The Land Lock Week Five Grades for the Texans Win Over the Bills

Plenty of high marks for a close win

Oct 07, 2024

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

This win was far from flawless, but it was much different than the three previous “flawed” wins. The previous wins were about winning games despite playing inconsistent football. This win was about a team finding a way to win a game, no matter what, against a good football team. This was a MASSIVE win, make no mistake about it. The players and head coach seemed to embrace the magnitude after the job was done.

Here are this week’s Land Lock grades.

Quarterback: B-

C.J. Stroud was really good at times, especially in the first half.

The offense fell off in the second half after the departure of Nico Collins. Stroud also had a couple of mistakes in the second half, including an interception and fumble. There was also an intentional grounding call that could’ve gone either way.

Stroud still has to function with virtually no run game, but is finding ways to win. He is graded on a different level and it’s scary (or awesome) to think about how great he can be when the offense starts gelling.

Running Backs: B

I grade these guys on a curve. The front office neglected running back depth this offseason. This offense is dependent on Joe Mixon when it comes to any hopes for a decent rushing attack.

Dare Ogunbowale had the first four touches to start the game and had 21 total. That’s as many as Cam Akers (11), Stefon Diggs (6) and Tank Dell (4) combined.

Ogunbowale made some big plays as a receiver but had just 30 yards on his 15 carries. He also had a big drop on the play before Stroud’s fumble on a play call that appeared to be a good one from Bobby Slowik. But, he might be the best you’ve got when Mixon is out, the coaches sure seem to believe it.

Akers appeared to have it going early in the game, rushing for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Texans the lead after another 10+ yard run. However, his usage was limited and he finished with just nine carries for 42 yards.

The backs totaled 72 yards on 24 carries.

Ogunbowale had six receptions for 57 yards. The Texans don’t win without those catches.

It wasn’t an amazing performance by the backs, but without Mixon what am I supposed to expect?

Wide Receivers: B

Collins left the game with an injury and was clearly missed, but before that had a 67-yard touchdown.

Diggs made some big plays against his former team and finished with six catches for 82 yards.

Dell didn’t have a breakout game by any stretch, but showed flashes, especially on a 19-yard reception courtesy of a Stroud dime.

Xavier Hutchinson contributed with two catches for 31 yards.

The receivers didn’t light up the stat sheet, but there were some big plays made and not a lot of negative things to point to.

Tight Ends: B

Dalton Schultz had a couple of massive receptions on third down from Stroud after being unable to connect on third down a couple of times in the first half.

Cade Stover had a quiet two catches for six yards.

The blocking appeared to be up and down.

They weren’t asked to do a lot, but Schultz had some massive plays in the second half.

Offensive Line: B

Stroud was only sacked once, there were fewer penalties, and rookie Blake Fisher did a good job in his first start filling in for Tytus Howard.

The run blocking wasn’t great, but there appears to be more opportunity in the ground game than the backs are producing, which could be the consequence of ignoring running back depth.

Buffalo wasn’t full-strength on the defensive, but the Texans started a rookie right tackle.

This was a good performance for this offensive line.

Defensive Line: B-

There were times when Bills running back James Cook looked unstoppable, but he finished with 82 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown.

Khalil Davis had the lone sack on the defensive line and Foley Fatukasi had a massive hit on a play that lost seven yards.

The theme of pressure without getting a sack continued. I keep saying eventually the guys on the edge will pile up sacks, but when is that going to happen? The addition of Denico Autry after week six could help that cause a lot.

Linebackers: B+

Azeez Al-Shaair was sick late in the week, but still played and played well at times minus a dropped interception on a Josh Allen gift.

Henry To’o’To’o was solid.

Most importantly, Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid only had two catches for 34 yards and wasn’t nearly as much of a factor as he could’ve been.

Defensive Backs: B

Josh Allen didn’t do much and only had nine completions.

Kamari Lassiter allowed a 49-yard touchdown to fellow rookie Keon Coleman. It wasn’t ideal, but was Coleman’s only catch.

Derek Stingley held his ground and tackled well. He was second on the team with seven tackles and had a couple of big hits. Lassiter also had a massive hit, which seems to be a weekly theme. This is an extremely physical corner duo.

Jimmie Ward got banged up a couple of times, which is also a weekly theme. Before his exit, he had an impressive tackle for a loss on a play he sniffed out on first down.

Jalen Pitre didn’t stick out in coverage and held his own, but was hit with a 15-yard penalty for a “hit” on Allen.

There was an easy touchdown Allen missed early, but he finished 9 for 30 for 131 yards and a lone touchdown.

Special Teams: B-

Ka’imi Fairbairn became the all-time leading scorer in franchise history and had a 59-yard field goal to win the game as time expired. Robert Woods was a clear upgrade over Steven Sims and looked good in the return game.

This should have been an A performance, but there are a couple of things that prevented that.

Punter Tommy Townsend sucked and has most of the season. He has been one of the worst punters in the NFL, which is surprising given his body of work and how awesome he looked in camp. Outside of the downed punt at the end of the fourth quarter, he was really, really bad.

For the third time this season, the Texans had a blunder inside their five-yard-line. There has been a blocked punt, a Sims muffed punt and this week Woods fielded a punt inside the five late before the Texans turned the ball over and allowed the Bills to tie the game.

I think things will get better for Townsend, but I didn’t anticipate them looking this bad in the first place. The desire to field punts inside the five is wild and astonishing that multiple guys have done it.

Special teams have been carried by Fairbairn at this point. If things don’t get cleaned up then it could end up costing the Texans a game, it’s a miracle this hasn’t happened this season.

Coaching: B-

There seems to be increased frustration with Bobby Slowik. The opening drive was awful and the draw on third down with eight yards to go generated boos. He recovered with two consecutive touchdown drives after.

The run game is non-existent without Mixon and the offense was lost without Collins. It will be extremely interesting to see how Slowik handles the offense if Collins doesn’t go this week in New England.

There was an inability to even get a game-winning field goal attempt off late in the fourth after a Stroud intentional grounding took the Texans out of field goal range. There was also a turnover on downs in the red zone on an Ogunbowale fourth-down run that came after a spot that could’ve been challenged.

Is the Slowik problem more of a personnel or schematic thing? Is it something that can be fixed? Is it overblown? There are a lot of questions and I don’t think Slowik has been phenomenal this season, but don’t think he has been as awful as many seem to think he has been.

The defensive gameplan was solid and when you hold Josh Allen to nine for 30 for 131 yards then you are doing something right.

Frank Ross has a problem with his special teams from a disciplinary standpoint and some questions need to be asked.

This team just keeps finding ways to win despite some clear mistakes.

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