Bijani: Texans keep Jaguars winless with late comeback
Being forced to punt five straight times in the second half and trailing the winless Jacksonville Jaguars, the Texans led by C.J. Stroud, put together a game winning drive to keep the Jaguars exactly where they belong.
Winless.
Stroud completed his second career fourth-quarter comeback and fourth career game winning drive, engineering a nine-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Dare Ogunbowale in the end zone with 18 seconds remaining on the game clock.
It was a typical AFC South battle.
Hard fought, ugly, frustrating, head scratching and yet at times impressive (Thanks to C.J., Nico and Dare).
Below are some of observations that contributed to the Texans victory, for better or worse.
For the third consecutive week, the Texans committed double-digit penalties. With 12 more flags thrown their way Sunday, they are the leagues most penalized team with 40 infractions through week four.
"I'm a broken record every time I step up here, the Texans have to get out of the Texans' way for us to be a good team," DeMeco Ryans said after the game.
One of my favorite quotes from Ryans thus far is what he said after the Texans' embarrassing week three loss to the Vikings.
"It's very hard to win a game when you've got the Texans and the Vikings playing against the Texans," Ryans said.
That was damn near true on Sunday until Stroud and the offense came back to life in the final three minutes of the game.
Texans right tackle Tytus Howard said the penalties are the overwhelming thing holding this team back right now and will be addressed and "corrected" again on Monday.
Nico Collins posted a career-high 12 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown in the Texans 24-20 win.
Through four weeks, he leads the NFL in both receiving yards (489) and yards per game (122).
At least within offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik's offense, it's a fair question to ask through four weeks - can anybody guard this guy?
He's always open.
Collins' hot start is the best the franchise has seen from any receiver. Ever.
His 489 yards receiving are the most through four weeks in the 23-year history of the franchise.
C.J. Stroud put together his best game of the season on Sunday and for him and the offense to click, couldn't have come at a better time.
Stroud commented 27 of his 40 pass attempts for a season-high 345 yards, two touchdowns and a 110.9 passer rating.
Stroud and the Texans resilience to overcome 12 penalties (8 offensive penalties) that cost them 93 yards and put them in some impossible situations was…something.
Here's hoping the Texans have got all of that nonsense out of their system in September.
Despite shooting themselves in the foot multiple more times Sunday afternoon, they just simply persevered. Texans backup running back and special teams ace Dare Ogunbowale may have said it best.
While Collins is setting the box score on fire these days with monster numbers every weekend, one of the newest Texans, Stefon Diggs has fit in much better than most expected.
Diggs, scored the first rushing touchdown of his career on Sunday, finding his way into the end zone on a really well designed and beautifully executed trick play.
In the first half of the game, it seemed as though the Texans could get whatever they wanted in the pass game with Collins and Diggs.
They've combined to become the first receiver duo in franchise history to each record 25 receptions through the first four weeks of a season.
Between the two, they combined for six of the offenses nine explosive plays that went for at least 18 yards in the win.
Stroud is special and he's got a couple of really special guys to throw the ball to. It feels like the offense may have been galvanized a bit with the success they had in the pass game Sunday and coming from behind to win in the fashion they did.
I would imagine DeMeco Ryans will be showing that final Texans drive on a loop Monday to illustrate what this team is really capable of when they stay out of their own way with "bonehead" penalties.
The Texans were able to cleanup some of the pre-snap penalties that plagued them in their week three loss to the Vikings, however, the offense still looks a bit disjointed.
Eight of the Texans 12 penalties on Sunday were offensive penalties.
One of the more curious ones called for me was an illegal motion penalty by tight end Dalton Schultz in the fourth quarter.
I thought it was interesting because, Schultz committed a more egregious/obvious action earlier in the game that wasn't caught by the officials.
These types of pre-snap penalties (illegal-shift) are something the NFL is trying to crack down on and wanting officials to emphasize more this season.
The large amount early season penalties makes me think there's been a change in verbiage or a function in the way they communicate. I typically overthink things though, they may just be making "bonehead" decisions as DeMeco Ryans put it.
Let's just call it what it is, the Texans run game hasn't been good since week one.
Not having a healthy Joe Mixon doesn't help that situation, but there are clearly issues the offensive line has to address and drastically improve upon sooner than later.
However, both Dalton Schultz and rookie tight end Cade Stover have done some good things when asked to run block.
They both stood out multiple times to me the last couple of weeks, particularly on this Cam Akers run play on Sunday.
Akers took it 15 yards on the run, but it wouldn't have gone for a yard and a half if not for the great action by the offensive line selling the flow to the right for Akers to cut back left and for Schultz bench pressing the 6-foot-5, 265 pound defensive end DJ Coleman.
The Texans need more than willing blockers, they need consistent execution in the run game. I think those two dudes are doing their part.
