There are more statistics surrounding pro football these days than bot accounts liking a pop star’s tweet.
However, for the Houston Texans, there is just one stat that matters as they embark on their 20th season in franchise history.
According to Doug Farrar of the Touchdown Wire, quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s 13 touchdown passes with the Buffalo Bills using play-action from 2015-17 are a reason to believe the Texans could get an early win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1.
Here’s the thing: Taylor has been a good quarterback at times throughout his career, especially when he played for the Bills from 2015 through 2017, made the Pro Bowl in 2015, and threw 51 touchdowns to just 16 interceptions in his only legitimate time as a starter. Last we heard from Taylor, he was unfortunately getting his lung punctured by a member of the Chargers’ medical staff while he was given a pain-killing shot, which led to the ascent of Justin Herbert.
Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly should give Taylor as much play-action as possible as long as he’s the starter, because personnel ain’t gonna do it. During his three seasons with the Bills, Taylor threw 13 touchdown passes and just two picks when using play-action, and in 2020, the Jaguars allowed 15 touchdowns against play-action — only the Titans and Cowboys were worse in that department. We can’t take the Texans seriously in any game at this point, but there’s one way to at least make this thing competitive.
Taylor told reporters on Aug. 31 that he is pleased with the execution from his teammates in the passing game.
“The guys are doing a great job of executing things coaches are putting us in position to do and things that they’ve been coached to do,” said Taylor. “I think that we’ve taken great strides in that area and we’re just going to keep progressing in it.”
Whether or not Kelly and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton take advantage of Taylor’s strength in play-action against Jacksonville’s weakness therein will be revealed Sunday, Sept. 12 at NRG Stadium.