The Land Lock Week 11 Grades for the Texans Win in Dallas
The Texans got back into the win column in an improved performance
Landry Locker will post his grades for the Texans after the game each week. Here are the grades for week 11. Follow Landry on YouTube.
Quarterback: C+
The level of expectation is high for C.J. Stroud. He knows it and embraces it.
Unfortunately, he must overcome the offensive line in front of him, but he can do so despite recent struggles. He missed Nico Collins on a fourth-down interception and wasn’t as accurate as you’d like him to be.
However, you can see the difference Collins will make and as he gets his snap count up it’s hard not to imagine Stroud’s best ball of the year not being ahead of him.
The only reason this is a C+ is because of the standard he has set.
Running Backs: A
Joe Mixon set the tone early not just with his production, but with his total disrespect of the Cowboys on his second touchdown in the first quarter.
Mixon could have had four touchdowns had he not dropped a Stroud pass on a slant in the red zone. However, I won’t hold it against him.
The guy is a tone-setter, alpha, complete football player, and the heartbeat of the team. He has been nothing short of a badass this season.
Wide Receivers: B
It was a solid performance by the receivers. If Laremy Tunsil hadn’t eliminated Collins’s long touchdown on the first play of the game then who knows how much things change.
Collins was on a snap count, Tank Dell made some big plays. They each had four receptions for 54 yards.
Metchie could be finally establishing himself as an intermediate receiving option, which this team desperately could use. Robert Woods also chipped in with a couple of catches.
Solid performance where the wideouts did what they needed to do.
Tight Ends: B
The tight ends caught seven of nine targets and did what they were asked to do. They aren’t asked to do a lot but did what they were asked to do.
Sidenote: There hasn’t been a single touchdown by a tight end 11 games into the season.
Offensive Line: Complete
The expectations for Stroud are high, but the expectations for the offensive line are low. If you listened to DeMeco Ryans and Stroud’s pressers you’d think the offensive line was phenomenal, they were far from that.
Before the game, ESPN analyst and future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce said Mixon was having a good year despite the offensive line, not because of them. The first half was a rough performance despite Mixon’s two touchdowns and Tytus Howard was fortunate that there weren’t calling holding when he was blocking Micah Parsons.
Laremy Tunsil immediately extended his league lead in penalties by negating a Collins touchdown on the first play of the game. Despite that, Ryans mentioned the play in his press conference to praise Collins as if the penalty never happened. Stroud praised the offensive line and said they were the reason this team wins games, calling them the heartbeat of the team.
It’s very clear this unit is graded on a curve, which I have no issue with because expecting too much is a lost cause, and focusing on how much is invested in them as a scale for expectations is unrealistic. This is why from now on I’m going to grade them on the completion scale rather than the letter scale. They completed the course.
The offensive line just cannot be a total disaster throughout the game and this team is talented enough to overcome it.
Defensive Line: A
No Will Anderson or Foley Fatukasi, no problem. The defensive line, regardless of who is or isn’t playing, produces.
Danielle Hunter had two of the defense’s five sacks in Anderson’s absence and Derek Barnett added an epic “F-U” touchdown, the first touchdown the Texans had scored in the second half of a game since week six vs New England.
Linebackers: B-
The linebackers were solid and any legit threat of them not being able to do what they wanted to do ended when Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson left the game with a concussion.
Although the Cowboys tight ends combined for 11 receptions for 109 yards it felt a lot more like the Cowboys taking what the defense wanted to give them than the backers getting torched in coverage. This may not always be the case, but that’s what it felt like Monday.
Henry To’o’To’o continues to look like a legitimate NFL linebacker, Devin White is way more than a tire kick, and outside of a penalty, Azeez Al-Shaair played well.
Defensive Backs: B-
Derek Stingley shadowed CeeDee Lamb for part of the game and performed like one of the best, most complete cornerbacks in the NFL. He had an interception and could have easily had another, maybe two. He is a bonafide stud.
There is a massive drop-off from Kamari Lassiter, who missed the game due to a concussion suffered last week. Jeff Okudah saw his first defensive snaps of the season and got torched by KaVontae Turpin for a 64-yard touchdown out of the slot. Ka’dar Hollman battled and had two passes deflected and the second-most tackles on the team with seven.
Jalen Pitre set the tone with his physicality and was the catalyst for Barnett’s touchdown. His new role in this defense has been some of DeMeco’s finest work and adds another element to a really, really good defense.
This has the potential to be one of the best secondaries in the NFL in the coming years when fully healthy, especially with the inevitable improvement of Calen Bullock, who is already a helluva player.
Special Teams: B+
The only poor play was Dameon Pierce’s muffed kick return.
Turpin’s only real impact was at receiver and he was kept in check in the return game.
The kicking game was solid. Tommy Townsend was good and extremely excited about it, Ka’imi Fairbairn didn’t miss a field goal.
A Dallas fake punt was sniffed out by Metchie, who got praise for the tackle.
After a somewhat shaky start, Frank Ross’s special teams have been very solid.
Coaching: A
The defense stays well-coached.
On offense, Bobby Slowik was solid and called two plays that should have been touchdowns that weren’t executed: Stroud’s fourth down misfire and Mixon’s drop. There was a stagnant stretch, but I don’t blame that on play calls.
Many people in the post-game stream were upset about the third and one throw, but at that point, it felt like the offense was just working on stuff. I was surprised by how aggressive they were late in the game with the big lead, but maybe they needed to finally score a second-half touchdown so guys like me would shut up about it and maybe they can get some momentum going.
It was a good night for all three coordinators.