The Houston Texans are in the midst of completing one-fourth of their regular-season games, and even players on the team know there is still work to do moving forward.
Though the Houston Texans are a 2-2 team through the first four games of the 2019 season, and they are coming off a loss to the Carolina Panthers after Week 4, there is no doubt the Texans still have a potential to be one of the best teams in the AFC from here on out.
If the Texans are able to put together a complete game on the offensive side of the ball, plus have great defensive play in the same game, this team can make some noise as the season continues. The problem is the Texans have yet to accomplish that in ’19, and that is why they are a .500 team.
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On Sunday, the defense of the Texans played strong and put a lot of pressure on Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen, but they had problems stopping running back Christian McCaffrey, who excelled rushing the football with 27 carries for 93 yards and one touchdown, plus he had 10 receptions — on 10 targets — for 86 yards.
If Week 4 showed anything for the Texans, it was they are still a team to contend with, but there is work to be done.
Texans second-year safety Justin Reid knows his team has work to do to improve before next Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.
In transcripts provided by the Texans media department, Reid was quoted as saying the following about the team moving forward:
"“We still have some growing to do, but the talent on this team is unquestionable. We have a tremendous quarterback, tremendous players all over the field, so we’re just going to have to keep building, watch the tape and get better. The league is set up to be an 8-8 league. We don’t have an easy division and we’re still 2-2, so we’re just going to have to keep working toward getting that train rolling, get a win streak going and then just prepare to make that run.”"
Those words from Reid are very true, and the fact he knows in only his second season what the Texans are lacking shows what type of player he is and that he’s well on his way to being one of the leaders of the defense for Houston.
In the loss on Sunday, Reid totaled 10 tackles, which tied him for his season-high from the Week 1 game against the New Orleans Saints, which was also a loss for the Texans.
Since drafting Reid in the third round in the 2018 NFL Draft, the Texans have been stable at free safety. Reid and most likely the Texans know they are better than their .500 record shows.
Until the offense and defense can both play at a high level in the same game, and do so on a regular basis, all of the Texans games will continue to be too close for comfort, which leads to the .500 record and possibly missing the playoffs.