In Week 10, the Houston Texans became the rare NFL team that lost a game where they picked off the opposing quarterback five times. But how did that happen?
Sure, the Detroit Lions are a very good team and were favorites to leave Detroit with a win, but the Texans are a good team, too, and are expected to be equally relevant when the playoffs roll around.
One word: pressure.
Yes, Stround was down multiple offensive weapons, headlined by Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins, but their biggest issues came on the offensive line, with Stround under pressure for seemingly the entirety of the night, being sacked four times, and ultimately throwing two interceptions of his own. While Stround tried his best to work with what he had, completing 19 of his 33 passing attempts for 232 yards and a touchdown, he will still finish out the week with one of the lowest QBRs of any player in the NFL – though slightly better than Jared Goff's 29.1 – and now sits with a 6-4 record in a fortunately bad AFC South.
And the worst part? The Lions don't even have a particularly strong pass rush, not with Aidan Hutcheson on IR and Za'Darius Smith inactive following his midseason trade from the Cleveland Browns. What happens when the Texans have to play against a team like the Tennessee Titans in Week 12 with an elite interior rusher like Jonathan Simmons? Or in Week 13, when they go up against a Jacksonville Jaguars pass rush that includes multiple Pro Bowl-caliber talents like Travon Walker and Joshua Hines-Allan?
Needless to say, the Texans really should have addressed their offensive line while they had the chance, especially when there were a few decent enough options on the open market, from Daniel Brunskil on the Titans to Nate Davis, the former third-round pick out of Charlotte who was sitting out games for the Chicago Bears for a trade that unfortunately never came. Though far from a magic pill, having a pro like Davis on the field could have been incredibly valuable in Week 10 and for the foreseeable future.
1. Nate Davis seemed eager to move on from the Bears
Originally signing with the Bears after a solid rookie contract stretch with the Tennessee Titans, Davis joined the Bears on a three-year, $30 million contract with $19.25 million guaranteed. Playing exclusively at right guard both in Tennessee and in Chicago, Davis has started every game for the Bears until 2024, when he was moved to the bench in favor of Matt Pryor and Ryan Bates, who both joined the team in 2024.
Now granted, it's not like Davis was playing at an All-Pro level before he was sent to the bench, but when you consider Matt Eberflus had this to say about the Bears guard before the deadline, sticking around in Chicago felt rather unlikely by any realistic margin.
“Of course, during this time when you're leading up to the trade deadline, you're always going to have guys that are in conversation for those trade talks,” Eberflus told reporters via Shaw Local. “I'm not going to talk about particular players or players that we're looking at potentially, but that's always going to be the case. It's part of the business.”
Pretty clear-cut, right? And yet, here we are, in Week 10, and Davis was at home instead of helping the Bears on the field, being ruled out with a back injury, instead of helping the Bears score more than three points on their home turf against the darn New England Patriots, who are somehow now 3-7 on the season and 2-3 during the Drake Maye era.
Should Davis be on the field for the Texans in Week 10, helping them fight for another AFC South banner and a deep playoff run? That depends on multiple circumstances, many of which are unknown to fans, but if Davis was really motivated to leave the Windy City, he and his agent could have worked on an amended contract to get out of Dodge and on the way to greener pastures.
2. The Texans have had to shuffle their offensive line in Week 10
The Texans are one of the few teams in the NFL with two offensive guards with the last name Green, but whether Bobby Slowik has called on Kenyon or Kendrick to step in at left guard, the results have been shockingly similar in the worst possible way, with neither player having an overall PFF grade higher than 40 on the year.
In Week 10, the Texans tried something different, moving their usual center, Juice Scruggs, to left guard – where he admittedly played as a rookie last season – and moving 2023 starter Jarrett Patterson back onto the field at his rookie position.
Did it work? Eh, it's hard to say, as their offense only averaged two yards per carry, running the ball 28 times for just 56 yards against the seventh-ranked rushing defense in the NFL, but Stroud certainly looked to be under pressure often compared to his efforts against the New York Jets the week prior, which is not good news for the future of the Texans, especially with no cavalry on the way.
Could a few weeks of continuity with Scruggs and Patterson at their new positions make things work? Potentially so, but if it doesn't work, there's little reason to believe the Texans will find Greener pastures on their bench unless they somehow strike gold on the waiver wire later in the year.
Follow Us
Subscribe
