The Texans are now in must-win territory after dropping several games they had a chance to win late in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Houston\u2019s defense might be the best in the entire league this year, but it doesn\u2019t matter if they can\u2019t score points on a consistent basis. The Texans\u2019 offensive line hasn\u2019t been able to perform against good defensive fronts, which puts quarterback C.J. Stroud in an extremely tough spot.<\/p>\n
Stroud has the potential to be an elite quarterback in this league, but it\u2019s hard to elevate your game when everything around you has regressed. Offensive coordinator Nick Caley has not been as advertised through the first half of the season, and he may not be in Houston much longer if these questionable play calls and roster decisions continue.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear the Texans have talent in the wide receiver room, but it feels like they\u2019re not being put in positions to succeed \u2014 even star wideout Nico Collins. Far too often, he\u2019s not involved the way he should be, and it\u2019s tough to watch.<\/p>\n
Houston made two major investments at receiver in the draft, selecting Iowa State teammates Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel. Both have flashed when given the opportunity, but neither has seen the field as much as they should. Instead of getting the rookies more involved, the Texans have leaned on veteran Christian Kirk, who\u2019s been banged up all season and hasn\u2019t produced at the level needed even when healthy.<\/p>\n
Despite the inconsistency on offense, the Texans have been in every game this season and should still be competitive on Sunday \u2014 even without C.J. Stroud, who suffered a concussion against the Broncos.<\/p>\n
Davis Mills will start at quarterback, and it\u2019s crucial to get him going early. Caley needs to dial up easy throws to build confidence and let him rip it when the opportunity is there. Mills made some impressive throws early against Denver but fell off in the second half \u2014 understandable against that kind of defense.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u2019s defense isn\u2019t as good as Denver\u2019s, but their front is strong, which will make things tough for Houston given all the injuries. Still, it\u2019s not impossible if the defense can create turnovers.<\/p>\n
This is one of those games where, no matter how ugly it looks, finding a way to beat a division rival \u2014 especially without your starting quarterback and several key players \u2014 would go a long way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texans are now in must-win territory after dropping several games they had a chance to win late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,25170],"class_list":["post-41428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-texans-discussion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}