The Houston Texans showed improvement is needed following Week 1.
It wasn’t the best of times for the Houston Texans in the opening game of the 2020 NFL season, losing by a 34-20 score this past Thursday night in the NFL season opener to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
At times, the Texans looked like a team that was ready to take on the reigning Super Bowl champions, and there were times where the Chiefs showed they were on a higher level than the Houston Texans as Houston’s last two losses have come against Kansas City.
Some of the play-calling resembled last season, and it was evident the Houston Texans didn’t have DeAndre Hopkins on the field. It is going to take time to get used to his style of play not being on the field in Houston in 2020 and beyond, as he did his thing for the Arizona Cardinals this past weekend.
As for the Thursday night game, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Houston Texans, either. The Texans had some solid play from Will Fuller, David Johnson rushed well, and on defense Jacob Martin showed he needs more playing time, too.
Maybe it was the fact the Houston Texans had some new pieces to their offense and defense, but not having a preseason to work together was one of the reasons that things didn’t work out so well. One the other hand, Chiefs rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire sure didn’t look like he missed not having a preseason game, as he rushed for 134 yards against the Houston defense.
All in all, it was easy to see there is work needed with the Texans, and next are some grades the team and players earned for the Week 1 loss against maybe the very best team in the entire NFL.
Houston Texans Grades: Jacob Martin earns high marks
Jacob Martin played in just 29 percent of the defensive snaps (18 plays), and in that time he had an impact play with a sack in the first half, and he collected two solo tackles, with one being a tackle for loss and a QB hit.
Martin is proving he deserves more time on the field for the Houston Texans, and not only that, he had better overall numbers than most of his teammates did in the season-opening loss to the Chiefs. Playing in only 18 plays was a disservice by the Texans in Week 1 for not only Martin, but for the defense as well.
Getting Martin on the field and getting reps was needed against the Chiefs, and the Texans defensive scheme needs to include Martin more in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens as the Houston Texans defense will need to be hitting on all cylinders against a team that handed them a very tough loss last season.
Grade: B
Houston Texans Grades: Offensive line needs work moving forward
In an article on the fallout from the game, Pro Football Focus provided a stat which stood out about the play as an entire unit of the Houston Texans offensive line, which was Deshaun Watson was pressured 35 percent of the time on dropbacks.
In fact, PFF writer Sam Monson had this to say about the Texans’ offensive line following their performance in Week 1:
"“What’s even more concerning is that it wasn’t just because of one weak link along the line — every member of the Texans offensive line surrendered multiple pressures, and Watson didn’t help matters when things did begin to break down.”"
It is very simple for the Texans … they were rusty, the offensive line needs work, and no excuses are needed to be heard because if this franchise wants to be prepared to the best, then they need to start playing like the best. Bottom line.
Houston had all five offensive linemen returning from last season, and Tytus Howard missed half of last season after suffering an injury, so he gets a slight pass as he works himself back into playing at the NFL level in year two.
The o-line of the Texans allowed a combined 11 QB pressures, and in the PFF grades, four of the five starters graded below 55 on a scale of 100.
As a unit, though, a few more performances like the team had on Thursday night … well, times will be tough for the offense, in turn making things difficult for the defense.
Grade: D+
Houston Texans Grades: Run defense could have been much better
The rushing game of Chiefs rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire in his NFL debut was a mix of a good offensive line, a talented running back and a defensive line that underperformed. The first-round pick Edwards-Helaire had his way against the Texans with 134 yards rushing, but more than that, it was how he got all those yards that sticks out.
The defensive line of the Texans was controlled by the Chiefs, and that isn’t such a great sign, even against the defending Super Bowl champions. The Texans defensive line and linebackers are better than they played, but we can go only by what we all witnessed in Week 1 for now, and it wasn’t anything to brag about.
J.J. Watt finished with three tackles, and just overall the Chiefs did whatever they wanted with their rushing game.
Week 2 won’t be any easier when Houston faces the Baltimore Ravens, so from Week 1 to Week 2, overall play had better improve or the results will be the same as the Houston Texans will be facing the likes of Lamar Jackson, Mark Ingram and rookie JK Dobbins.
Grade: D-