Battle Red Blog
The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of Week 17:
The totality of Special Teams decides games, if not seasons: In match-ups between teams with similar strengths (strong defenses) and weaknesses (offensive line issues), how a team executes on special teams can be the difference between victory and defeat. In this one-score game, the superior play of Houston’s special teams proved that difference. Just look at the punting game. For the Texans, Tommy Townsend averaged 50.4 yards/kick, placing four of his punts inside the Chargers’ 20. Additionally, Houston limited LA’s punt returns to only 2 for 13 yards, neutralizing a dangerous player like Ladd McConkey. As for the Chargers, JK Scott only 39.0 yards per punt on 7 attempts. More importantly, Scott had two of his worst punts in the 2nd half. A 22-yarder in the 3rd Quarter and a 34-yarder in the 4th Quarter set Houston up with great field position, both leading to FGs, which were the only 2nd half points Houston scored and enabled Houston to maintain its wire-to-wire lead. Not all was perfect for Houston’s special teams, but they far-outplayed LA.
A much needed-bounce-back games for the Texans’ LBs: Most of the attention for Houston’s defense goes to the DL (especially the NFL’s version of Scylla and Charybdis, Hunter and Anderson) and its secondary (where Stingley, Lassiter, Bullock and Pitre run some of the best air-defense this side of a totalitarian capitol). However, on a day when Houston needed its defense to step up to counter a run-first squad, the LBs stepped up big-time. After allowing Ashton Jeanty to gash them for over 120 yards the last game, Houston held the Chargers to 74 yards on 22 carries, even factoring Justin Herbert’s team-leading 33 yards on 6 scrambles. You do that to a Greg Roman offense, you are likely gonna win. In particular, Al-Shaair proved how much Houston missed him defensively. He tormented Chargers’ backs and made life difficult for the Chargers’ TEs. To’oTo’o and Speed also did their part to limit the offensive options for the Chargers.
Yet, the defense does have a weakness, the scrambling QB: It is probably not a coincidence that the Chargers’ offense started to show signs of life when Herbert made some big plays with his legs. This was highlighted when Herbert unleashed a 28-yard run on a 3rd and 14. This put the Chargers deep into Houston territory, which in turn allowed them to score their first TD. For most of the game up to that point, Houston had limited Herbert’s scrambling. However, a guy like Herbert can go off at any moment, and such was the case in this game. Unfortunately, mobile QBs can and do give this defense fits (see Mayfield, Allen, Nix). Even as the defense can keep them mostly in check, a good QB scramble...
