The idea that the Texans were entering Thursday night’s tilt in the Meadowlands as two-point road underdogs to a then 2-6 New York Jets football team had people all across the country miffed.
The fact that the Jets (3-6) ended up covering the spread has got to have Texans fans at the very least, beside themselves.
Thursday night was one of the weirdest, wild and whacky games I’ve seen the Texans (6-3) involved in that made me say ‘WTF’ way too many times.
Below, are some of the plays that stood out to me that helped determine the unfortunate outcome:
Weird
Ka’imi Fairbairn, who had been absolutely nails on field goals from 50-plus yards this season, missed a 56-yard attempt late in the first half after having made 9 of his first 10 on the season.
He made one from 54-yards in the third quarter, but doubled one off of the left upright that would’ve pulled the Texans within one point inside seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
What really made this maddening was that Fairbairn had made a 43-yard field goal moments earlier but the play was nullified because a Jets defender obliterated long snapper Jon Weeks on the play, which gave the Texans a fresh set of downs and a first down at the Jets 12-yards line.
Oddly enough, most of the main figures in this game went down with injury at some point in time.
Kenyon Green had a good first couple of series, then the Jets and Quinnen Williams lowered the boom. Green ended up leaving the game due to injury early in the second quarter.
Will Anderson (ankle) left game late in the first quarter, returned later in the quarter and was used sparingly in the second half.
Stroud went down with injury before the end of the first half (kicked in shin?) but returned to take a knee before halftime which was maybe the most celebrated first half kneel down I can remember in Texans franchise history.
Davante Adams went down with possible concussion, returned and helped put game on ice.
Who didn’t think Aaron Rodgers was going to get up after his 13 yard scramble in the fourth quarter?
WILD
One of the best catches you’ll ever see occurred in this game.
Aaron Rodgers found Garrett Wilson in the back of the end zone with a 26 yard pass that wound up in the right hand of Wilson who, after review, was determined to have gotten his left shin down in the end zone before his knee landed out of bounds for the touchdown.
It’s been how long?
Coming into this game without Stefon Diggs, still down Nico Collins and an offensive line that continues to get overwhelmed in pass protection, I thought the Texans would lean heavily into the run game.
They did early.
Joe Mixon was terrific for the Texans, particularly in the first half. His 85 yards on 15 carries in the first half, helped the Texans eclipse 100 yards rushing in the first half of a game since 2019.
Mixon finished with 24 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown, becoming the fifth running back in NFL history to record 100 rushing yards and a touchdown in five of their first six games of a season, joining Jim Brown (1958), O.J. Simpson (1975), Emmitt Smith (1995) and DeMarco Murray (2014).
WTF
Bobby Slowik’s play call on the Texans fourth offensive possession of the second half.
WTF!!??
Just moments after flipping the field after Stroud hit Tank Dell for a 50 yard gain to give the Texans a first down on the Jets 24 yard line, Slowik took an unnecessary risk and wasted a valuable down.
He called a direct snap to Joe Mixon, who actually threw a decent ball to Stroud, who motioned out wide and ran a nice route to the end zone. Though it wasn’t called, Stroud was interfered with, but the pass ultimately fell incomplete.
Stroud was then sacked for a loss of 15 yards, stifling a drive that had started so promising.
A pivotal drive nonetheless. The Texans are down by four points, in the fourth quarter, on the road to a Jets team that is desperate for a win and Slowik pulls this out of his bag of tricks?
Unacceptable.
Tank Dell did his part
This made me say WTF, what about you?
Without Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs and the Stroud-Dell connection struggling to regain the stronghold it found last season, Dell delivering his best performance of the season was surely going to be conducive to a Texans victory Thursday night.
Dell finished the game with six receptions for a season-high 126 yards, but despite three of his catches coming on key third downs that went for first downs, the Texans turned those into just seven points.
Dell couldn’t have done much more to negate the many other things that went haywire for the Texans that contributed to another disappointing showing at MetLife Stadium for the second straight season.
O-line? More like Ole
These guys stink right now. I don’t know how it’s going to get any better either and apparently, neither do they.
It took an injury, again, for the Texans to make a switch at left guard. We’re all very familiar with the old saying about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Stroud was sacked a career high eight times in the 21-13 loss. The offensive line allowed 19 pressures on 45 drop backs, which is a 42 percent clip.
It’s not getting ridiculous, it IS ridiculous.
Stroud blaming himself is expected and honorable but it’s also largely inaccurate. He’s being a great teammate.
It would be nice if the offensive coordinator and offensive line reciprocated the good will of Stroud going forward by just a fraction.
Whacky
Rookies at any level can be dumb.
Early second quarter, Jets driving the ball down the field, in the midst of a six play, 68-yard drive, rookie wide receiver Malachi Corley dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line after an electric 19-yard run was about as dumb as you can get.
That cayenne-water concoction that Aaron Rodgers is on now, that he also thinks is some sort of fountain of youth elixir, must really help with patience as well.
If that was me, Corley wouldn’t have made it back to the bench with all of his teeth.
The Texans, who have turned opponents turnovers into points eight times in 12 opportunities this season, whether that be by forcing a fumble, interception or turning the ball over on downs, quickly went three-and-out after Corley’s blunder.