Landry Locker grades the Texans' performance. Here are the grades for the win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Follow Landry on YouTube.
The Chargers are a terrible team. That’s no mystery. Whether the Texans are a good team is still a mystery, but the hope is still alive.
The overall feel of the team hasn’t changed much, but the Texans did what they needed to do in Los Angeles and have set themselves up with an opportunity to salvage the season.
Here are this week’s Land Lock grades.
Quarterback: A+
C.J. Stroud is having the best season of his career and completely changed the plans Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans had heading into the season.
The original plan with Stroud was less is more. Now the plan is more is more.
The attempt to build a strong running game didn’t happen. Fortunately for the hope of the season, Stroud has answered the challenges placed on him in the offseason. This should be a pass-heavy team every week.
Stroud was fantastic against the Chargers and continued to do what he has all season, tying a career high with five touchdown passes.
Running Backs: B-
Woody Marks made the most of what he had to work with, but the drop in the passing game stands out.
Emari Demarcado made his Texans debut and had a little juice. He also appeared on the opening drive of the game, which shows the coaching staff trusted him.
It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was serviceable.
Wide Receivers: A+
Tank Dell looked as explosive as he has since the end of the 2024 season and filled the void after the injury to Jaylin Noel.
Nico Collins had one of the top-five most impressive touchdowns in franchise history and made the most of his limited opportunities, catching all four of his targets.
Kayshon Boutte had the first two touchdowns of his Texans tenure and continued to make the spectacular catches look routine.
Xavier Hutchinson set the tone with the first touchdown of the game and continues to be a solid asset to the wide receiver room. He also added a spectacular third-down reception to extend a drive early in the game.
Marvin Harrison Jr. was there, too.
It was an elite day by the wide receivers, and they bullied a really bad Chargers team.
Tight Ends: B
The tight ends didn’t have a ton of opportunities, but that happens when the receivers do what they did.
Dalton Schultz had a third-down catch on the sideline to start the scoring drive at the end of the second quarter.
Cade Stover was inactive for rookie Marlin Klein, who didn’t record any statistics, but he drew a 15-yard penalty on a Chargers defender.
Nobody else recorded any statistics.
Offensive Line: Pass
The offensive line was fine and held up nicely, as well as you could expect.
Defensive Line: A+
Sheldon Rankins bullied the Chargers’ interior offensive line and should be in a California jail for what he did to Chargers guard Cole Strange.
Jadeveon Clowney has been as good as expected as the third defensive end on this team and continues to bring juice and make plays when he is in the game.
Will Anderson Jr. was Will Anderson Jr., aka elite.
Tommy Togiai also had one of his best performances of the season.
It was an all-around solid effort by the defensive line.
Linebackers and Safeties: B
Jalen Pitre brought the juice and appeared to know the Chargers’ plays before they even snapped the ball.
Calen Bullock has been so close so many times to intercepting the passes, but just isn’t piling up the interceptions as he has in the past. It feels like it’s only a matter of time.
There were a couple of lapses here and there, but it was a good effort overall.
Cornerbacks: A+
The Texans secondary avoided their biggest potential test when wide receiver Ladd McConkey was inactive after a back injury in warmups.
Honestly, I’ve lowered my standards for the Texans cornerbacks this season.
Last season there would be some things to nitpick about the two Pro Bowl corners, but this season neither one of the starters is playing at the same level, and this is one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL.
The corners once were graded like honor students. I now treat them like students in normal classes. Maybe that can change, but that’s where things currently sit.
Special Teams: B-
Ka’imi Fairbairn continued to do what he does, adding another 56-yarder to the 2026 body of work.
Kai Kroeger had his worst punt of the season and appears to be trending downward. This is something to watch as the season continues.
There were no major screw-ups in the return game, which is a good thing given how some weeks have gone this season.
Coaching: B
Ryans called the usual basic defense, and the emphasis on tackling appeared to work.
Nick Caley had a solid effort. You hope the extreme, unnecessary week-to-week adjustments don’t appear in Cleveland. He appears to like picking on inferior teams late in games. It feels like there’s more aggression late in games against bad teams.
It felt like there was an opportunity to get Stroud and a lot of the starters out of the game earlier, and like the Titans game, Stroud took some unnecessary hits late in a blowout, which could be a season-ending mistake.
