Grading the Texans After Their Win Over the Ravens on the Road

Landry Locker Grades the Texans After Their First Win in Baltimore

Landry Locker will post his grades for the Texans each week. Here are the grades for week five. Follow Landry on YouTube.

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The Texans put on an elite, historic performance Sunday in a place where they had never won a football game.

Were the Ravens depleted? Yes. However, even the experts in Las Vegas thought this was going to be a close game despite the Ravens being beat up.

The Texans did what good teams are supposed to do and couldn’t have found a better way to head into the bye week after a rough 0-3 start.

Are all problems solved? Probably not. The Texans will have to prove they can beat good teams when they return to the field, but 40+ point performances and 34-point victories should not be minimized.

Here and the Land Lock week five grades…

Quarterback: A+

C.J. Stroud made plays every way possible with his arm and legs while also looking much more comfortable when pressure was there.

He also continued to spread the ball to his skill position guys with two wide receivers scoring their first career touchdowns. The back shoulder throw to Xavier Hutchinson for his second touchdown was a thing of beauty.

Stroud was awesome and appeared to be enjoying himself while doing what he did.

Running Backs: B

The running backs did what they needed to do and had some strong runs, specifically at the end of the game when the Texans were looking to close things out.

Nick Chubb showed the most burst he has shown all year on his touchdown run. Woody Marks had a modest day, and I am sure there are some new Marks fantasy owners who didn’t love the statistical production, but he really didn’t need to do much.

There was also the much-anticipated addition of British Brooks into the offense as a fullback, moving the chains twice on two carries for 15 yards, another short-yardage wrinkle for Nick Caley. Brooks might be a better running option than Dameon Pierce at this point.

Wide Receivers: A

Hutchinson, one of the strongest performers during training camp, had his first and second career touchdowns.

Hutchinson’s college teammate and rookie Jaylin Noel added his first career touchdown, capped off with a Ray Lewis dance.

Nico Collins set the tone early and pretty much ended the game before halftime with a touchdown of his own.

Christian Kirk finally made some plays and got into the mix as well.

It was a solid effort by the wide receivers, with everyone contributing in some way.

Tight Ends: A

Dalton Schultz had five catches for 60 yards and is closer to what he was in 2023 than what he was last season.

Harrison Bryant had a touchdown taken away, but had a catch, and we even had a Brendan Bates cameo with two catches for 23 yards of his own.

You will take eight catches for 88 yards from this group every Sunday.

Offensive Line: B

It was a solid effort by the offensive line, which has clearly improved since last season.

We will see how they hold up once they play good teams after the bye, but they have been better each week.

Laken Tomlinson was benched for Juice Scruggs rather than being left in the lineup like Shaq Mason was last season, and the line has been better since.

Defensive Line: A

Derrick Henry had 15 carries for 33 yards, and Baltimore never really had a chance in the trenches.

This unit should get a boost with Denico Autry after the bye, and it will be interesting to see how he fits into the mix.

Even when/if healthy, it’s hard to imagine Foley Fatukasi fitting into the mix, especially with how well Tommy Tagiai has played after being inactive the first two weeks of the season.

Linebackers: B

The backers contributed in stopping the Baltimore run game.

Safeties: A

Jalen Pitre had arguably the best game of his career and, in my opinion, the best play of his career on the interception to start the third quarter.

M.J. Stewart has been better than C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and his one penalty at the end of the second quarter came after a solid hit on DeAndre Hopkins in which he forced Baltimore to kill their final timeout.

Cornerbacks: A

The best cornerback duo in the NFL has played well all season, with Kamari Lassiter finally getting his first interception of the season.

Derek Stingley Jr. has played banged-up, but still sets the tone for the secondary. The bye week comes at a perfect time for him and allows him to ice up for a Monday Night showdown against Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Special Teams: A

Ka’imi Fairbairn made both of his field goals, Tommy Townsend boomed his only punt, and there were no mistakes in the return game. The offense made it easy, and the special teams did what they needed to do.

Coaching: A

The offensive game plan was the best of the season and aggressive throughout. Matt Burke did another solid job calling the defense.

There were also a couple of solid decisions early, including the decision to make the Ravens re-punt after a penalty, which added significant yardage before a Texans scoring drive, and a perfect grasp of tempo before and after the two-minute warning in the first half.

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Landry and I were asked to be on KHOU to recap the Baltimore Ravens game. It is always fun to flex our TV muscles a little bit.