The Houston Texans received some devastating news this week as another star wide receiver, this time Stefon Diggs, is lost due to a torn ACL. With both Diggs and Nico Collins out for this week's matchup against the New York Jets, they’ll have to change up their game plan a bit.
John Metchie III and Xavier Hutchinson, both receiving minimal snaps throughout their young careers, will get a boost of in-game action this week, and likely going forward. With plenty of wide receivers being moved in recent weeks, it’s safe to assume the Texans could be one of the next teams to land one, as our Randy Gurzi pointed out. But right now, what will they need to do differently on offense to continue playing well?
Joe Mixon and Co. need to stay consistent
The amount of carries the Texans have been giving Mixon on a weekly basis is ridiculous. He’s received 25 carries in each of the last two games. However, he’s been able to produce at that time, rushing for 217 yards and three touchdowns in total.
Now Mixon, along with Dameon Pierce will get a heavier workload against the Jets, who have allowed 260 rushing yards in their last two games against the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Texans have done well running the ball this season even without their top two running backs, averaging 118 yards per game on the ground. As they face a struggling Jets defensive line, that shouldn’t change on Thursday night.
The tight end group needs to be more involved
Houston saw great production out of their tight end group last year, with Dalton Schultz proving to be their long-term tight end. Fast forward to this year, they brought back Schultz while drafting Cade Stover in April.
Now Schultz has had a slow start to the season, totaling only 223 yards and no touchdowns on 23 receptions. Stover has been the “low man on the totem pole” in this offense, with just 85 yards on seven receptions to his name. This is the perfect week for both, or just one of them, to get going. The Texans aren’t going to bring in a big-time player in the next 24 hours, so Schultz and Stover will be seeing a good amount of targets go their way in this game.
Overview
The Texans still have a plethora of good pass catchers on their roster, and Schultz serving as the No.2 option for the time being is still enough for CJ Stroud to succeed. However, we’ll still see Houston rely more on the run game than we have dating back to Stroud’s rookie season. With a healthy Mixon, the Texans should be able to gash the Jets on the ground and control the time of possession. If these two things work out for the Texans this week, Houston should have no problem handing the Jets their seventh loss of the season.