Texans traded for<\/a> because they felt he could be the deep-play threat he was in New England. He had just one catch for 21 yards on two targets last week against the Bills, but Stroud seemed confident they could develop success in the future.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows how to get open,\u201d Stroud said of Boutte. \u201cI know we didn\u2019t connect on a couple of them, but we\u2019re still building that chemistry. He knows how to get open and play fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stroud\u2019s games without his top option have been a mixed bag since he entered the league. He\u2019s had both some of his worst performances and some of his best.<\/p>\n
Some of his best performances without Collins include his 2023 game against the Bengals, when he led the team on a game-winning field-goal drive. There was also last year\u2019s win over the 49ers, when he passed for 318 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
When Collins hasn\u2019t played, Stroud typically spreads the ball around more. In the win over the 49ers last season, Stroud completed passes to 10 different players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing about the offense is we have a lot of guys we have trust in,\u201d offensive coordinator Nick Caley said. \u201cWe go through our reads, and the ball finds the open guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
But some of Stroud\u2019s worst performances have come when Collins has been sidelined, including his four-interception showing in the playoff loss to the Patriots and his 86-yard passing performance in a loss to the Packers in 2024.<\/p>\n
He is 5-4 in nine starts without Collins in the lineup. Sunday\u2019s game will likely mark his 10th start without his star receiver.<\/p>\n
Collins\u2019 two best attributes are his ability to make contested catches and generate explosive plays. Stroud had a 125 passer rating when targeting him last week. That\u2019s something the Texans will miss. So what\u2019s the solution?<\/p>\n
The Texans will need to find ways to get Jaylin Noel and Boutte the ball more often. Noel didn\u2019t see much time on the field as a rookie. And he ran just 15 routes Sunday, compared with 37 for Collins.<\/p>\n
That could be, in part, because Collins is an every-down receiver who plays on the outside, while Noel mostly runs routes from the slot.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Noel had two catches for 53 yards and led all receivers in separation yards. He\u2019s good when he gets out in space and has a unique ability to make players miss.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were mixing groupings,\u201d Caley said when asked why Boutte and Noel didn\u2019t get more reps. \u201cI think some weeks you\u2019re going to see that, and some weeks I think the flow of the game will dictate some of those things. Whether there are more multiple-tight-end groupings, more 11 personnel with a bunch of different groupings that we can deploy to move those guys around, it switches their identity based on grouping.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing those guys have done. I\u2019ve been pleased with the progress of the entire unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
But getting those two players going doesn\u2019t have to be the only solution. The Texans can also lean on their running game, which was a major plus in their game against Buffalo. Running back David Montgomery<\/a> ran for 60 yards and three touchdowns, while Woody Marks added 42 yards. Those two running backs kept Stroud out of third-and-long situations, which helped him convert manageable third downs. The offense faced third-and-3 on seven of its 18 third downs. The Texans also converted 43.8% of their third downs.<\/p>\nThe Texans could also use bigger groupings, such as 12 personnel (two tight ends and two wide receivers) and 13 personnel (one wide receiver and three tight ends). The Texans ran 11 personnel (three receivers and one tight end) on 57.5% of their plays last week, while running both 12 and 13 personnel on 13.7% of their plays.<\/p>\n
Whatever the Texans choose to do, they have plenty of options and just a few days to get it right.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think having the mindset of being open-minded and being flexible is something that, as an entire staff, we all try to do, and we all support each other in that,\u201d Caley said. \u201cJust be ready to adjust when need be and try to put our guys in the best position possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Texans running back David Montgomery (32) runs past Buffalo Bills linebacker Dorian Williams (42) across the goal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-439364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439364","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=439364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}