In a way the Houston Texans’ season, leading up to their contest on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, had been a long series of “What If’?”
What if executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby had been fired last January?
What if quarterback Deshaun Watson had doubled down on his commitment to Houston instead of demanding a trade?
What if the Texans had gone with a higher upside commodity than David Culley as coach?
Like the Marvel television series, there have been an absolute host of alternate scenarios for Texans’ fans to wonder during their atrocious season. The latest had been “What if Tyrod Taylor stayed healthy?”
Before his injury at Cleveland, the Texans had made easy work of the Jacksonville Jaguars and were tied with the Super Bowl-contending Cleveland Browns at halftime. Since then, Texans fans had seen six games of highly polarized play from rookie quarterback Davis Mills, far too anemic play to win at the NFL level.
If Sunday’s 17-9 loss at Miami was any indication, Taylor’s health may not have mattered at all. The Texans are a very, very bad football team. They mustered 272 total yards of offense and failed to score a single touchdown despite five takeaways.
In a game where the defense forced five different turnovers, the game felt like a huge wasted opportunity to build momentum within the building and steal a win from the Tua Tagovailoa-less Dolphins.
Taylor was atrocious, completing only 24 of 43 passes for 240 yards and three interceptions. He took three sacks during the contest and was constantly running for his life in what was one of the offensive line’s worst games of the season. It’s very possible that Taylor may still not feel like himself in an injury that has lingered far longer than anyone anticipated.
This included what was one of the worst interceptions in arguably franchise history and certainly Taylor’s career. If playing the veteran quarterback is supposed to provide advantages in decision making and overall team execution, he failed in that aspect today.
ahahaha pic.twitter.com/23Qg4f4ydw
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) November 7, 2021
The play-calling was uninspiring while Taylor himself frequently missed wide open targets and was forced to work overtime to avoid heavy pressure from the Dolphins. Bad footwork led to bad throws and bad throws led to bad outcomes. It was the worst we’ve seen #5 during his short Texans’ tenure.
It was disappointing to see a team that many had speculated may be competitive with a veteran quarterback, be truly exposed by a porous Miami team. NFL games are often decided at the margin, with turnovers playing a massive part in the outcome of close contests. Somehow, someway Culley and his staff, despite the return of their favored quarterback, were unable to capitalize on five different turnovers.
They’re simply not competitive at this point in time in comparison to the rest of the NFL landscape.
It was one of the Texans’ worst showings of the season overall and one is left to wonder what’s the point of these last 8 games for Houston. The team goes on bye next week before returning to play the New York Jets, a game they may no longer be favored in.
With Jacksonville turning the corner with a huge win over Buffalo and Trevor Lawrence improving every week, suddenly it may be fair to speculate if and when the Texans will win another game this season.
Buckle in, Houston, whether Taylor is available or it’s Mills under center, this team doesn’t project to be a fun one to watch any time soon. If Taylor continues to play like this, it’s quite likely the coaching staff will opt to see what Mills can offer the rest of the season before a pivotal 2022 off-season.
In the meantime, check out Matt Corral from Ole Miss in case you are a Houston sports fan who wants to feel some quarterback hope with the 2022 draft almost a lifetime away.