In week one of the 2017 NFL season, the Houston Texans battled the Jacksonville Jaguars. With emotions running high, J.J. Watt leads this passionate Houston team. So, how’d it all turn out? What happened with the Houston quarterbacks? What was the Bill O’Brien’s play-calling like? How was the J.J. Watt-Jadeveon Clowney pass rush combo? Here are the Houston Texans takeaways for week one of the 2017 NFL season.
Week One Houston Texans Takeaways
Quarterback Play
With such a porous performance from our offensive line it’s going to be hard judge our quarterbacks fairly. Tom Savage, the not-so-savvy veteran, seemed to process things slower than usual. For most of the time that he was in the game, Jacksonville defenders feasted on him. He was hit nearly every time the ball was snapped. It was because of such a lack of pass protection that Deshaun Watson was put into the game. Watson’s first drive resulted in a touchdown, but before scoring, the young signal-caller was bailed out twice due to penalties on Jacksonville.
Offensive Play Calling
This past off-season Houston let go of offensive coordinator George Godsey, leaving Head Coach Bill O’Brien to take the play-calling reigns. Now, not to be repetitive, but the biggest problem facing O’Brien wasn’t the Jags defense, it was his own offensive line. After the first half, it was clear that O’Brien expected much, much more out of the line. It was evident throughout the entire game, really. Not many plays were run that could’ve been looked at as “confidence boosters” for the o-line. For example, O’Brien could have tossed a few more screen passes into the mix to stifle the speedy Jacksonville front-seven.
Although the final score turned out to be 29-7, it wasn’t all bad. A few times when Watson was in he connected with DeAndre Hopkins for first-downs. Running back Lamar Miller had multiple good runs, most coming out of various shotgun formations. With Watson in, that was one thing that seemed to work very well, the run game between Miller and Watson. Watson would give the ball to Miller every time but he would ride the handoff almost like he was running the read-option like his old Clemson days.
J.J. And J.D.
Overall, it was a disappointing day from the entire defense. But with all the talk surrounding these two premier pass rushers you’d think they get at least one sack, right? Wrong, dead wrong. Credit where credit is due, Doug Marrone did a phenomenal job scheming his offensive line into good position all day.
Almost every pass was a quick pass and most every run went straight up the middle splitting Watt and Clowney even. Clowney lined up at outside linebacker for most of the game, and his lack of production from that spot makes you want to see him back at defensive end, where he played last year. Watt didn’t really seem to pop out like he usually does. There were no big hits in the backfield, no big shots on Bortles and for the most part, just low energy from the defense.
The Texans next game is against the Cincinnati Bengals and if they perform the same way they did against the Jags, Houston fans could be looking at 0-2 heading to Foxborough.
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