The Houston Texans And The Bye Week
The Houston Texans are headed into their bye week, which happens to fall on week 7 of their NFL season. The Texans are currently sitting at a 3-3 record with a home victory on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. The Texans played well against the Browns. The offense is still firing on most, if not all cylinders, scoring 33 points. The defense also had a great game, hopefully, a sign of things to come for that group who have suffered from injuries.
The Offense
Deshaun Watson had another good game, throwing for 225 yards, 3 touchdowns, with one interception (which was a pick six). Will Fuller caught a touchdown pass, which he has done 5 times since returning to game action in week 4. DeAndre Hopkins also caught a touchdown, a back of the end zone catch which seems to be Watson’s favorite spot to locate Hopkins. Even Braxton Miller scored yesterday, who hadn’t seen action since week 2. It was very encouraging to see and as he headed for the pylon from about the 3-yard line, he flipped into the end zone to guarantee the score. Bill O’Brien pulled him to the side after that touchdown flip, probably saying something to him along the lines of “don’t do that ever again.” So far so good for the Houston Texans offense.
The Defense
The Texans defense as a whole has been pretty banged up. They lost Whitney Mercilus and JJ Watt last week to season-ending injuries and since, have tried to fill those holes with free-agent signings. The Texans signed DL Lamarr Houston and DL Kendall Langford to help with the losses of Mercilus and Watt. The Texans also signed CB Marcus Williams to help with an ailing secondary. Williams played yesterday and had a game good enough for him to see another day and with this secondary, anything helps. Unfortunately for the defense, undrafted rookie ILB Dylan Cole went down apparently with a hamstring injury. Dylan Cole began to make serious strides with this defense, having two interceptions under his belt and really helping the inside linebackers look the best they have looked as a whole in years. Hopefully, the injury to Cole isn’t too serious and he will be able to come back sooner than later. If not, maybe the Texans look outside for some help, Navorro Bowman perhaps?
On To Seattle
The Texans are facing a bye week that was much need for recovery and to fix some issues that have been plaguing the team so far. The offense looks the best it has ever looked in franchise history, so that is a for sure plus. Going forward, Watson should continue to make strides along with the rest of the offense to ensure they suffer no setbacks when they come back in week 8 to face the Seattle Seahawks. Hopefully, the defense will replicate their play from the Browns game, into future games after the bye week. The success of the team is contingent upon the defense and how they make it work with what they have. I know they can do it because they did it last year. I am excited for what’s to come and hopefully they can leave Seattle with a win.