Hope For The Future

Watching the Houston Texans play offense in 2017 was a bit of a roller coaster ride. You had the highs of the Deshaun Watson led offense eviscerating opposing defenses, which was great even when it didn’t necessarily result in a Texans victory. After those happy days came to a halt, you had the lows of a Tom Savage/TJ Yates led offensive “attack” that was bad enough to make some long for the days in which the Texans were paying a glorified windmill $21 million in his first season to start at quarterback. Outside of quarterback (and Will Fuller) though, there were a few positions with a great deal of consistency. Lamar Miller was consistently mediocre, the offensive line was consistently terrible, and DeAndre Hopkins was consistently great. But now that I’ve rambled enough, it’s time to get to the grades.

Quarterbacks: C

I actually had a fair bit of trouble deciding whether this position group as a whole deserved a C+ or a C-. Deshaun Watson was as good as Tom Savage and TJ Yates were bad. Deshaun Watson proactively avoided pass rushers in the pocket and used his eyes to manipulate defensive backs, while Savage/Yates often stared down their first reads prior to being decapitated by an edge rusher.

Deshaun Watson: A-

Deshaun Watson was spectacular, not even just for a rookie but in general. Watson was tied for the league lead with 19 TDs at the time of his injury, had a league leading 9.3 touchdown percentage, a passer rating of 103.0, and a league leading QBR of 81.5. On top of his beyond impressive personal statistics, as a team the Texans averaged 34.6 points per game with Watson under center. It’s hard to overstate just how important Deshaun Watson was to the Texans offense. When he got hurt the run game died, the downfield passing attack died, and every receiver not named Hopkins basically ceased to exist.

That’s not to say that Watson was perfect though. Watson was tied for the 3rd highest interception percentage in the NFL at 3.9%, behind only the historically bad DeShone Kizer and Trevor “Benched for Brock” Siemian. Watson had an unfortunate knack for throwing interceptions in college, and it’s a persistent flaw he will be looking to improve upon in his second year in the NFL.

Tom Savage: D-

Tom Savage is the Tom Brady of turning the ball over. When Savage was initially proving to be a turnover machine, it was infuriating . As he continued to get playing time and the strip sacks racked up, it stopped being annoying and just became hilarious. Savage was woefully inefficient, sporting a 32nd ranked (among passers with 200 or more attempts) 2.2 TD percentage and the 9th highest interception percentage in the NFL at 2.7 percent. So basically, on any given dropback there was a higher likelihood of Savage throwing an interception than a touchdown. That’s not even mentioning the aforementioned strip sacks, of which Savage had 8 and lost 7. Total, Savage turned the ball over 13 times in 7 games started, which comes out to 1.8 turnovers per start. For comparison’s sake, much maligned QB Brock Osweiler turned the ball over 17 times in 14 games which is 1.2 turnovers per game. The Texans as a team averaged 14.8 points per game with Savage as the starter, down 19.8 points from the 34.6 that they averaged with Watson in the lineup.

TJ Yates: D-

What is there really to say about a 3rd string quarterback who only appeared in 4 games and started 3? Yates was about as bad as one would expect a late season street free agent quarterback to be. He completed a dismal 48% of his passes and turned the ball over 4 times in 4 games. The only reason he doesn’t get an F is because I feel as if it’s unfair to judge a quarterback who is only with a team for a few weeks too harshly.

Running backs: C+

The Texans running back group is also a bit difficult to grade, because the offensive line struggles made it difficult for any of the running backs to be consistent (other than Lamar Miller).

Lamar Miller: C

Lamar Miller gets a C for consistency – consistently mediocre, that is. Lamar Miller wasn’t very impressive last season, and he was dreadfully ineffective this year. Part of that is on the offensive line not being good, and part of it is because Miller isn’t a good between the tackles runner, which is pivotal for a workhorse back. In 11 out of 16 games, Miller was responsible for more than 50 and less than 70 rushing yards. That is consistent mediocrity right there. Miller was held under 4 yards per carry in 10 out of 16 games and only produced 3 rushing touchdowns.

It wasn’t all bad for Miller though, as he had quality production in the passing game with 3 receiving touchdowns and was a reliable pass blocker. The aforementioned offensive line issues also make it hard for me to give Miller a less than average grade.

