Houston Texans Schedule Reset: .500 within range
The Houston Texans haven’t gone from worst-to-first or anything under first-year head coach Bill O’Brien, but they’ve done very well for a clear rebuilding team that doesn’t have a legitimate franchise quarterback. They acquired Ryan Mallett from the New England Patriots for a mere conditional seventh-round pick at around the 53-man roster crunchdown time, and they are inserting him as a starter during the bye week. The bye will give the Texans time to rest and recover (Arian Foster could certainly use that after picking up another injury), and it also gives us some time to look at their schedule ahead.
Week 11 Cleveland Browns: Ryan Mallett’s first test will come against a team that would have traded for him if they didn’t fire GM Michael Lombardi, and he will definitely be in for a challenge. The Browns completely embarrassed Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football, and I was especially impressed by Buster Skrine‘s game ball-worthy performance on Bengals No. 2 wide receiver Mohamed Sanu. Skrine rose to the challenge and showed great resiliency by bouncing back after getting dominated by Mike Evans the previous week. Nearly perfect in coverage, Skrine picked off two passes and defended one more, as both he and Joe Haden crushed the competition. DeAndre Hopkins has been terrific this season, and his ability to do better than Sanu did against Skrine could be key.
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Week 12 Cincinnati Bengals: A week later, the Texans will face off against the team that the Bengals blew out, and a key will be putting consistent pressure on Dalton. The Bengals will be healthier by then with Giovani Bernard back in the fold, but they should really consider giving impressive LSU Tigers rookie Jeremy Hill more carries. This is a winnable game for the Texans, but it’s so hard to predict the future for this team with an uncertain commodity in Mallett at quarterback.
Week 13 Tennessee Titans: The Houston Texans already disposed of the Titans with relative ease earlier this season, and this is the kind of game they have to count on winning. I want to see how Kareem Jackson and the secondary do against rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger, because it’s all about showing that you can take advantage of the mistakes that will inevitably come. Arian Foster and Hopkins have been the team’s two most impressive skill position player this year, and I think they could both have big days against the Titans.
Week 14 Jacksonville Jaguars: The Texans are 4-5 at the bye week, and one reason why .500 is within reach for this team is the inter-division games remaining on their slate. Facing the Indianapolis Colts is never easy, but the other two teams in their division are two of the worst in the NFL. With two games against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Texans are essentially guaranteed a win and should be disappointed with themselves if they can’t come up with two. The Jaguars offensive line and secondary are great matchups for Mallett and Jadeveon Clowney, who are looking to show their stuff this season and are will be two players worth watching closely as the season wears on.
Week 15 Indianapolis Colts: Week 15 marks the third straight division rivalry game for the Texans, and it looks like they should win at least two games in their first five games following the bye. The Colts are their toughest opponents, though they did play them tough earlier this season. Andrew Luck is simply too good for the Texans to be able to upset the Colts, and Vontae Davis is capable of taking a receiver out of the game, even though Andre Johnson played reasonably well against the elite CB in their previous matchup this season.
Week 16 Baltimore Ravens: A final AFC North foe will meet the Texans, and the Baltimore Ravens are a pretty frustrating team as it stands right now. It’s hard to project where the Ravens will be at this point in the season, but it’s clear that Gary Kubiak and Co. won’t be an easy matchup. Joe Flacco and the Ravens passing attack are capable of producing big points, so it’s all about hoping that star players like J.J. Watt can dominate. Due to Jimmy Smith‘s season-ending injury, the Ravens secondary is no longer a strong point, though star CB Lardarius Webb should bounce back from his half-season slump by the team the Texans face their former head coach’s team.
Week 17 Jacksonville Jaguars: There’s no doubt that most teams would love to close out their season with a nice and easy game against the Jaguars, but the Texans have to on their guard, since division games can be a crapshoot. Although Blake Bortles makes plenty of poor decisions, he also has emerging talent around him, and Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson could form a dominant backfield punch by this time in the season. And with Cecil Shorts, Allen Robinson, and Allen Hurns at wide receiver, D.J. Swearinger, Kendrick Lewis, and the cornerbacks could have their hands full. That said, this is a game the Texans have to count on winning, especially with Foster, who will hopefully be able to stay healthy for the whole year, destroying defenses on the ground.
Honestly, the Houston Texans have a legit shot at pulling an 8-8 record, but I think they’ll finish at 7-9 with a win over the Tennessee Titans and either two wins against the Jacksonville Jaguars or a win against the Jags and a win against the Cincinnati Bengals or Baltimore Ravens. I think the Texans have at least as good of a chance at upsetting the Bengals or Ravens as they do of losing to the Jaguars or Titans.
It’s important to note that the Texans only quality win this season has been over the Buffalo Bills, as their victories over the Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins, and Tennessee Titans were very easy victories in the first-half of the year; those are all teams they should have beaten. Maybe I’m downplaying the Redskins a bit, but they looked completely inept in Week 1.
The Texans are trending upwards, and they have a number of very talented players on both sides of the ball. Watt, Foster, Johnson, and Hopkins are four of the best players in the league at their respective positions, and hopefully Clowney can earn the same kind of praise this season with a hot second-half here in 2014. But more importantly, the Texans need to find a franchise quarterback, and it will be interesting to see if Mallett can surprise some people and entrench himself as that guy. There are plenty of storylines to watch in Houston, and even if the Texans slump, they are still worth watching due to the six players mentioned in this paragraph.