Texans Dominate Jags 27-7

Domination

There is no other way to describe the Texans win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.  The Texans dominated both sided of the ball.  The offense held the ball for an unbelievable 43+ minutes.  The defense only played 38 snaps.  

The offense pretty much imposed their will on the Jags defense.  Arian Foster and Ben Tate ran amok on the Jags defense.  Matt Schaub again was quietly efficient with no turnovers.  The Jags shutdown Andre Johnson but the Texans made them pay in other areas.

JJ Watt was JJ Swat again.  This time with two pass deflections, five tackles with two for losses and one and a half sacks.  This was enough to earn him AFC Defensive Player of the Week. 

The Sight Side (as opposed to the Blind Side)

Last week there was some concern for the right side of the line.  Two new starters were installed in RG Antoine Caldwell and 2nd year RT Derek Newton.  They did nothing to distinguish themselves last week.

Some fans worried that the better defense of the Jags would give the Texans a harder time than the Dolphins.  Nonsense.  They whole line stood up well against the Jags supposed quality defense.  The line allowed Foster, Tate and Justin Forsett thunder for 216 rushing yards.  

Rookie center Ben Jones made debut on the first touchdown series.  He played RG in place of Caldwell.  Gary Kubiak has gone to rotation at right guard for now.

I think Caldwell will lose the starting job and revert to back up sometime before midseason.  A few years back, Caldwell was penciled in as the starter in training camp.  As the season progressed, he rotated out with Mike Brisiel.  As things played out, Caldwell lost the job full time.  

I see the same scenario playing out this season.  Kubiak used the same strategy also during Duane Brown's rookie year.  He rotated every third series until Brown wrested the starting job away from Chester Pitts (if I recall correctly). 

Special Teams are Special

When I call special teams special, I don't mean it in a good way.

Trindon Holliday, Shane Graham and Donnie Jones played well enough on returns and kicking.  Holliday had a 36 yard return to give the Texans good field position.  Graham put both FG attempts through the uprights.  Jones flipped the field once or twice.

The blocking unit wiped out a couple of decent Holliday returns with penalties.  Last week I harped on Holliday to get his stuff together.  This week he held up his end of the bargain.  It was the blocking teams that let the team down.  They need to clean up those penalties that kill the return game.

The coverage unit also gives me pause.  Last week they gave up the TD to the Dolphins.  In the 3rd quarter, Jones punted away to the Jags 45 but it was returned to the Texans 37.  Two plays later, Blaine Gabbert found Maurice Jones-Drew for their lone touchdown of the game.

Special teams don't play as many plays as the other two units but they still have a tremendous impact on the outcome.  In a closer game, they make a big difference.

Final Thoughts

With a 27-7 win, it's hard to find fault.  The Texans, for one week, cleaned up the mess on the right side of the line.  The line overall improved.  Obviously, with Caldwell and Jones rotating, it remains a work in progress. 

Watt continues to play like the bad ass that he is.  Not only did he win AFC Defensive Player of the Week but his name has entered the Defensive MVP talk in some quarters.  With only two games played such talk is a stretch.  However, if he continues to play at such a high level for most the season then it possible.  Such numbers for a 3-4 end are unheard of.  I think teams will move more to double cover Watt but that does open doors for the linebackers.

For the record, in this game, Schaub, Foster and Johnson surpassed last years total plays on the field together.

Man of the Match

Ben Tate is man of the match this week.  Foster and Tate are probably the best one-two punch at running back.  The duo put up 244 total yard receiving and rushing.  They also accounted for the three TDs scored.

Tate though made the most of his opportunities.  He only touched the ball 16 times but accounted for 2 TDs, 23 receiving yards and 74 rushing yards.  Not know for his deft receiving, Tate turned a sure loss or stop on 3rd down into a positive gain for first down.  Tate definitely played a special game on Sunday....for that he is my man of the match.

Bring on the Broncos and Manning!