The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of Week 1:
The Missed Turnovers: Last season, Houston ranked 3rd in forced turnovers. They left the game with zero. Yet, the stat sheet doesn’t always tell the tale. Houston missed at least three INTs and two fumble recoveries. Much has been said about Lassiter’s missed INT in the end zone.
Jalen Pitre also had a golden opportunity to shut down a Bills’ drive with a near goal-line pick on a play that followed a Lassiter DPI giving the Bills the ball at the HOU 1. On a second quarter drive, Stingley somehow missed on a “[KITTEN] it” throw from Josh Allen to Dalton Kincaid. Later that drive, if Blankenship was a quarter of a second earlier in his jump, Houston gets that INT. In the fourth quarter, after Houston had taken a 31-30 lead, on the first play of the drive, Allen fumbled the snap, but he managed to jump on it. Then there was the first play of the next drive after Houston went three-and-out (More later). Turnovers can be a fickle mistress from year to year. To start this season, she betrayed the Texans.
The Final Plays: For most of the game, the offense carried Houston. After a first drive fumble, Stroud regained his composure, and the offense line did their part to keep the game moving. Yet, on the second to last drive for the Texans, problems returned. While hindered by a curious (at best) play call for a second down toss sweep to the right, when the team had most of its success running to the offensive left, the line could not offer the push needed to get at least one 1st down. On the final drive, they got Houston to the BUF 9. However, G Ed Ingram got badly beaten, forcing a 9-yard sack. At 20 seconds, Houston was forced to either get to the end zone from the 18 or get out of bounds. The next pass was an incompletion, leaving Houston with maybe two more shots. Unfortunately, the right side of the line failed again, as T Trent Brown got beaten, allowing the strip-sack fumble of Stroud. While one could argue the final two sacks were not on him, Stroud can’t shake the turnover narrative. In the post-game comments, all the right things got said. Yet will the outside noise become reality for the line and Stroud?
The Critical Play: 4th Quarter, 3:13, BUF ball, 1st and 10 @ BUF 4; RB James Cook rushes for 12 yards to the BUF 16, Derek Stingley Forced Fumble, recovered by BUF at the BUF 19
This game did not lack for game-altering plays. Yet, this missed fumble recovery looms large. Consider the opening play of that final Bills’ drive. After Kroeger and the coverage units pinned the Bills at the 4, Buffalo went with a run play. Cook busted through the Texans defense to get out past the 16-yard line. Then comes Stingley, who knocks the ball out of Cook’s right arm with a well-timed punch. Should Houston recover there, they would have the ball inside the Bills’ 20. Worst case, the Bills use all of their TOs, Houston kicks the FG to go up 34-30, and the Bills, with only the possible 2-minute warning, have to go to the end zone with no timeouts. Possibly the Bills still get the TD, but the percentages would favor Houston a bit more, and perhaps with the momentum of forcing a turnover and punt in the previous two possessions, that might have been enough.
FUN WITH NUMBERS:
8/76: Average number of penalties/average penalty yards for Texans in season-openers under Ryans: The first game of the season tends to be a bit sloppy, and the refs got plenty of arm exercises in this one. 7 flags for a whooping 106 yards for the Texans, 10 penalties for 85 yards against the Bills. For Houston, 61 of those yards came on two back-breaking flags (46-yard DPI on Lassiter setting up a Bills TD and a 15-yard Roughing the Passer on Mario Edwards keeping another Bills drive alive). In the three season-opening losses, the Texans average 9 flags for 91 yards. At this point, it is a feature of the Ryans regime that flags will be an issue to start off the season.
GAME BALLS:
RB David Montgomery: 20 carries for 60 yards and 3 receptions for 19 yards might not seem like much, but throw in 2 rushing TDs, along with a receiving TD, and he showed that Houston might have the back they need. It also allowed Woody Marks to be that change-up back, a role that will suit him better (9 rushes for 42 yards). It wasn’t enough in this game, but especially later in the season, getting nearly 30 total rushes at nearly 4 yards a clip with the RBs will be a good thing.
P Kai Kroeger and the Houston Punt Coverage Units: Kroeger had 4 punts, averaging 52.0 yards/kick and landing two inside the 5. The coverage units limited the Bills to two returns for 10 total yards. Those two punts had the perfect height/spin to allow the coverage units to get down the field and pin the Bills deep in their territory. In theory, a great set up for that Texans’ defense. In reality…not so much.
TE Dalton Kincaid: Yes, an opposing player is on the list. Then again, he fried any Texans’ defender he came against, from All-Pro Stingley to Blakenship. Coming back after being injured the past two seasons, against what may still be among the best secondaries in the league, and leaving with 5 receptions for 130 yards, including two 35+ yard receptions…yeah, give him credit for that one.
SHOULD BE FORCED TO WRITE A DOCTORAL DISSERATION ON HOUSTON’S COVERAGE SCHEMES WHILE LISTENING TO MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, TED CRUZ AND CAL MCNAIR ATTEMPT TO SING OPERA-STYLE “THE EYES OF TEXAS”
S Reed Blankenship: That gamble on the INT backfired spectacularly, as DJ Moore got one of the easiest TD’s he’ll ever have. He didn’t exactly the best day in coverage against the Bills receivers, including getting torched by TE Dalton Kincaid on the final drive. His stats (7 total tackles (4 solo)) are the definition of empty. Arguably, the entire secondary could reside here, but Blankenship leads the pack.
DC Matt Burke: The Most Interesting Defensive Coordinator in the World…did not have a good game at all. Sure, Josh Allen can make many a good defense look mortal, but Burke did not seem to have the right answers for slowing down the Bills’ offense. Perhaps most damning, he did not think to have a spy on Allen on a play that resulted in a 21-yard TD run when no defender touched the QB known for rushing. The second half went a bit better, but even those adjustments weren’t enough. Burke usually calls great defense since he took over the defensive play-calling. Not this day.
NFL/TV Network Executives: The game of the weekend, and it was relegated to Sunday early afternoon? Sure, there are lots of factors to consider with primetime and marquee matchup times. It got national attention at its timeslot, but this seemed like a real marquee matchup, and one that did live up to the hype that a national/stand-alone game should promise.
The Ohio State 4th Quarter Game Plan: Think Houston had a bad 4th Quarter? They didn’t have the worst one in the state of Texas this past weekend. That distinction must go to the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Up 23-3 in the 4th, they proceeded to get out scored 21-0 to end the game. If you are a Longhorn fan (or really can’t stand Ohio State), congratulations, you may continue your crowing. If not, well, I don’t think the insufferability of the previously mentioned groups will go away anytime soon.
For the 3rd time in 4 seasons under DeMeco Ryans, the Texans start 0-1. Every time they started 0-1, they at least started 0-2. They will look to avoid that fate when they host the Cincinnati Bengals back at Reliant Stadium for 12:00 CDT kickoff.
