The Houston Texans grade card isn’t one they want to hang on the fridge this week.
If the Houston Texans performance on Sunday was a grade card that had to be sent home, they probably would do their best to make some adjustments and pass it off as something positive, when in all cases it was not.
On Sunday, the Week 4 meeting between the Houston Texans and the Minnesota Vikings was far from a “game of the year” nomination, but one thing is for certain: the Texans have shown they aren’t a contender, and they are far from being one anytime soon.
The Texans have allowed over 150-plus yards rushing in each of the first four games, and not to put all the blame on the defense, the offense of the Houston Texans has regressed and there are no more excuses that anyone should accept.
There are some talented players on the offense of the Texans, and on defense too, but when a team can only have a total net yards of 112 in the first half, that is an out-right sad feat for a professional football team to achieve.
In the first half against the Vikings, the Houston Texans were 2-of-7 on third down conversions and ran just 28 plays on offense. That same first half, the rushing total for the Houston offense was just 40 yards. In the Red Zone, they only made it once, and the Texans were 0-of-1 on that possession.
In a closer look at some first-half numbers, David Johnson has just 29 yards rushing, and as a team in the first two quarters, the Houston Texans totaled 40 yards on 11 carries with a top carry of eight yards.
Things did improve in the second half and the Texans made the Vikings sweat a little bit, but the Texans can’t continue to play poor football for a half and then expect a miracle comeback, because it isn’t happening (and hasn’t happened) this season.
Plus, in the first half it didn’t help matters that the average drive start for the Texans was their own 24-yard line, while Minnesota’s average drive start was from their own 33-yard line, as that is a nine-yard difference. For the entire game the average drive start for the Texans was their own 27-yard line, but they eventually were forced to punt four times, but just once in the second half.
Next are grades for the offense, defense and special teams of the Houston Texans as all three had their positives and negatives in the 31-23 loss to the Vikings in Week 4.
Houston Texans Grades: Offense
There will be no curve used here for the Houston Texans offense, but there was some improvement from the first half to the second half.
The first half for the Texans had two field goals and three punts, and the final two quarters had two touchdowns, one field goal, one punt and a final drive that ended with a turnover on downs with the overruled touchdown call on the catch attempt by Will Fuller.
All in all, it was not a successful day for the Texans offense. In the first half, Deshaun Watson passed for just 79 yards (6-of-15) as he was off on his passes, his receivers weren’t getting open at times, and the offensive line just didn’t have “IT” either.
The final numbers for the complete game weren’t worth bragging over either because Watson finished 20-of-33 for 300 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, but the first half is a lot to overlook.
Duke Johnson averaged just 3.9 yards per carry, but how the Houston Texans are using him is tough to watch because he needs to run outside the tackles more instead of being an inside runner. Johnson totaled 63 yards rushing on 16 carries, with eight of those carries coming in the first half for 29 yards. Johnson’s longest rush for the game was 15 yards, and in the first half that number was six yards.
Fuller had just 18 yards receiving on two receptions in the first half, but ended the game with six receptions for 108 yards and one touchdown so that was a po. That was the problem with the Texans on Sunday is they were totally out-played and out-coached in the first half, but seemed to want to play better in the second half, which can’t continue to happen.
Grade: D+
Houston Texans Grades: Defense
When a unit is on the field for over 36 minutes in a game, that isn’t fair to the Houston Texans defense, but on the other hand they need to amp up their overall play because they aren’t helping themselves in any way either… and just like the offense, changes need to be made somewhere.
In a quick look at the defensive stats, P.J. Hall has been playing well this season, and on Sunday he had one sack, plus six combined tackles (two solo).
One thing that would be nice to see from the Houston Texans is more snaps for Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Johnson only played nine snaps on defense this past Sunday (14 percent), and that’s unacceptable and foolish of the Houston Texans defensive coaching staff. Johnson is only going to improve with more playing time, and for the Texans not to play him more when the Vikings had two players catch for over 100 yards each is a shame.
A plus was two sacks by Whitney Mercilus, but a negative was the Texans just didn’t seem to pressure the Vikings or make them uncomfortable because of their rushing game.
As stated in earlier articles, the run defense of the Texans needs a lot of work, and it just didn’t exist much in Week 4 when Dalvin Cook totaled 130 yards on 27 carries, as he and his Minnesota teammates chipped away at the Houston defense. Also with the Vikings, they scored one touchdown in each quarter.
Work needs to be done, and improvement needs made quickly because an 0-4 start could be just the beginning if things don’t improve soon.
Grade: D
Houston Texans Grades: Special Teams
Houston Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was 3-for-3 in field goal attempts with one field goal for 50 yards. He was also 2-for-2 in extra point attempts, making him responsible for 11 of the 23 points scored by the Texans.
Who knows how bad the score would have been if Fairbairn hadn’t made those kicks, and how the Texans would have run their offense (could it have been worse?) if they didn’t have those two first half field goals?
Texans punter Bryan Anger totaled four punts in the game, including three in the first quarter. He averaged 50.3 yards per punt with a longest punt of 59 yards in the Houston Texans loss.
DeAndre Carter had two punt returns for 14 yards with one fair catch, and on kickoff returns he had two for 51 yards, with a best of 29 yards. The glaring mistake for Carter was a fumble on a punt return that was recovered by the Vikings on the Houston 35-yard line. Seven plays later, the Vikings turned that turnover into three points and a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
There was positives with the kicking game of the Texans, and a huge negative for the return game with the turnover, which somewhat hampers the success of the 11 points scored by Fairbairn.
Grade: C+
Final Overall Grade for Texans: D