Texans must utilize their hurry-up offense against the Ravens

The Houston Texans face a tough task on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens. However, they can escape with a win if they run the no-huddle a bit.

The Houston Texans are preparing to face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Though not an easy task, there are methods to besting the 7-2 black birds in Baltimore.

According to Sharp Football Stats, the New England Patriots found a susceptible wrinkle in the Ravens defense in Week 9: the hurry-up offense.

In their Week 9 loss, New England found their most success running the no-huddle, tallying a 62% success rate with it (58% pass, 73% run) as compared to 46% success rate without it (45% pass, 50% run).

For Houston, the Patriots’ success in Week 9 is a green light to run the NFL’s best fast-paced offense.

No NFL team runs the no-huddle better than the Texans. Per Sharp Football, they boast a top-ranked 85% success rate when playing hurry-up offense. Their hurry-up success includes an 82% successful pass rate and 89% on run plays.

The Texans gain an average of 7.1 yards on pass attempts and 6.8 yards per rush while running the hurry-up. They possess a perfect success rate on both first- and third-quarter hurry-up offense utilization.

Logically, the Texans will attempt to go fast in the first- and third-quarter while closing out each half with lengthy drives. That’s the hope, at least.

Naturally, one would conclude the Texans would run more hurry-up offense on Sunday. However, in 2019, that has not been the case, as they are doing so at the 29th-highest rate in the NFL.

Nonetheless, on Sunday, the Texans should consider turning the page by letting the offense run quickly. Of course, they won’t do so on any drive — they can’t against a run heavy offense that thrives on controlling the clock. However, if stuck in a pickle, they know where to go.

If one were to bet on when the Texans hurry it up, it would be on their first drives of the first- and third-quarters, as previously stated. Not only do they thrive running the hurry-up in each respective quarter, it would allow them to punch Baltimore in the mouth, then control the clock in their ensuing possessions.

Houston running the hurry-up on Sunday won’t be an every-down, drive or quarter thing. However, it’s a potential favorable matchup for an offense that must keep-up with a high-powered opposing offense.

How much of a fit would Colin Kaepernick be for the Texans?

Free agent QB Colin Kaepernick is having a tryout open to all 32 NFL teams. How much of a fit would he be for the Houston Texans?

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is having a workout Saturday for all 32 NFL teams.

USA TODAY’s Nate Davis power ranked all 32 teams and their likelihood that they would be interested in Kaepernick. Davis has the Texans at No. 8.

Would you rather have Kaepernick and his skill set behind Deshaun Watson or roll with AJ McCarron? From an organizational standpoint, this would have been unthinkable a year ago, but the acquisition of [Kenny] Stills says a lot about the current top-down mind-set.

One advocate Kaepernick would have in the Texans locker room is All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who wore a Kaepernick jersey upon arriving to NRG Stadium for a Texans game on Dec. 2, 2018. Hopkins also said in a recent GQ interview that he was upset with the organization for not giving Kaepernick a workout when sensational rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson went down with a torn ACL on Nov. 2, 2017.

Coach Bill O’Brien wouldn’t get into whether or not the club was going to send a representative to Kaepernick’s workout in Atlanta.

“I’ll tell you right now, I’m very focused on Baltimore and I would never talk about anything that’s relating to scouting or personnel, anything like that,” O’Brien told reporters Wednesday. “So, I’ll just tell you, I’m very — like I said to you the other day, if you put the Baltimore film on, we’ve got a lot to work on. We have a challenging game, so we’re very focused on Baltimore.”

Kaepernick has not played a down of football since Jan. 1, 2017, when he started for the 49ers in a Week 17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium. Kaepernick completed 17-of-22 passing for 215 yards and a touchdown while taking five sacks. The loss sealed Kaepernick’s record as 1-10 for 2016 and left his career record at 28-30 and a career playoff record of 4-2.

4 Texans worthy of making the Pro Bowl

With the Pro-Bowl voting underway, here are four Houston Texans deserving of going to the All-Star Game in the winter, including Deshaun Watson.

Pro Bowl voting is live. In the thick of a tight AFC playoff race, the Houston Texans have their fair share of players worthy of heading to Orlando, Fla. on Jan. 26, 2020.

Four, in specific, stand-out as obvious Pro-Bowl selections. To get them there, Texans fans will be relied upon. They can do so by heading to NFL.com/ProBowlVote to cast their ballots. Voting ends on Dec. 12, it is free and encouraged that multiple ballots are sent in.

During the final two weeks of voting — Nov. 28 to Dec. 12 — fans will be able to vote for their favorite Texans on Twitter. They will be able to do so by tweeting the player’s first and last name, the player’s official handle or a hashtag including their first and last name. All three methods must include the #ProBowlVote hashtag.

