For weeks, hell, months even, Houston Texans fans have been clamoring for head coach DeMeco Ryans to give them Woody. Woody Marks, that is. The 4th-round rookie running back out of USC has garnered a significant amount of interest among fans in H-Town and fantasy owners all across the country who have been waiting for the Texans to give Marks the opportunity to be a tried and true bell-cow back.
With Nick Chubb sidelined for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals with a rib injury, it looked like Week 15 -- right in time for the Fantasy Football playoffs -- was about to be the Woody Marks showcase that so many have been waiting for.
That showcase lasted not even two quarters before the showcase came to a close, with Marks exiting with an ankle injury after just 7 carries for 30 yards. With the halftime lead swelled up to 16 points, DeMeco Ryans felt comfortable keeping Marks on the sideline for the remainder of the game, handing those very same keys that had been given to Marks earlier in the week to Jawhar Jordan, a 2024 6th round pick who was making his NFL debut on Sunday.
From that point on, we learned two things about the Texans... first, the 2nd half of this game told us that despite having to wait two full years from the time he was drafted to the time he got the chance to make his NFL debut, Jawhar Jordan should at the very least be a fixture in a backfield rotation. And second, DeMeco Ryans told us during his postgame press conference that Woody Marks was healthy enough where he could've returned to the game if the coaching staff felt it was necessary.
"Woody could have come back in the game," Ryans said after the game, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. "He got his ankle tweaked a little bit there early in the game. For where he was, felt like Jawhar [Jordan] and Dare [Ogunbowale] were doing a good job, so wanted to make sure Woody is good as we continue to go into the week ... Jawhar did an outstanding job for us, for the young man to come in for his first game, to have a debut like he had."
On 15 carries, Jawhar Jordan rushed for 101 yards on Sunday afternoon, becoming the first player since Elijah Mitchell in 2021 to rush for at least 100 yards in his first career game. Jordan also became the first Texans running back this season to finish a game with at least 100 rushing yards, a stunning development considering Jordan has spent the majority of the season on Houston's practice squad.
"I just wanted to prove to my team I could be reliable," Jordan said during his first ever professional post-game presser. "It was just a blessing to get an opportunity to show up."
Jawhar Jordan did plenty more than just show up, and moving forward, that might be what the Texans need from him on a week to week basis.