Houston Texans: Jordan Thomas is the solution to the red zone woes

The Houston Texans have struggled immensely in the red zone this season. However, Jordan Thomas is emerging at the perfect time to solve these issues.

What a season the Houston Texans have had so far. After crashing and burning out of the gate to a 0-3 start, the Texans have pulled off quite the season turnaround. They have now won five games in a row and have their sights firmly placed on the playoffs.

If they do indeed make the playoffs they’ll be in rare company. Including this year, 176 have started 0-3, going back to 1980, and if the Texans make the playoffs, they’ll be just the sixth team to accomplish this feat. If you’re interested, that’s only 3.5% of teams that start off 0-3 that make the playoffs.

Pulling that off would be quite the accomplishment and the Texans haven’t gotten to where they are now by accident. The team has improved mightily every week, on both sides of the ball, since the winning streak started. However, in order to solidify their spot in the playoffs, there are a few areas that still need to be worked on.

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One of those areas is their coverage on defense. Part of that could be the injuries that have really begun to pile and are continuing to pile up in the secondary. Kevin Johnson and Kayvon Webster on the IR, while Johnathan Joseph, Shareece Wright, and Aaron Colvin are all on the active roster still be, are out for a few weeks. This has forced the team to move the surging Kareem Jackson back to corner.

That problem has been sorting itself out in recent weeks though and as guys continue to get healthy it should be a spot that will be solidified the rest of the season. The Houston Texans obviously still have confidence in this unit as they opted to not upgrade it at the Trade Deadline.

Another key area of weakness that has plagued the Texans this season is their red zone offense. Currently, they sit in the bottom five in red zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns in only 45.5% of their trips to the red zone. What’s even more concerning is that total number for the season is after an RZE of 63.6% the past three weeks.

The fact that the team can be 5-3 and have an RZE that low is astounding. The next lowest team with a winning percentage above .500 is the Chargers at 15th overall with a 56% RZE. That is a very significant gap that the Texans need to work on covering if they’re going to keep up their winning ways.

Fortunately, the team seemed to figure some of that out in week eight against the Dolphins as they converted for a touchdown in every trip to the red zone. The Houston Texans deployed a new dynamic that really seemed to help figure out their issues in the final twenty yards, that new dynamic is freak rookie, Jordan Thomas.

The Texans selected Thomas in the sixth round of the 2018 draft, he was the second tight end the team selected as they also picked Jordan Akins in the third round. Akins has been deployed more as a blocker than a pass catcher this season while Thomas has played very sparingly. That being said, Thomas’ playing time has skyrocketed the past two weeks while being used more as a pass catcher.

Thomas is a massive target for Deshaun Watson in the red zone. He stands around 6’6″ and weighs about 280 pounds. He is one of the biggest, most physically imposing guys whenever he steps on the field but he gets even scarier when he starts running routes. He can run a 40-yard dash in the 4.6s and he can also run a shuttle in the 4.5s. He is an absolute freak on the field. Couple his immense size with a 30 inch vertical and he easily becomes an ideal red zone target.

The Houston Texans deployed him as that exactly in week eight against the Dolphins. Thomas is an insane mismatch in the red zone for the Texans as linebackers aren’t quick or agile enough to really stop him and safeties aren’t big enough to box him out.

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Remember Julius Thomas when he had Peyton Manning dropping in dimes in the red zone for the Broncos? That is Jordan’s ceiling in this offense and in the NFL. Jordan is even bigger than Julius and just as agile. This man can and will be a force in the red zone for years to come. It’s easy to see him become a double-digit touchdown guy later on in his career.

Bill O’Brien needs to continue to draw up routes for Thomas in the red zone and Watson needs to continue to look his way. Eventually, teams will scheme against him in the red zone but it’ll be hard to slow him down. And, anyway, once they do, other guys will begin to get more open as will the play action running game.

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The season, Jordan Thomas only has eight catches for 120 yards and touchdowns. However, those numbers should begin to climb as his role continues to increase for the Houston Texans.

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