When making voting, here are four Texans to keep in mind for Pro Bowl voting:

QB Deshaun Watson

Deshaun Watson is a full-fledged MVP candidate. His name on the Pro Bowl roster won’t be surprising come January. In fact, come game time in Orlando, Fla., the only thing that would be surprising is not seeing Watson suited up — unless he is in Miami.

Watson is drilling passes at a 70.2% clip, has a career-high 107.1 passer rating, has upped his passing touchdown rate from 5.1% to 6.0% (18) and lowered his interception rate from 1.8% to 1.7%. He has done so while throwing for 2,432 yards, rushing for 279 and tallying five touchdowns on the ground.

If stats don’t do the trick, take a gander at NFL Twitter on Sundays. Seemingly every week, Watson is producing highlight reels with his magical abilities. Combine that with a winning record (6-3), statistical improvement and a broad fan base and Watson is seemingly a lock to make the Pro-Bowl in back-to-back years.

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How many more games will Broncos win this season?

The Denver Broncos are sitting at 3-6 following their bye week. How many more games will they win?

The Denver Broncos are ready to return from their bye week and sit at 3-6 heading into the second half of their 2019 season. Fans are still riding high after a win over the Cleveland Browns, which featured a new quarterback in Brandon Allen.

Several questions remain for the rest of this season, including how many more games the team will win. But before we get into that part, let’s look at some of the other key questions.

How much longer should Allen hold onto the starting job? Much of that answer likely lies within what the team decides to do with Drew Lock. Will the second-round pick play at all this season?

Will the offensive line, specifically Garett Bolles, ever start to play at a consistent level, or will this unit again be one of the big question marks going into next season?

When are the quarterback and offensive line spots not going to be big question marks for this team? How many games can the team win with those question marks the rest of this season?

Going over the team’s remaining schedule, we attempt to answer that final question.

Week 11 at Minnesota Vikings

Despite the Broncos being well-rested coming off the bye week, they have to travel to Minnesota to face a surging Vikings team.

Minnesota has a stout rushing attack and a good defense. This looks and feels like an unlikely win for the Broncos.

Prediction: Vikings 24, Broncos 13

Record: 3-7

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Texans Wire discussion forum: Will Houston miss Jadeveon Clowney down the stretch?

The Houston Texans traded away Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks on Aug. 31. With J.J. Watt out, will that decision come back to hurt Houston?

Will the #Texans miss Jadeveon Clowney down the home stretch?

— The Texans Wire (@TheTexansWire) November 12, 2019

The Houston Texans traded Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks for draft picks and edge defenders Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo in return. Will this decision come back to hurt the Texans now that defensive end J.J. Watt is out for the season?

Houston didn’t miss neither Clowney nor Watt in Week 9’s 26-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium. The combination of quarterback Deshaun Watson’s play and the run defense shutting down Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette gave the Texans the ability to choke out Jacksonville and put the onus on rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew.

All of that is well and good, but Houston has Lamar Jackson, Jacoby Brissett, Tom Brady, and Ryan Tannehill left on the schedule. Who will get after these quarterbacks? Will Martin and Mingo help outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus and defensive tackle D.J. Reader?

Houston returns from their bye week Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET at M&T Bank Stadium to face the Ravens.

4 Texans who have to step up after the bye

With the bye week done, the Houston Texans will rely on a few players to get to the playoffs, including Gareon Conley and Charles Omenihu.

The bye week is behind the Houston Texans. With a week of rest in the books, Harris County’s finest now have their eyes set on the playoffs, and potentially more. However, getting there won’t be easy.

With the Texans’ defense a shell of what it used to be, Houston has reverted to becoming an offensive team. While Deshaun Watson and Co. can put up points in bunches, the defense must have some sort of reliability to backup the dynamic offense. Therefore, there are four Texans who have to step-up after the bye, with an emphasis on defense.

1. CB Gareon Conley

3-texans-must-step-up-place-j-j-watt — (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

With the offensive line no longer acting as Houston’s kryptonite, the cornerback room becomes a prime position group in-position. The Texans, before the trade deadline, addressed the issue by bringing in 24-year-old and former Raider Gareon Conley in via trade.

The Texans have seen better cornerback play in Conley in the mix. In his two weeks of defending opposers’ No. 1 wide-outs, he has allowed a 50% completion rate, 136 yards, a touchdown and a 93.7 passer rating, per Pro Football Reference — stark improvements from his days in Oakland.

Houston needs a true lock-down cornerback. That only gets emphasized considering their lack of pass-rush with J.J. Watt out for the year. Conley is their top-option to do so. Though they don’t need Darrelle Revis, he can’t be Kevin Johnson either.

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