Houston Texans: Nick Martin continues to receive high marks

Houston Texans center Nick Martin received high marks in the team’s 13-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday. What went on? Let’s look.

The Houston Texans were able to nab their first win of the season in what would be deemed as one of the ugliest ones I’ve seen in quite some time. For an offense that has so many weapons and with another layer creativity being added with Tim Kelly as the offensive coordinator, the offense looked quite stagnant for most of the game.

I would love to see a game where the Houston Texans would run up the scoreboard and just stick it to their opponent but that hasn’t happened since late October of last season when the team poached the Miami Dolphins 42-23.

But there were some exciting moments within the game, especially with Whitney Mercilus being able to dominate on the defensive end. He finished the game with two tackles, 2.0 sacks and two forced fumbles in the game.

It truly is a blessing to see him out on the field looking like his old self again and I certainly thought that the injuries and Father Time had caught up to him over the years. But it came to pass that with Jadeveon Clowney out of the picture, this gives him the opportunity to shine and live his best life out on the line.

But anyway, how well did the offensive line protect Deshaun Watson this past Sunday? He still was sacked quite a bit and he took four of them to his credit. It’s still an improvement over their matchup against the New Orleans Saints but that certainly means that Watson has already taken 10 sacks this season.

That’s about 16 percent of the 62 that he took last season so the rate at which he’s getting sacked is still alarming and the line has to step it up even more in order to keep our franchise quarterback to stay upright.

Who was the top performer in the pass blocking game though?

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According to Pro Football Focus, it’s none other than Nick Martin.

He led the line in pass blocking (78.4), offense (69.3) and run blocking (65.6) which these numbers exceed the rest of the line by far.

Martin was just signed to a three-year, $33 million contract extension last week — to which I still feel was way too preemptive — and it appears that he’s ready to start earning every cent of a deal that will kick in after this season.

It appears as if Martin may be turning the corner and the rapport between him and Watson is starting to develop into possibly something special. Who knows?

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We’ll see how this continues to pan out but it’s time for the Houston Texans to prepare for the matchup on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers. Let’s go!

For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, subscribe to PFF’s EDGE and ELITE subscriptions at ProFootballFocus.com.

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