Texans: J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney Receive High Accolades
The Houston Texans showed out this past Sunday.
There’s nothing really bad that I can critique about this team.
They played 60 minutes of mostly clean football to which I’m extremely proud of.
Sure, we can talk about when T.J. Yates fumbled in the 2nd quarter or question some of play-calling down the stretch but all-in-all it was a glorious game to watch and you should be proud as a fan.
After all this team has been through this season, they’ve elevated themselves back into the hunt and are tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC South lead with a 5-5 record.
Yep, we’re back at .500!
Who would’ve thought?
Most of us thought that it was another lost season as we were likely headed to get a high draft pick and wondering if we should draft a quarterback high in the off season.
For the record, I still think we should do that but at least as fans we know that this team is playing for something THIS year.
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It’s amazing how the “bye” week can change a team and obviously it was something the Texans needed.
It seemed they went back to basics such as simple, innate things such as tackling to ensure that concept is nailed down.
It’s showing as well.
This Texans’ defense has only allowed TWO touchdowns in the past 14 quarters which is quite impressive I may add.
Their momentum is certainly being lead and wielded by J.J. Watt — the greatest defensive player on this planet.
They have seemed to feed off his energy and it seems the sky is the limit for this unit.
As a matter of fact, Watt had the highest performance grade of any Texan because of his performance against the New York Jets.
Who ranked him?
None other than Pro Football Focus.
For this past game, PFF gave him a grade of (+9.8) for the five total pressures he had on the Jets which were two sacks and three hits. He also did quite solid against the run, posting a +5.9 grade against that.
It was his highest grade since Week 8 against the Tennessee Titans, where he had +13.9. This puts him at a +53.5 total grade on this season, which for all intents and purposes puts him right on track to win the Defensive Player of the Year possibly for a 2nd year in a row and being a third-time winner.
You know who else was on beast mode this past Sunday?
In his first game back since Week 8 with a myriad of ailments he had, Clowney received the 2nd-highest individual grade (+5.3).
He was used where he does the most of his damage, in the pass rush.
Along with Watt, he had five pressures — one sack and four hurries — along with two passes that were batted away.
Who were other top performers for the Texans?
Johnathan Joseph (+3.3), DeAndre Hopkins (+3.2) and Derek Newton (+2.9).
Excellent job gentlemen and I’m sure there’s more in store as the season progresses.
Overall, the Texans just need to continue to take it one game at a time and not sweat the small stuff.
Stay tuned, this could be just the beginning.
Go Texans.
Next: Texans Receiving Corps Earn High Marks