The Day After the Day After: The fallout from the Houston’s Texans week 3 defeat

Houston Texans v Minnesota Vikings — Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images

Well, that wasn’t fun. Let’s review it one more time, ‘cause, well, we…like pain?

The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a look at what week 3 wrought:

History Repeats Itself: The usual formalities held. Minnesota led wire-to-wire, held a lead of at least 14 points, and moved to 6-0 vs. Houston. Maybe the faces that execute the beatdowns change, but the uniform colors do not. You wonder if Bob McNair said something to offend the then-Vikings owner Red McCombs, leading to this curse. Of course, Minnesota might not want history repeating too much. The Vikings followed up their 2016 win by missing the playoffs.

The Underlying Theme of Revenge: Speaking of history, more than a few Vikings players called Houston home, and they no doubt looked to show up their once (or potential) home. Jonathan Greenard sacked C.J. Stroud three times and forced the first Stroud interception, picked off by former Houston Texans LB Kamu Grugier-Hill. LB Blake Cashman aided the effort to limit the Texans running game to 38 yards. Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores, scorned by the Texans for a head coaching gig, led the revenge tour. Don’t think for a minute Flores forgot about that drama. The Texans did bring some Vikings’ alum with them, and while Diggs led the Texans receivers with 10 catches for 94 yards, Danielle Hunter only contributed two tackles, a TFL, one pressure and a 15-yard Roughing the Passer penalty that extended a late third quarter drive that all but killed off any hopes of a Texans comeback. Advantage: Ex-Texans.

Adapting to Crowd Noise: Another understatement: The Vikings crowd disrupted Houston’s offense. Of their 11 penalties, most were pre-snap, which a good crowd can trigger. Last season, they suffered numerous pre-snap violations on the road, punctuated by six in the playoff loss to Baltimore. Inexperience could somewhat justify it then. Not now. With visits to places like Kansas City still on the docket, if this team still fancies itself a contender, they need to improve crowd noise mitigation actions.

Fairbairn, wha…wha happened?: The past two weeks, Houston’s usually strong special teams suffered some significant hiccups, save in the place-kicking game. This week, while the punting/punt coverage/kick coverage performed fine, the place-kicking did not. Fairbairn finally missed from 50+ (a 54-yard near miss), but he also sent a kick out-of-bounds in the third quarter, right as Houston cut the deficit to 21-7. From AFC Special Teams Player of the Week to…not.

Houston’s Struggles Against New York Jets of New Jersey QB “Busts”: What is it about the Texans and Jets’ quarterbacks regarded as busts? Mark Sanchez, Zach Wilson and Sam Darnold, all generally considered busts based on their high draft position (#5, #2, #3 overall picks respectively) with the Jets. Yet, all three have winning records against the Houston Texans. Sanchez is 2-1 across his time with the Eagles and Jets, Zach Wilson is 2-0 in his two starts vs. Houston and legit-MVP candidate Sam Darnold is 2-1 vs. Houston from his time with the Jets, Panthers, and Vikings. All three QBs logged strong statistical games against Houston. Granted, Darnold started against Houston in 2021, leading the Panthers to a 3-0 start for them, but that didn’t last (again, Vikings, probably don’t want history to repeat too much here).

Penalties: Maybe three games is not enough to determine everything there is to know about a squad, but for Houston, we can determine one thing. After three weeks, they have 28 called/accepted penalties, giving them an average of 9.3 a game. A lot of them are of the pre-snap variety, indicative of discipline lapses. Perhaps even more damning, a lot of the penalties negated good plays that might have turned the fortunes of the game. Consider the first play of the game, where a holding call negated a 17 yard Stroud-to-Collins pass, which lead to the 1st and 20 Stroud INT the next play. Then you have the critical second quarter series where Houston was down 14-0, but had the ball inside the Vikings 25, facing a manageable third and four that at worst should have led to a short field goal. Unfortunately, three straight pre-snap penalties (along with a declined illegal formation penalty), moved the Texans back 19 yards, forcing a punt. In the first Half, Houston lost 50 yards of positive offensive yardage due to penalties. In a word: Bad.

FUN WITH NUMBERS:

4:32: In the six matchups with Minnesota, that is how long the Houston Texans have held a lead against the Vikings (first quarter, 2012).

1: Times that Houston started a season 3-0. You have to go back to 2012, when Houston opened the year with a 3-0 start (5-0).

4-19: Houston’s all-time record in week 3 of the NFL season.

2: Multi-INT games for C.J. Stroud. That it took until his second season to hit that milestone is impressive. Let’s keep it longer before the third one.

GAME BALLS:

DT Tim Settle: Not a bad game on a terrible day. He logged two tackles/two sacks/two TFLs/two QB hits. Wore down like the rest of the defense, but maybe his film session review won’t be as bad as the rest of the team.

The Weakness of the AFC South: Finally, a team other than Houston actually won a game from this division. The Colts outlasted the Bears to move to 1-2. That Chicago supplied most of the win totals for the South does not inspire confidence. The Titans fell to 0-3, mainly on the brain lapses of Will Levis. The Glitter Kitties now sit hard broke at 0-3. Still, even after Houston’s embarrassment, they hold a one game lead in the division with a 1-0 division record.

SHOULD BE FORCED TO DOWN MORE RANCID-THAN-USUAL-LUTEFISK JUICE WHILE WATCHING REPLAYS OF THIS TEAM WITH A REPEATING LOOP OF SKOL CHANTS AND VIKING HORN MUSIC

OT Laremy Tunsil: Tunsil had a game to forget. Six times the refs called his name for penalties (five accepted). While not responsible for all five of the Vikings’ sacks, Tunsil’s efforts didn’t help. For those listening on the radio, Andre Ware went nuclear on Tunsil. Of the Texans’ 28 penalties this season, Tunsil is the clubhouse leader with nine. Not befitting of one of the “better” LTs in the game.

(For your listening pleasure):

Andre Ware was so upset on the radio broadcast after Laremy Tunsil’s first false start of the game pic.twitter.com/rajIqXWDDj

— Figgy Fig (@TheFiggyFig) September 22, 2024

Defensive Passing Game Coordinator Cory Undlin and Defensive Backs Coach Dino Vasso: The Texans employed some curious coverage schemes. Justin Jefferson, arguably the best receiver in the league, found himself matched up against safeties in his pass routes. Eric Murray, Jimmie Ward and Jalen Pitre vs. Justin Jefferson…if I am Minnesota, yes please. Stingley gave up two receptions to Jefferson, one on a zone coverage scheme and the other when Jefferson made an All-Pro level play on the ball after Stingley deflected it. While Darnold and Jefferson didn’t completely go off, the coverage plan appeared head-scratching.

With that, we (gladly) turn the page on week 3. Houston looks to avoid their second losing streak under the Ryans regime. See everyone at the noon CDT kickoff at NRG Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.