The Land Lock Week Six Grades for the Texans Win Over the Patriots
The Texans ended up blowing out the Patriots
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.
The Texans avoided a trap game and improved to 5-1 in New England in a game where there was a lot of good and a little bad.
What is most clear about this team up to this point is that when Joe Mixon is playing, this team is on another level.
On this team, Mixon is the second most important player on offense, maybe on the whole team. Is that even a hot take or understood at this point?
Here are this week’s Land Lock grades.
Quarterback: B
Without Nico Collins, CJ Stroud was 20-31 for 192 yards and threw three touchdowns to three different players. The one interception he threw was intended for Dalton Schultz in the end zone and costly, but felt like a ball that should’ve at the very least been an incompletion.
He was making throws that very few can make and while the yardage wasn’t massive, it didn’t need to be.
Running Backs: A
The backs had 25 carries for 185 yards. Yes, 113 of the 185 yards were on two long carries by Mixon and Dameon Pierce, but they were huge plays.
Mixon also had a receiving touchdown and appeared to add an element of toughness and confidence needed to keep New England in its place in a potential trap game.
Pierce found the end zone in his return to the active roster and maybe that gets him going as the second running option, which he appears to be.
Are all the problems in the run game solved? Heck no. But, this was an effort you’d take every Sunday, misleading production or not.
Wide Receivers: A
Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell were the only receivers with receptions, both scored touchdowns and did everything they were asked to do.
Diggs was a Patriots killer in Buffalo and that traveled to Houston. Dell made some big plays and appeared to be playing with a chip on his shoulder.
Xavier Hutchinson also appeared to do a good job blocking, which won’t appear in the box score, but I’m certain it is appreciated by the coaching staff.
Stroud has displayed chemistry with all three of his top receivers and if he can get it going with all of them with Collins comes back this is going to be an elite passing attack.
Tight Ends: C-
Schultz was unable to connect with Stroud on a couple of plays it felt like he could make, including an interception in the end zone and a third-down pass that fell to the ground. Cade Stover also had a pass hit the ground that he probably should’ve caught.
There will be weeks where the tight ends aren’t asked to do much in the passing game and opportunities will be limited.
This week they didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.
Offensive Line: B-
We’ve seen worse, but it felt like it could have been a lot better.
The run blocking wasn’t consistent, there were a couple of sacks allowed that looked familiar, but it was a decent effort by the most polarizing position group on this football team.
Defensive Line: A
The defensive line was amazing.
A lot of well-deserved attention will be paid to Will Anderson’s elite, three-sack performance, but the other guys were good, too.
Danielle Hunter had a strip sack and was getting held more than a newborn.
Foley Fatukasi got such a good jump on a couple of plays that CBS analyst Trent Green thought he was offsides.
Mario Edwards Jr. deserves the most flowers though. He had a fumble recovery and played with an edge. He deserves a ton of credit for holding it down during Denico Autry’s six-game suspension, which ended Sunday. Who knows what his role will be going forward, but he epitomized “Next Man Up” during that six-game stretch and is a big reason this team is 5-1.
Linebackers: A
An already thin position depth-wise got banged up even more but hung in there as much as you could/should expect.
Defensive Backs: C
Derek Stingley got burned for a touchdown.
Special Teams: C
Special teams weren’t awful, but they weren’t great.
It’s a miracle special teams haven’t cost this team a game this season.
Kick coverage was good, Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a rare attempt inside 50 yards but went back into form. Tommy Townsend was up and down.
In the return game, Steven Sims had a season-high 19-yard return, but not more outside of that. He’s kind of a stressful watch, honestly.
It was alright.
Coaching: A
The Texans were ready to go, played with a lot of energy, and eliminated any fears of a trap game.
The mistakes and early inability to extend the lead had more to do with personnel and execution than coaching.
There were missing pieces on both sides of the ball. DeMeco Ryans did a good job filling holes on a banged-up defense. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik got Dell involved in the absence of Collins and called a good first half where two drives didn’t result in points due to a missed field goal and a Stroud interception.
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