What was the good, bad, and ugly from Sunday’s close victory?
The Houston Texans do what they do best on Sunday. They won another close game. The one score win was the 10th such win in the DeMeco Ryans era as he has an excellent winning percentage in such games. I suppose we could argue that it is a sustainable model for victory, but it doesn’t feel like it. It was yet another game where a few key plays made the game closer than it should have been. More on that later.
There was obviously a ton of good and most of it happened on the defensive end. No one is ever going to accuse Anthony Richardson of being an accurate passer, but a 10/32 performance from any quarterback is a staggering performance and it is high time the national media recognizes that this is a feature of the Ryans defense and not a bug.
However, like most games, this game came down to the key numbers that we will look at below. Usually, the winning team makes fewer key errors than the losing team and this game was no different. As the season goes on, we begin to see distinctive patterns and that is why we do this feature in the first place.
Key Statistics
Total Yards: Houston Texans 68/365, Indianapolis Colts 63/287
Rushing Yards: Texans 29/98, Colts 26/150
Passing Yards: Texans 39/267, Colts 37/124
Turnovers: Texans 1, Colts 2
Sacks: Texans 5, Colts 2
Penalties: Texans 5/30, Colts 9/58
Time of Possession: Texans 35:20, Colts 24:40
The numbers tell their own story, but the turnover battle is a little deceiving. Technically speaking, the Colts lost a fumble on the very last play of the game, but it really doesn’t factor in the outcome. That also counts as a sack which certainly pads Danielle Hunter’s stat sheet, but probably changed very little.
If I were a Colts fan I would be asking some very pointed questions of Shane Steichen and the offensive staff. Continuing to go with Anthony Richardson is one thing. I get that they probably aren’t a title contender and think the best long term play is to give the kid as much experience as possible. However, there is no reason why Jonathan Taylor should get only 20 carries. Heck, I’d have given a backup another ten carries and called a few quarterback runs on top of everything. Having Richardson drop back and throw 37 times borders on cruelty at this point.
The Good
Obviously, the defensive effort was one of the best of the season overall. Josh Downs did score a 69 yard touchdown on a coverage that Jalen Pitre got picked off on. Congratulations to the Colts for getting the easiest touchdown scored against the Texans this season. Otherwise, it was a struggle all day for the Colts and Anthony Richardson. In two combined games against the Texans, Richardson is 19 for 51 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. A .380 completion percentage has never been good. Maybe in the 1938 NFL that might be a line you’d expect to see. In 2024 that’s completely bizarre.
Throw in Josh Allen’s 9/30 C/ATT performance a few weeks ago and you have three games where the opposing quarterback had absolutely horrible games. Caleb Williams and Trevor Lawrence were bad in their games as well. Ultimately, the Texans defense has taken a huge step forward. Jonathan Taylor got his yards, but this team made the Colts one-dimensional and that is as good as you can hope for.
The Bad
There are key points in the game where Bobby Slowik just makes you scratch your head. In the fourth quarter, the Texans were up 23-20 with the clock winding down and first and goal inside the ten. The very worst you should come out of there is up 26-20 and the length of the field to defend. Why in all holy hell are running a pitch play in that moment? I understand that you never plan for failure and I get it, but someone has to get on the headset and throw out a “dang it Bobby (in Hank Hill voice)”
On the possession before that you have a third and two when you are generally moving it at will through the run and short passing game. So, this is the moment when you run a wide receiver screen to John Metchie with Xavier Hutchinson all along to block. Really? Is that what you have?
When you are moving the ball up and down the field you continue to do stuff that got you moving the ball in the first place. This is not the time to run some new play in the grade book that no one has seen before. Sure, you look like a genius when it works. I don’t want genius. I just want regular, old-fashioned football and that is especially true in these kinds of key moments.
The Ugly
Kenyon Green. As reported in the recap, He has the second lowest PFF score amongst 78 qualified guards in the NFL. That was coming into whatever we are going to call that performance on Sunday. Sure, Stroud got sacked only twice. This is because Slowik installed a quicker passing game after his quarterback was bludgeoned last week. In other words, you are changing the entire game plan because one or more of your linemen can’t block properly.
Moreover, you spent a ton of money and draft capital this offseason to upgrade things around C.J. Stroud and this defense. Stroud is destined to be a $60 million quarterback if he makes it through the next two seasons in one piece. It is completely indefensible that Green was your only real plan at guard. Jarrett Patterson was a center last year and he is your backup. Kendrick Green is on the roster, but hasn’t been heard from.
Green somehow had a lower rating in 2022 than he has through week 7. Yes, he was out of shape. Yes, he worked hard to get in shape, but was this really the plan? Hope and pray he discovers something despite all the evidence to the contrary? You could have signed some kind of veteran guard to compete with him. It didn’t have to be a Pro Bowler. It could have been someone mediocre. Mediocre would be a revelation at this point. As it stands, Green is unplayable. Yet, Patterson will be in the concussion protocol and is unlikely to be cleared by Thursday. So, you better have a backup plan? The waiver wire? Trade? Nick Caserio better be on the phone.