Sunday, September 20, 2020

Houston Texans ready to show improvement

Story and photo by Lou Roesch
Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved

HOUSTON, TEXAS (September 20, 2020) It may not take much for the Houston Texans to show improvement following last week's season opening loss at Kansas City. Improvement comes in many forms and after six plus years of hearing general manager/head coach Bill O'Brien say we need to do better, it's time to see better.

What exactly is better for the Houston Texans? After all this is a team that averages nine wins a season so would we feel better with a 10 win team in 2020? This is a team that has won its fair share of AFC South titles, would another one make us think they are any better in 2020? This is a team that has stars at multiple positions and potential stars at others. Would one more star make us better or did trading away our star receiver make us better?


Better is a relative term and is of course in the eye of the beholder it is all about perspective. Come Sunday, the Texans will host a Baltimore Ravens team that has gotten better ever since Lamar Jackson lined up under center. Getting better doesn't necessarily mean more wins although that would be nice. Getting better on Sunday means your personnel show up in front of a nationally televised audience again and this time they play like they belong on national TV. Getting better means not coming out flat. Getting better means not sitting back after scoring the opening touchdown and thinking man we sure showed them. Getting better means manhandling the Baltimore offensive line and containing Lamar Jackson.


One aspect that will help the Houston Texans get better fast is to hand David Johnson the rock 25 times and let him prove he is still a stud runner. When your main man carries the ball for a 7 yard gain each time he touches it, the only thing you have to do is get better at handing him the ball. If Johnson runs for 100 plus yards and two scores on Sunday, the Texans will win, fans will feel better and no one will have to hear O'Brien say "we got outplayed, out coached, out executed, gotta do better."


If the offensive line is the unmovable wall on Sunday instead of the wall of play dough they were last Thursday in Kansas City, things will be better. Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson had all of 2.59 seconds to throw on average. Even another full second would be better. A more stout performance by the line, a steady diet of David Johnson and Watson plays lights out and all will be better in Texans world.


As long as JJ Watt is a member of the Houston defense, they can always become better. What does better look like. Better sees more JJ Watt through the middle and Jacob Martin playing more then 16 snaps a game. Better includes more tackles and less misses as in 20 at Kansas City. What if that had only been 10 missed tackles.


Getting better and winning at the game of football is about executing the fundamentals correctly. It's about coming out and playing a full four quarters of football. Houston has the talent to match up with the Baltimore Ravens. The question is whether or not they will play better as a team. If they do, a win is a possibility. If not, we will have the same old excuses regurgitated for yet another week.

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