The Houston Texans did what they needed to do to gain their first win of the 2022 season, and big plays by the defense helped in a huge way in their 13-6 win in Week 5 on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
How great was it to see Desmond King II and Derek Stingley Jr. each have an interception, plus the clutch kicking of Ka’imi Fairbairn, be two of the biggest reasons this team won the game. Fairbairn was 2-of-2 in his field goal attempts, both from long distances of 50 yards and 51 yards. Those kicks were big for Houston because the offense had just one touchdown in the game.
That touchdown was maybe the biggest moment of all as rookie running back Dameon Pierce only went one yard for his touchdown run, but those six points came from the only touchdown of the AFC South rivalry game.
Pierce was excellent on Sunday with him having a big workload consisting of 26 carries for 99 yards and the one touchdown. His best run was 20 yards, and he averaged 3.8 yards per carry in the victory, as that win moved the Texans to 1-3-1 overall.
Just thinking about Pierce, he’s the future of the Houston offense, and maybe he’s finally the longterm option at running back the Texans have been looking for since Arian Foster was in Houston’s offense. Pierce has everything needed to be a successful longterm player for the Texans, and they are finally giving him the keys to the offense so to speak with the aforementioned 26 carries on Sunday.
Texans offense needs more work with QB play as season continues
There is still work to be done of the Houston offense, but a plus was quarterback Davis Mills was sacked just once, and he didn’t have any turnovers. Mills had a quiet game of 16-of-24 for 140 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, all while averaging 5.8 yards per completion.
Nico Collins is starting to be the player needed on the Houston offense, leading the team with four receptions for 65 yards on six total targets. He averaged 16.3 yards per catch. Brandin Cooks also had four receptions, finishing for 20 yards as he too was targeted six times.
The offense needs to play much better, but on this day the positive was they scored a touchdown when it was needed late in the game, and the defense of Houston stood strong and made the plays when they needed to.
Houston’s defense held the two-win Jaguars out of the end zone, and they intercepted Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence twice. He finished 25-of-47 for 286 yards, averaging 6.1 yards per completion. He wasn’t sacked on Sunday in Week 5, so that’s something Houston’s defense needs to work on in the coming weeks.
Again, there were positives in this first victory of the season as it is better to win than to keep losing and tying in games. Houston needed this positivity for Week 5, and it is just a good time to see the Texans gain a victory in a season that has had more negatives than positives.
It is time to celebrate this win and see where the team goes from here, as they will face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6 in Las Vegas, which is another winnable game for this team.