Battle Red Blog
Some familiar issues come up for the Texans despite 23-20 win
Obviously, the end result to these games are the main story and should always be the main story. Yes, this game is yet another divisional win for the Texans. They are 3-0 in the division and have a key tiebreaker against the Colts. So, what follows might seem harsh. It’s also something I will address when we get to the good, bad, and ugly during the Value of Things segment. It deserves to be repeated.
There is a ton of investment that went into this season. The Texans traded big draft assets for for Stefon Diggs. They brought in Joe Mixon. They added Danielle Hunter and Azeez Al-Shaair on defense. You could definitely argue that all of those moves panned out so far. After all, the team is 6-2 and sits on top of the AFC South. You could argue that no one has any room to complain.
Yet, Kenyon Green is an awful left guard. Awful might be charitable at this point. DeMeco Ryans and Bobby Slowik even made the move to bench him in the first quarter, but replacement Jarrett Patterson almost immediately went down with an injury. Moreover, Green has been horrible all season. There are 78 guards that have qualified with enough plays to rank according to PFF. Green was 77th coming into today. Only Zak Zinter of the Browns is worse.
That was coming into today. It’s hard to see his 41.3 grade improving after the tape he put out there today. What is equally unfathomable is how this was the plan all along. I can see drafting a guy in the top twenty and planning on him being the guy. I get it. He had a 37.7 grade in 2022 before taking 2023 off to get in better shape. How was this the plan? How was this when you spent so much money upgrading every other area the plan?
I can see hoping that Green would be the guy as a part of a plan. Clearly, he can’t be moving forward. It would have killed you to bring in a veteran guard that could have competed for the job? Anyhow, enough of Green and let’s move to the more pleasurable parts of the game.
Jonathan Taylor had some good runs as he always does, but the Texans did enough to keep him from taking over the game. They put the game in Anthony Ricardson’s hands and that was just what the doctor ordered. Richardson may very well be a good NFL quarterback some day. He has a cannon for an arm and athleticism pouring out of every cell of his body. He just isn’t accurate enough yet.
The Texans offense didn’t run a clinic on Sunday, but how could you when you have a turnstile at left guard? Joe Mixon made some more plays on the run and as a receiver. Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell also had some big plays as well,...
