{"id":179800,"date":"2025-09-30T10:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/179800\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:36:09","slug":"emergence-of-rookie-rb-woody-marks-gives-spark-to-texans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/179800\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergence of rookie RB Woody Marks gives spark to Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

DJ Bien-AimeSep 30, 2025, 08:00 PM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>DJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in July of 2022 after covering the New York Jets for the New York Daily News. He’s a former athlete who finished his college career at Louisville. You can catch DJ on ESPN Radio on his show “Talkin’ Texans.”<\/p>\n

HOUSTON — In Joe Mixon<\/a>‘s absence, a new running back is emerging for the Houston Texans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Woody Marks<\/a>, a fourth-round pick in April, had an all-around breakout performance during the Texans’ 26-0 win over the Tennessee Titans<\/a> in Week 4.<\/p>\n

Marks finished with 119 scrimmage yards, the most from a Texan offensive player this season, with a receiving touchdown and a rushing one, and on Sunday, he had career highs in carries (17), overall touches (21), offensive snaps (41), receiving yards (50) rushing yards (69) and touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Best of NFL Nation<\/p>\n

\u2022 Fake spike and revenge: Aaron Glenn’s ready<\/a>
\u2022 Fitzpatrick happy to be home<\/a>
\u2022 Best vs. best with Chase, Surtain<\/a>
\u2022 Panthers search for answers<\/a>
\u2022 Bears flip script with blocked FG, win <\/a><\/p>\n

Needless to say, once Marks got in the locker room, his phone was buzzing with congratulatory messages.<\/p>\n

“I got a lot of texts. It’s crazy,” Marks said with a smile. “It was exciting to get rolling on offense. Coming out and getting a dub, that’s what I was most excited about.”<\/p>\n

The praise wasn’t just on his phone as his coaches were just as meritorious.<\/p>\n

“He had a really outstanding game,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “For a rookie to step in and play the way that he played, proud of what he did. He sparked a lot of excitement for us offensively for our team.”<\/p>\n

The most promising set of plays were with 5:39 remaining in the fourth when the Texans faced a third-and-17 from the Titans’ 37-yard line. Quarterback C.J. Stroud<\/a> tossed a pass to Marks on a screen play and Marks weaved through defenders for a first down. The next play, Marks rushed through the defense before shaking cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis<\/a> en route to the end zone for a 18-yard touchdown to cap the 26-0 victory.<\/p>\n

Even though Marks is just starting to assert himself, Stroud knew the rookie was capable of making plays.<\/p>\n

“I was a really big fan of Woody in college when he was at USC,” Stroud said after the game. “Really elusive, really crafty. I thought he did a good job since those days in that Lincoln Riley offense. I thought today we used him in that light. Spread him out, gave him some familiarity running the ball and some plays he’s ran before.”<\/p>\n

The Texans have struggled to run the ball at times this season, averaging 103.5 yards and ranking 23rd in the NFL by Sunday’s end.<\/p>\n

Follow the NFL all season long<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\u2022 Full schedule \u00bb<\/a> | Standings \u00bb<\/a>
\u2022 Depth charts for every team \u00bb<\/a>
\u2022 Transactions \u00bb<\/a> | Injuries \u00bb<\/a>
\u2022 Football Power Index \u00bb<\/a>
More NFL coverage \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n

Against the Titans, however, the Texans rushed for 129 yards, their most this season, and Marks aided starting running back Nick Chubb<\/a>, who rushed for 47 yards on 13 carries.<\/p>\n

“Two different styles,” Ryans said. “I think Woody’s a shifty back, more speed. Getting on the edge just presents some different problems. Chubb just consistent power, pressing forward, making plays and making really tough, physical runs. So it’s two different guys, two different styles. I think they complement each other well.”<\/p>\n

Marks’ role has steadily increased, going from seven offensive snaps to open the season against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> to 41 in Week 4.<\/p>\n

With uncertainty around the return of Mixon, who started the season and remains on the non-football injury list, Marks has begun to seize his opportunity, and it will be hard to keep him off of the field if his production continues to blossom.<\/p>\n

Marks will have his opportunity in Week 5, with the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> up next on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS<\/a>). The Ravens are dealing with a rash of injuries<\/a> on defense, and ended Sunday ranked 27th (141.3 yards) against the rush, just 0.2 yards better than Titans.<\/p>\n

“It’s a lot of exciting plays,” Ryans said, “a lot of big plays for us that we’re excited to see how much more he can handle.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DJ Bien-AimeSep 30, 2025, 08:00 PM CloseDJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-179800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}