One giant step for the Texans, with the promise of leaps ahead
C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins get Houston in the playoffs.
Nico Collins is different. C.J. Stroud is different. The Houston Texans needed different.
It’s a franchise that has had its moments, with JJ Watt and Andre Johnson among others, but it also has had four coaches in the past four years. The Texans thought they had their franchise quarterback, but DeShaun Watson had a problem with towels and masseuses. They had Jack Easterby, a power-hungry former chaplain who insinuated himself into the good graces of owner Bob McNair and sowed distrust throughout the organization. There was no more woebegone club in the NFL.
On Saturday night the Texans went on the road and won, 23-19, at Indianapolis. They are in the playoffs. If Tennessee beats Indianapolis Sunday, the Texans will win the AFC South and play a home playoff game next weekend. They have done this the only way they could, with a teardown that has only seven players still standing from the day Nick Cesario came from New England and took over the general manager’s job. Few teams have more to look forward to, as long as the Texans’ eyes don’t wander. If Saturday’s game proved anything, it was the inadvisbility of assumption.
It was tied 17-17 when Devin Singeltary broke the tie with a touchdown. Ka’imi Fairbarn came out to kick the extra point. He had not missed one all year. He missed this one. Now the Texans were only up by six and the Colts could ooze down the field and nail it down.
Indianapolis had a fourth-and-one. Gardner Minshaw looked left and saw Tyler Goodson, open, near the yellow line. But the throw was slightly behind Goodson, who more than slightly botched the catch. That was pretty much it.
These are billion-dollar franchises, with hundreds of players, scouts, executives, coaches, strength coaches, and support personnel. Every contingency is covered. Except when a kicker, for whom perfection is the only way to guarantee employment, misses a PAT or when a receiver can’t get himself turned around. Those who remember the Music City Miracle and the Kick Six will nod in recognition.
But the team that has Stroud and Collins will generally be ahead of the game. The Texans did not exactly ease their big toe into this game. They sent Collins deep and let Stroud hit him, for a 75-yard touchdown on Houston’s first play.
Stroud wound up with 20 completions in 26 attempts for 264 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s only a rookie, but it’s difficult to recall such a lascivious gunslinger who keeps the football away from the other team. Nobody who started 15 games, as Stroud did, had as few interceptions (five) and he also put up 23 touchdowns, as he also ranked fifth in passer rating.
Rookie quarterbacks have marked their territory before, primarily Brock Purdy last year with San Francisco. Few of them have lifted a franchise into presentability the way Stroud has. As Troy Aikman mentioned on the broadcast, he was a rookie quarterback with the Cowboys with a rookie head coach and a rookie play-caller.-, referring to Houston’s DeMeco Ryans and Bobby Slowik “And we won one game,” Aikman said.
Stroud was easily the best deep thrower in last year’s draft. The Carolina Panthers, picking right ahead of Houston, went with Bryce Young. It would be unwise to write him off, but Young clearly didn’t have the resources around him to survive.
The real noncomformist here is Collins, a third-round selection from Michigan in Cesario’s first draft in 2021. Collins is from Bimingham, Ala. True, Alabama was well-stocked with receivers when he came out, but Collins turned down the Crimson Tide and Georgia to go north.
At 6-foot-4, Collins caught 80 passes for 1,207 yards and eight touchdowns this season. Although he was knocked for a lack of “fast-twitch” abilities, he had 597 yards after his catches. Stroud also was favoring Tank Dell, a rookie who had 47 catches for 709 yards before he was hurt, and he didn’t have Noah Brown or Robert Woods against the Colts.
But Stroud’s connection with Collins is best illustrated by targeting. Stroud only threw to Collins 109 times to get those 80 catches. He completed all nine to Collins on Saturday, good for 195 yards.
The College Football Playoff championship will be settled in Houston Monday night. “But I didn’t beat Michigan when I was at Ohio State,” Stroud said of Collins, “and he never beat Ohio State when he was at Michigan. So we don’t talk about it very much.”
Sure. Something else has come up.