This season is officially worse than last year. In a replay of last week, theHouston Texansgot a lead late in the fourth quarter and just needed a stop on defense to secure the win. But instead,Houston’s defense blew it and the Texans lost.
In some ways, this Week 4 loss mirrored the season opener. Houston put up enough points to win with 30 points. The defense was the Texans’ primary problem, allowing quarterback Dak Prescott to have 335 passing yards, over half of which were to receiver CeeDee Lamb, who had 17 receptions for 189 yards and the game-winning touchdown.
There is a lot to be disappointed about in this game as it is another game Houston should have won. All season long, it seems only one side of the ball has shown up to the game and
if they could just get both sides of the ball to play well at the same time, the Texans could actually be something. But with this loss, it seems nearly impossible to reach the playoffs.
Here are the studs and duds from Houston’s fourth loss of the season, including All-Pro Will Anderson Jr., who had another impressive game and running back David Montgomery, who continues to do a lot of nothing in the run game.
Stud: DE Will Anderson Jr
Even when the rest of the defense does not show up, Will Anderson does. He finished this game with five total tackles, including three solo tackles, half a sack, a tackle for loss and a blocked field goal.
There is not much more he could have done to get Houston this win, which has to make this fourth loss incredibly frustrating for him.
Dud: RB David Montgomery
At this point, Montgomery is a regular fixture in the dud section. He had 10 rushing attempts but only managed to have 24 rushing yards and his longest run was six yards. At least he had 19 receiving yards on the drive that gave Houston their lead with under three minutes left in the game.
Still, he is not what he used to be and cannot get anything going on the ground. It may be time for Montgomery to be put on the bench and turn to Woody Marks more.
Stud: WR Nico Collins
In this return from his hamstring injury, wide receiver Nico Collins had seven receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Besides his numbers, the offense just looked completely different with him on the field.
The 30 points Houston had in this game was the most they put up since the opener, which was the last game Collins played in. Houston really needed him back but they still need to figure out a way to win this season.
Dud: DC Matt Burke
Matt Burke has been calling defensive plays since midway through last season. While this is an injury-plagued defensive unit right now, there is still no excuse for what happened today given the talent they have on defense.
Allowing Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb to have one of the best games of his career is partially on the playcaller for not adjusting to make Lamb a non-factor, especially on that final drive. How this game ended with the defense blowing it again really stings, particularly after how good their defense was last season.
Stud: QB C.J. Stroud
No one can argue that this loss is on quarterback C.J. Stroud. He had another good game with a 67.7 percent completion percentage, 347 passing yards, two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 126.7. This team has a lot of problems, but Stroud is not one of them. He has not had any problems with turnovers since the opener and has done everything he can to put the Texans in a position to win.
Dud: Houston’s secondary
Playcalling was certainly part of the problem, but execution was also a huge issue as the Texans blew the 10-point lead they had going into halftime. CeeDee Lamb was not even the only Dallas receiver who had a good game. George Pickens also had a solid performance with two receptions for 75 yards, including a 53-yard reception to set up a Javontae Williams touchdown run in the third quarter.
This is not even the first time Houston’s secondary has struggled to contain a talented receiver. Something needs to change in this defense during the offseason.
Stud: LB Jake Hansen
With linebacker and leading tackler Azeez Al-Shaair out in this game due to injury, Jake Hansen stepped into that role. He finished the game with 12 total tackles, including seven solo tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. On a day when the defense was mostly disappointing, at least Hansen stepped up when his team needed him.
Dud: Houston’s red zone run defense
Williams did not have any rushing touchdowns in the first half, but he had three in the second. The entire defense collapsed in the second half with Williams running wild and finding the end zone. This is nothing like how the defense performed last season and is probably one of the most surprising defensive declines in a while in the NFL.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Studs and duds from Texans' 34-30 loss to Dallas Cowboys
