Everyone knows of the Houston Texans’ three-headed receiver threat, but DeMeco Ryans also has been pleased with John Metchie III & others.
Everyone following the Houston Texans expects the offense to put up wizard-type numbers in 2024.
With a talented pass-catching trio, C.J. Stroud should set franchise records when throwing to Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and newly acquired Stefon Diggs.
But those aren’t the only weapons at Stroud’s disposal that could have dominant seasons. Head coach DeMeco Ryans knows what John Metchie III can bring to the table when healthy.
The same goes for Xavier Hutchinson and Jared Wayne.
“You talk about a guy that’s improved a lot throughout these OTAs and minicamp, Metchie has shown up,” Ryans said last week following practice. “He’s looking more explosive this second time around. Jared Wayne has been healthy, he’s been able to showcase [his] big catch radius. He can go up and catch the ball. A long guy who can run, [and] play physical.
“Hutch is flying around full-speed every single play, so I’m happy with what Hutch is doing as well. He’s improving his route running and his ability to attack edges and get open.”
The addition of Diggs might limit reps for others, but Ryans is looking for quality, not quantity. In some ways, the Texans have both at receiver a year after winning the AFC South.
Collins, who inked a three-year, $72.5 million extension last month, caught 80 passes for 1,297 yards as Stroud’s No. 1 weapon. Dell, the Texans’ third-round pick last season, notched 709 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games before suffering a season-ending leg injury in December.
Diggs, Houston’s prized offseason addition, has been one of the league’s most consistent playmakers. Since 2020, the four-time Pro Bolwer has finished with at least 1,100 yards and 103 catches per season.
But outside of the top three targets, Houston has depth.
Metchie, a 2022 second-round pick out of Alabama, caught 16 passes for 158 yards after missing his rookie season while battling acute promyelocytic leukemia.
Hutchinson, a former All-American receiver at Iowa State, totaled eight catches for 90 yards in 16 appearances.
Robert Woods and Noah Brown each started and impressed as No. 3 targets. And Steven Sims added value on special teams.
Nine Texans players caught at least 13 passes for over 100 yards en route to a postseason berth. Those numbers might expand with newcomers Joe Mixon and Cade Stover now on staff.
The Texans have ample receiver talent, meaning perhaps a player could be traded before Week 1’s matchup against Indianapolis. General manager Nick Caserio said during a recent interview that the team would, “probably have to move on from some players” before next season.
Could Metchie, Wayne and Hutchinson be safe after Ryans, praised their work ethic? A promising start in training camp could provide a better answer, but the other trio has caught the eye of the right person.
“We have a lot of guys who are working and they are gaining valuable experience from getting the reps that they’ve been getting,” Ryans said.
The Texans return to training camp at NRG Stadium on July 18.
Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud explained his process in the pocket during Super Bowl LVIII week in Las Vegas.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud has been on a bit of a press tour during the Super Bowl week. Despite Houston faltering in the divisional round, Stroud has leaned into the publicity that comes with being the league’s youngest upstart quarterback and the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
One of the best results of these interactions came on Friday morning when The Athletic’s Nate Tice released a video of him talking with Stroud and breaking down two specific plays on film from this past season.
What is it like to analyze NFL defenses in real time?
One breakdown was how Stroud worked his way to find wide receiver Nico Collins as the last read on a play against the Tennessee Titans. The second breakdown came against the Arizona Cardinals, where Stroud found tight end Dalton Schultz over the middle for a touchdown. Stroud displayed incredible recall in both videos and showed fans a glimpse of why he is so difficult to defend.
The video is a well-produced look into the mind of Stroud and the mechanics of Houston’s offense in a way that has not been shown this season. With just a little over six minutes of runtime on YouTube, it’s a must watch for any Texans fan.
The Houston Texans offense sputtered in the season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Where do they go from here?
After months of speculation, the NFL season kicked off on Thursday night with the Kansas City Chiefs raising a banner, or maybe a billboard, and then taking on the Houston Texans. Starved for football, NFL fans took to the public square that is Twitter and were quick to over-react to every single play.
Football was indeed back.
Early on, a take that many had was that Bill O’Brien fooled us all when he traded away DeAndre Hopkins and got running back David Johnson in return. Johnson was jump-cutting into the endzone, the Texans were on the board, and O’Brien was in the running for NFL Executive of the Year.
Then, the Texans ran out of their scripted plays, and the wheels came off. By the end of the night, social media had moved from praising O’Brien, to wondering how in the world he can fix this offense.
