there are times when Coach Bill O’Brien and the coaching staff of the Texans want to make you pull out your hair during game, the Texans should be thankful to have a coach like O’Brien who wins division titles and leads the Texans to the playoffs.

This year seems like a year when they team can take the next step and have a playoff run, which after the early part of the season wasn’t expected