There was a lot to digest from the Week 3 loss for the Houston Texans, losing 23-20 in a game they had a realistic change of winning, but it just wasn’t in the cards, with Houston falling to 0-2-1 overall.
Technically, the Texans aren’t the worst team in the NFL in the standings as the Las Vegas Raiders are 0-3 with Josh McDaniels as their new head coach this season, one season after Las Vegas made the playoffs.
With Houston so far this season, the offense hasn’t taken many steps forward after three weeks, but the defense has been better than they were a season ago. For Houston, the name of the game for them in 2022 is patience, consistency and improvement. If those three can eventually happen each week, then some wins will come, and the overall health of the franchise will be better for future seasons.
Now for this past Sunday and what went right and what went wrong for the team. There were positives on both sides of the ball, and there were negatives too, but everything is able to be fixed as the season continues.
Next is the good, bad and ugly for the Texans against the Bears from Week 3, starting with the good.
Texans Week 3: The Good
The first name in the good category is Jalen Pitre, as the rookie safety had a breakout game in Week 3 with two interceptions of Bears quarterback Justin Fields, plus he sacked Fields in the loss. Pitre totaled eight tackles with five of those being solo tackles, with the rookie being second on the team in tackles in the game.
Another positive for the Texans was Jonathan Owens, as the defensive back led the Texans with 11 tackles, plus six were solo tackles. It is a great thing to see a player who has worked as hard as Owens to climb into a better spot on the depth chart have such a solid effort with his tackling.
Then a plus was rookie running back Dameon Pierce who scored his first career touchdown (and rushed 20 times for 80 yards), and how about Jordan Akins coming off the practice squad to score a 4-yard touchdown reception in the back of the end zone?
It was nice to see Akins have some success, as he was needed at the moment to make that catch and keep Houston in the game.
We can’t forget another defensive player, Jerry Hughes, who had two sacks for Houston, plus the special teams of the Texans was great as well.