Houston Texans: Key takeaways from disappointing Week 2 loss

3. Houston Texans Takeaways: Cooks, Cobb, and Akins shine, but where was Will Fuller?

The Houston Texans game plan for this season sans-Hopkins was to spread the ball around to one of the fastest receiving corps in the NFL, and so far we have seen a mixed bag of results through two weeks.

Brandin Cooks has looked to establish himself as the lead dog on offense, reeling in five of his eight targets for 95 yards and making numerous contested catches for 19 yards per grab. Despite his lack of involvement in Week 1, Randall Cobb found multiple holes in the secondary for 59 yards on five catches, giving the team a reliable slot option for once.

Additionally, emerging tight end Jordan Akins hauled in each of his seven targets for 55 yards, but the numbers for the rest of the team were disconcerting.

After an incredible effort against the Kansas City Chiefs and more than 110 yards in Week 1, Will Fuller received no targets and recorded one rush for no gain against Baltimore. Surprising absolutely no one, Fuller is once again dealing with an ailment to his hamstring which limited him but did not take him off the field entirely.

Fuller’s status as a decoy fooled no one, but considering Keke Coutee’s poor play it was probably best to leave Fuller in the lineup. The only Houston Texans player to score this week was Darren Fells, who is now the first player since 2017 to haul in 14 touchdowns on less than 100 targets (per Texans Wire).

Moving forward, Fuller is a necessity for this offense to function properly and Kenny Stills needs to be utilized more efficiently. His two catches for 16 yards barely helped, and a team with this many weapons shouldn’t be struggling to incorporate quality receivers into the mix.