As with many situations, it begins with the guys up front. During his time in the league, protecting Deshaun Watson has been a struggle for the Houston offense. Pro Football Focus charted the quarterback with 227 pressured dropbacks last year – seventh in the league – and he was sacked 44 times, sixth-most in the NFL. Believe it or not, that was actually an improvement from his 2018 season, when he was pressured 281 times – most in the NFL – and sacked 61 times, again a league-high.
Watson was pressured often on Thursday night, getting sacked four times and hit seven. Even when he managed to get throws off, he seemed to be under duress more often than not. Now, pressure is often a function of the quarterback himself, either in terms of being slow with reads or failing to get the ball out on time, but then you see moments like this from right tackle Tytus Howard:
It also showed up when Watson was intercepted early in the fourth quarter, when Tyrann Mathieu was able to beat tight end Darren Fells and get to the quarterback, impacting the throw:
So protecting their quarterback is an issue, still. But another loomed large as the game wore on.
They miss Hopkins.
Sure, in time a receiver might emerge that can win in contested situations, and that Watson trusts enough to challenge coverage with downfield, but on Thursday night, that element of Houston’s offense was sorely missing.
That also meant that the Chiefs and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo were able to drop into some two-high coverage schemes, avoid having to bracket or even double a receiver, and force Watson to challenge windows of their choosing. Take this 3rd down play from late in the first half, with the Texans on the move. The Chiefs show pressure at the snap, even dropping Mathieu down in the box, but then drop him into a Cover 2 look. Watson tries to feather in the vertical route along the right sideline, but both the corner and Mathieu are able to constrict the window, and the pass falls incomplete:
Spagnuolo had Frank Clark cover the flat to the field from the opposite B gap on that last 3rd. Mad man. pic.twitter.com/a9R9tpSwdr
Let’s revisit that earlier pressure on Watson from Clark. This comes on a 3rd and 7 in the second half. Again, you’ll see how the Chiefs are able to play this with two high safeties, without the need to bracket or double any of the receivers:
Here is another example of this, from the first half. On this 3rd and 10 play, the Chiefs again can play with two deep safeties. Watson is pressured – a common occurrence on Thursday night – but even if he had time there was nowhere to go with the football. Routes were covered along with dedicated safety help to both sides of the field.
When they had Hopkins in the fold, there would be situations like this where the defense would be forced to put a second defender either in a bracket or a cone on Hopkins, or to outright double-team him. Now, without a threat like that, the Texans are going to face these types of coverages. Dedicated safety help on both sides of the field, with narrow throwing windows as a result.
When you combine that with the pressure the Chiefs were able to generate on Watson, that is a recipe for disaster.
Now, there are two fixes for this. First, they need to protect their quarterback. Last year, one way the Texans were able to do this was by going with empty formations, spreading out the defense, and giving Watson some quick reads and throws to get the ball out of his hand. Take this play against the Los Angeles Chargers from last season:
Los Angeles brings pressure here, sending five after Watson and using a mirrored tackle-end stunt. But the Texans still have five in to block, so the QB has time to get the ball out. He looks to the right, where a rub concept frees up Fells on a quick slant.
Here is a similar design against the Carolina Panthers. Houston goes empty again and puts Keke Coutee in a stack slot to the right behind Hopkins. Hopkins releases vertically, while Coutee runs a simple curl route. The vertical release – plus the attention paid to Hopkins – creates space for his teammate on the curl route:
See, however, how Hopkins draws the attention from three defenders initially, freeing up Coutee on the quick curl route. Without that element – a receiver that scares a defense – this might be tough to replicate.
This might not have made a huge difference on Thursday night, however:
Don't know what this number ended up at, but the crazy thing is, Watson wasn't even holding the ball long. 2.6-second average time to throw per NextGenStats. Would have ranked third fastest in 2019. https://t.co/rRPVsIR7d5
So even quick game concepts might have been an issue given how the offensive line played against the Chiefs. So there need to be other elements incorporated.
The other thing they might need to do is to go condensed and heavy. In years past the Houston offense has relied on the Yankee concept, a maximum-protection, two receiver design that pairs a deep post route with a crosser working just underneath it, usually off of play-action. That gives you extra blockers to protect your QB, and a chance to hit on some throws downfield:
While they might not have Hopkins to run this with, you can be effective on this design – while protecting your QB – with the receivers they have in the fold.
So sure, tonight was a rough night for the Houston offense. But Johnson made people believe in the trade for at least a drive or two early, and Watson is still an elite talent. With some tweaks to their offense, and perhaps relying on some of what they’ve run in the past, they can shore up protection and get rolling again.
However, I am contractually obligated to include one more image:
