Battle Red Blog
Another week goes by in the NFL. With every passing week the picture becomes that much more clear. Of course, for your Houston Texans that picture doesn’t look all that good. The Texans come into their battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars with an 0-2 record. The list of teams that have gone from 0-2 to the playoffs is not unsubstantial. Heck, the Texans did it just two years ago in their first season under DeMeco Ryans. The list of teams advancing to the playoffs after starting 0-3 is considerably shorter.
Just as a reminder, we look at PFF scores for individual players and we look at the team rankings in various categories. Those two things give us some clues as to how each team will likely approach the game and it gives us some insight into how the game might go. Of course, individual people will take that information and use it for their own purposes. We at SBNation and BRB do not officially recommend any specific play, but we obviously have a relationship with FanDuel, so take that for what it’s worth.
Texans fans will notice a familiar name there in the top five. On balance, changing out C.J. Gardner-Johnson for Murray will probably end up working out in the Texans favor. Naturally, they thought they would also have Jimmie Ward on the roster. Had they known then what they know now they may have sprung for the extra dough to keep Murray in the fold. The NFL is interesting because some positions are more impactful than others. When your best players are not skill position guys, it can put some strain on your team. We have seen that happen with the Indianapolis Colts for years.
The Jaguars will continue to have a certain ceiling as long as they don’t get top end production from their quarterback, running backs, and wide receivers. As you will see, the backs have done well overall, but none of them have been brilliant on their own. Brian Thomas shows some promise, but none of their guys are elite at their position.
The Texans have similar issues. The main difference is that the strength of their defense comes in their main pass rushers. Eventually, that should lead to some big plays on defense, but we haven’t seen those yet. Seeing Ingram’s name here was a huge surprise and hopefully it is a harbinger of things to come. If the Texans can find just one more lineman outside of Ingram and Tytus Howard then maybe some good things will start to happen.
Still, the Texans have similar issues with their skill position players. None of them are really showing...
