Detroit, MI: Thanksgiving is a holiday of acknowledging all the good fortune that the American people have received over the past year. Some are thankful for their good health, the clothes on their back, the food in their stomachs. Others are thankful to have a job or the opportunity to go for a grade-a education during a crazy year that featured a controversial national election, a global pandemic, and murder hornets (remember those?). Texans fans, however, are counting their lucky stars and giving thanks to the fact that they have a guy like DeShaun Watson quarterbacking their team, as Houston walked into Ford Field on Thanksgiving and absolutely embarrassed the Lions on “their day” with a 41-25 routing.  

 

Great win, but don’t get fooled, Texans Fans 

            This game against the Detroit Lions was supposed to be the offensive fireworks display many fans were expecting from the Houston Texans going into this season. DeShaun Watson, despite being the leader of this mediocre menagerie of misfits that is the Texans offense, has been a top-five, top-seven quarterback this season. He’s 6thin the league in passing yards, tied for 9thin passing touchdowns, and hasn’t thrown an interception in the last five games. And yet, the Texans offense ranks 17thin yards per game, 31thin rushing yards per game, and Watson often has to play against his own defense, which gives up 411 yards per game (31stin the league in that category) and 27 points per game. But somehow, it all came together for Houston on Thanksgiving. Watson again eclipsed 300 passing for the second week in a row, completed 68% of his passes, tossed four touchdowns, and finished with a near-perfect passer rating of 150.4. And on a day that he didn’t have either Kenny Stills or Randall Cobb, Watson might have found his No. 1 receiving target going forward, connecting with Will Fuller V on six catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns; a forty-yarder that came off the heels of a false start, and an impressive 34-yard flea-flicker that had Fuller skipping into the endzone. 

As for the defense, Detroit’s offense was in a giving mood, as they gave the ball away to Houston’s defense three times; two fumbles and a pick-six by the Texan’s future hall of fame defensive juggernaut JJ Watt. In reality, they should have had eight turnovers, but safety Justin Reid dropped what would have been Matthew Stafford’s second interception of the day in the fourth quarter, and they weren’t able to scoop up three of Detroit’s five fumbles of the day.  

But don’t be fooled Texans fans. Just because interim head coach Romeo Crennel has gone 4-3 since taking over for Bill O’Brien in week 5, it doesn’t mean he’s the answer at head coach for your team. The search starts now for someone that knows how to develop a unique talent in DeShaun Watson. Don’t make the same mistakes the Browns did in 2019.  

Sheila Ford, do the right thing 

            The fact that Matt Patricia is still the head coach of the Detroit Lions after his offense was held to just 185 yards of total offense & laid an egg against the Carolina Panthers last week, along with his defense giving up a horrendous 397 total yards and 28.7 points per game this season, is a crime against football humanity. The former Patriots defensive coordinator was brought to Michigan in hopes of revamping an aging Lions defense to help compliment a promising offense that was top 10 in passing categories, thanks to the efforts of their franchise stalwart in quarterback Matthew Stafford (28/42 [67% completion] for 295 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, and one fumble). But that hasn’t been the case. Patricia is reviled by Lions fans, current/former players, and the Detroit media. During his two years in the Motor City, Patricia has compiled a 13-29-1 coaching record. It took his predecessor, Jim Caldwell, four years to hit 28 losses with Detroit. Let that sink in. As for this game, the only positive takeaway for Detroit was that tight end TJ Hockenson had his best game of the season against Houston, racking up five catches for 89 yards, with 51 of those yards coming off this insane flea-flicker play. His best play of the day, though, came on Adrian Peterson’s (15/55/2) second touchdown of the day, where he won on a one-on-one block with Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus at the goal line.  

What’s next? 

            After enjoying a nice Thanksgiving meal to go along with their win, Houston heads back to NRG Stadium to host a No. 1 ranked Colts defense coming off a battle for the division lead in week 12 vs the Tennessee Titans. As for Detroit, if Patricia is still on this team by week 13, his squad travels southwest to Chicago to face a middling Bears team that would have played in a Sunday Night divisional showdown against the Green Bay Packers.

Writer

-By: Juan Guarin-Camargo

Outcome: Ravens 33 - Texans 16

Top Performers

Lamar Jackson: 18/24 for 204 yards, 1 TD; 16 carries for 54 yards

Ravens RBs: 21 carries for 176 yards and 1 TD

LJ Fort: 1 tackle, 1 fumble recovery, 1 TD

Deshaun Watson: 25/36 for 275 yards, 1 TD 1 int; 5 carries for 17 yards

Brandin Cooks: 5 catches for 95 yards

JJ Watt: 2 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL, 1 PD, 3 QB hits

The outcome of this game was as expected from most, the Ravens offense ran the ball well and the defense held a Texans offense from exploding. 

