The Houston Texans Week 12 game against the New York Jets was easily set up to be the worst game of the weekend and the two struggling franchises failed to live up to the hype. Coming into this Texans-Jets game, both teams were sitting in last place in their respective divisions at 2-8 (tied for last place in the AFC.)
Something had to give, however, as both teams can not lose the football game. There is always the possibility of a tie, but luckily we were spared our second tie of the 2021 season when the Jets beat the Texans 21-14. As always here are our three Jets takeaways from Sunday's debacle in Houston, one good, one bad, and one downright ugly.
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Houston Texans Week 12 Takeaways
3. Houston played decent in the secondary and even had an interception (good)
Even though they were playing against one of 2021's worst quarterbacks, Jets rookie Zach Wilson, you still have to give credit to a defense that forced an interception and managed five sacks. That type of production is what Houston has been lacking in the past, that is why it was a surprise that the veteran offense was struggling against a young and weak Jets defense. That brings us to our next takeaway.
2. The Offense is going nowhere (bad)
Brevin Jordan, Nico Collins, and maybe Brandin Cooks are the only skill players currently getting snaps who will be on the Texans roster this time next year. The team is in a rebuild and until they have amassed enough young talent for it to grow together, it seems that this coaching staff will be playing the aging veterans for a majority of the snaps during the rest of the season. The Texans simply cannot waste these games by giving touches to the likes of Rex Burkhead, Danny Amendola, David Johnson, and Chris Moore.
1. This coaching staff is far too “old-school” (ugly)
Earlier in the season, Texans head coach David Culley benched one of the Texans' best players, Zach Cunningham for one quarter for a series of lateness started to form a pattern. That worked and Cunningham has “rededicated” himself to the team according to both him and Culley. That same tactic may have backfired this week when Culley benched Justin Reid for a violation of team rules that ended up leading to this quote from the Texans best secondary player:
“I thought the meeting went amicably, and then I came to practice Friday and after practice was done he called me into his office and said he benched me for disciplinary reasons,” Reid said. “It is what it is. I'm shocked that it happened, and I'm just gonna root for the guys out there and just keep cheering my teammates on.”
That sure doesn't sound like a coach that is going to be around much longer. He can't communicate with his players to the point that they leave meetings with him feeling good when the meeting went bad. It just can't happen for an NFL head coach, especially when it is with your best defender– one who is about to reach free agency after the season.