The Land Lock Week Two Grades

The Texans carve out a win but how did they grade out?

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

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My biggest takeaway from the win over the Bears is that this was an ugly game and for the second consecutive week it feels like the Texans won, but didn’t play as well as they could.

Onto the grades.

Quarterback: A

C.J. Stroud made plays that only he could make. There was a Tank Dell drop that could have been the play of the game. The Texans couldn’t run the ball, the protection wasn’t consistent, but Stroud was able to make big plays to lead the team to a win. There will be better statistical production in games, but this was a gutsy effort that few quarterbacks in the world could pull off.

Running Back: D-

The running backs combined for 60 yards on 18 carries. There didn’t appear to be a lot of room to run and there were some bright spots, but a costly mistake outweighs any of that.

Mixon got hurt, but made an impact early with a third down catch and some flashes in the run game. However, when he left the game he was clearly missed.

Cam Akers had some flashes, but when you fumble inside the five-yard-line and kill an opportunity to pretty much end the game it’s as costly of a mistake as you can have.

It’s scary to imagine what the run game looks like if Mixon misses time.

Wide Receivers: B

Nico Collins was amazing for the second consecutive week and is wide receiver one two weeks into the season.

Tank Dell had a massive drop that could have been a huge play after Stroud extended a play.

Stefon Diggs was relatively quiet, but that was in large part because Collins was the guy and he wasn’t given a ton of opportunities.

Tight Ends: B

The tight ends did what they were asked to do.

Cade Stover had his first career reception on a fourth down. Dalton Schultz gutted it out on a hurt ankle and Brevin Jordan caught his one target.

These guys aren’t going to fill up the box score, but they do what they need to do. The tight ends caught five of their six targets and the only incompletion was a borderline impossible throw to Schultz on the sideline that was still close to being completed.

Offensive Line: D-

The Texans only ran the ball for 75 yards on 22 carries and had some costly penalties. It was a miracle Stroud was only sacked three times, or it could be just Stroud doing Stroud things.

There were costly penalties, a couple of which were bailed out by Stroud and Fairbairn.

This wasn’t a great performance by the offensive line, at all. Juice Scruggs was clearly missed.

Defensive Line: A

There was constant pressure and they punished Caleb Williams throughout the game. Williams actually showed a lot of toughness and elusiveness to not go down more often.

Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter had 1.5 sacks each. Mario Edwards had a sack for a second consecutive week and Derek Barnett had a sack as well.

The defensive line also held Chicago to 71 yards rushing and continues to dominate when it comes to stopping the run.

Linebackers: B-

Henry To’oTo’o had his best game as a pro with 13 tackles as he continues to step it up with Christian Harris injured.

Azeez Al-Shaair had 10 tackles of his own and was all over the place throughout the game. He was also extremely fortunate not to be ejected from the game after throwing a punch on the Chicago sidelines.

Each of the linebackers also recorded a sack.

However, an Al-Shaair ejection could have changed a lot and should have happened, but was a break the Texans will take. The grade should probably be higher, but given the potential consequences of the punch we will grade beyond the box score.

Defensive Backs: A

There was one costly penalty by Calen Bullock when he was trying to make a play on the ball at the end of the second quarter, which led to a Bears touchdown, but other than that the secondary was good.

Derek Stingley and Kamari Lassiter both had interceptions. This cornerback duo might end up being special.

Jalen Pitre was good around the line of scrimmage and he continues to play well in his new role.

Plus, they eliminated the big play problems. Caleb Williams and the pressure up front might have helped with that issue.

Special Teams: A

Tommy Townsend has had better days punting the football, but when your kicker becomes the first in NFL history to have five 50+ yard field games through two games and does it at halftime and then adds another in the second half you get an A.

Coaching: B

More times than not, 12 penalties for 115 yards is going to get you beat. Some people put penalties on coaches when they are grading performance and if it’s a trend and the team constantly shows a lack of discipline, I get it. I just don’t look at this performance that way and don’t think most of these penalties can be blamed on coaching.

Ryans’s trust in Fairbairn was rewarded and the aggressiveness at the end of the first half that resulted in a field goal was one of the differences in the game. His defense also appeared to be in the right position and eliminated the big play mistakes from last week.

Slowik called a good game considering running the football didn’t seem like a possibility, especially when Mixon left the game. He was specifically in his bag on the second drive on the completion to Stover on fourth down. He seems to dial up big plays after timeouts.

Matt Eberflus was also a total disaster for the Bears. He was AWFUL at a comical level, specifically with clock management. So it’s hard for the Texans staff to look too bad.

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