The Ravens started off slow this game getting only a field goal by the end of the first quarter, but from then on they controlled the game. They did it in all three phases of the game. The offense ran for over 200 yards yet again. The running backs in particular made the most of their carries to the tune of 176 yards and a score. Not only did they dominate, but they iced the game at the end by gashing the Texans defense in the fourth quarter where Lamar didn’t throw a single pass. The defense made life uncomfortable for Watson with four sacks and an interception. Watson and his receivers weren’t on the same page other than the newly acquired Cooks. Then in the special team department, Justin automatic Tucker continued to knock down the field goals as he hit four on the day with a long of 47 yards. This Ravens team looks as complete as any team starting off 2-0 this year. The real test for them will be next week in Baltimore when the Chiefs come to play on Monday Night football. 

The Texans are not the same team from last year. This offense hasn’t looked like itself since Hopkins left and it's notable how important he was for Watson. Without his security blanket and big-play threat, Watson has had to rely on his backs and tight ends more. The acquisition of David Johnson has been hot and cold the first two weeks but overall hasn’t paid dividends. While the wide receivers Cooks, Cobb, Stills, and Fuller need to perform better and give Watson more valuable threats all across the field. As for the defense, it needs work. JJ Watt is still producing as he always has with a pair of sacks and a pass deflection already. Yet, the overall tackling and coverage of this team need work as they have given up two back to back games of at least 30 plus points to opposing teams. With the offense playing as they have, there aren't many games you will win that way. Hopefully, this team can get back on track so with playoff and Superbowl aspirations this year. They will start with another big challenge in the Steelers.

Writer

-By: Darren Braxton

For the past couple of months, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the start of the football season a big question mark. On September 10th, we were able to start the season on time, with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs taking down the Houston Texans by a score of 34-20.

Kansas City Plays Balanced Football

For the entire game, the Kansas City Chiefs controlled the clock, holding the ball for 34 of the 60 game minutes while committing only one penalty. Early on, Houston had the momentum taking an early 7-0 lead before the defending champs took over the game, outscoring Houston 34-13 after the first quarter. For the winners, Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes managed the game well, while still throwing 3 touchdowns, going 24/32, equating to a 129.3 QBR. Sammy Watkins led the receiving attack with 7 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown. TE Travis Kelce and WR Tyreek Hill also both chipped in touchdowns.

The story of the Kansas City offense on opening night was not the passing attack, but the debut of RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who dominated in his first career game. The former LSU product carried the ball 25 times for 138 yards while scoring his first career touchdown. To add to the rushing attack, Darrel Williams chipped in 7 carries for 23 yards. The Chiefs ended the game with a pass: rush ratio of 32:34.

On the defensive side of the ball, Kansas City did a good job containing Deshaun Watson and the Texans, holding them to only 20 points. In his NFL debut, L’Jarius Sneed made three tackles and recorded his first career interception. Chris Jones led the way with 1.5 sacks, while Alex Okafor, Frank Clark, and Dorian O’Daniel chipped in a sack as well.

An Uneven Night for Houston

For most of the night, the Texans struggled to get any type of rhythm on the offensive side of the ball, scoring just 7 points before the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points in garbage time. Despite this, the Texans had a lot of positives to take from this game, especially from the running game. David Johnson, trying to regain his 2016 form, carried the ball 11 times for 77 yards, finding the endzone once. Johnson also caught three passes for 32 yards in the losing effort. On the receiving side, Will Fuller V led the receiving attack, catching 8 passes for 112 yards. Besides Fuller V, the Texans receivers were non-existent for the entire team. Brandin Cooks and Randall Cobb totaled just four catches for 43 yards on the night.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jacob Martin had the lone sack, while Zach Cunningham and Bradley Roby led the way with 6 tackles each. Benardrick Murray and John Reid both also chipped in 5 tackles.

Looking Forward

Going into Week 2, the Houston Texans will look to salvage their Week 1 loss against the Baltimore Ravens at home. As for the Chiefs, they will look to start the season 2-0 going on the road to Los Angeles to take on their division rival Chargers.

Stats from profootballreference.com

-By: Richie Dordas