D’Onta Foreman: B

Football is a cruel sport. D’Onta Foreman was in the middle of the best game of his young career when he ruptured his Achilles tendon. The Texans finally had a running back who actually brought some form of dynamic running to their backfield for the first time since Arian Foster, and just like that it was gone on what seemed to be a relatively normal tackle. With only 78 carries on the season it’s no sure bet that Foreman would’ve produced over the course of a full season, but he was productive when he was playing, leading all Texans running backs at 4.2 yards per carry.

Alfred Blue: C

Alfred Blue looked slightly improved this year from past seasons. Against the Jaguars and Steelers, Blue ran the ball very well, but both games were ultimately blowout losses. In the one competitive game Blue got a significant number of carries in, he averaged 2.2 yards per carry. Blue was, as usual, a decent Special Teams player.

Tight Ends: C

Anyone else sensing a trend here? Yet another C for a position group that was hamstrung by injury. CJ Fiedorowicz and Ryan Griffin missing most of the season gave way for Stephen Anderson to take a majority of the snaps at Tight End. Anderson did an admirable job for an undersized former undrafted free agent, but ultimately wasn’t able to make much of a consistent impact on games.

Wide Receivers: B+

The Texans wide receiver group as a whole was a bit of a bright spot when they actually had a quarterback who didn’t just lock onto DeAndre Hopkins on every down. Will Fuller significantly reduced his drops, Bruce Ellington was a nice street free agent surprise, and DeAndre Hopkins was DeAndre Hopkins. Braxton Miller was mostly a disappointment again, and next season will likely be his last to prove that he belongs.

DeAndre Hopkins: A+

DeAndre Hopkins is incredible. After a down season with Brock Osweiler firing inaccurate ducks just out of Hopkins’ reach, he bounced back in a major way in 2017. Hopkins was virtually unstoppable this season, and he downright dominated in games against the Seahawks, Ravens, and 49ers. Hopkins improved his yards per reception from 12.2 in 2016 to 14.4 in 2017, his highest average since 2014 when the Texans still had Andre Johnson drawing attention from defensive backs. Hopkins also improved his catch percentage from 51% in 2016 to 55% in 2017. Another fun fact is how Hopkins actually only averaged 91.9 yards per game with Deshaun Watson compared to 93 yards per game with Yates/Savage. So even with cab drivers starting at quarterback this season, Hopkins was making opposing defensive backs look as hopeless as a raging bull in a heated contest with Breno Giacomini as the Matador.

Will Fuller V: B

Will Fuller V had about as unbalanced of a season as it gets. He started the year off with an injury, came back and torched defenses for a plethora of touchdowns with Deshaun Watson at QB, disappeared a few games when Watson went out, and then got hurt again. While Fuller was never really a volume receiver, he made it count when Watson would target him. In the 4 games Fuller and Watson played together Fuller caught 7 touchdown passes, among those were touchdown grabs of 49, 39, and 59 yards. After a rookie year in which watching Fuller catch the ball was a roller coaster ride in and of itself, Fuller actually improved his catch percentage to 56% after a rookie season in which he only caught 51% of his targets and was only credited with 2 drops after a season in which he was credited with 5. ‘

After Deshaun Watson got hurt though, Fuller fell completely off the map. A large reason for that was Tom Savage and TJ Yates’ tendencies to stare down DeAndre Hopkins.

Bruce Ellington: B

Bruce Ellington was a breath of fresh air at the slot position. After years of trying to get guys like Keshawn Martin, Damaris Johnson, Cecil Shorts, and rookie Braxton Miller to produce in the slot, the Texans finally found a guy who was giving them what they were looking for from the position. Ellington caught 330 yards and 2 TDs but was hurt for a majority of the season, which sadly has been a common theme throughout his career.

Offensive Line: F-

Instead of writing a bunch about how bad every position on the line was outside of Center, I’ll only spend as much time talking about them as they gave the quarterback to pass. The Texans line was a disaster. They gave up the second most sacks in the NFL.

Thoughts or criticisms on my grades? If so, please sound off in the comments section.

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