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One week after being universally panned as the worst team in the league, the Texans saw a sizable bump in most power rankings yesterday when the entire country realized that Houston was inexplicably tied for the division lead. If you had told me before this season started that the Texans would be two games below .500 and still be on track to make the playoffs because of Andrew Luck playing like the worst quarterback in the AFC South, I would have had you committed to a mental institution…and yet here we are.
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Website
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Rank
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Last Week
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Comments
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| SB Nation |
25
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29 (up 4)
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n/a
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| ESPN |
25
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29 (up 4)
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The 3-5 Texans are somehow tied for the AFC South lead. Brian Hoyer has thrown multiple touchdowns in a franchise-record five straight games.
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| NFL.com |
30
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32 (up 2)
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The Texans' defense played ball a week after getting pummeled in Miami. Coordinator Romeo Crennel has taken heat for the lack of fire in his unit. Well, Houston went nuts on Sunday, sacking Zach Mettenberger seven times, allowing one third-down conversion (in 12 tries) and holding the Titans to six points.
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| Bleacher Report |
29
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32 (up 3)
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The Texans beat Tennessee mostly through defense, with defensive ends J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus combining to sack Mettenberger six times. But DeAndre Hopkins still added eight more receptions to his season total, and he now sits third in that category among all pass-catchers with 66.
That is even more impressive when he's catching those balls from Brian Hoyer, who's merely a placeholder until the draft next spring.
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| Fox Sports |
27
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32 (up 5)
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The Texans finally saw a glimpse of what we expected from the defense all season long in Week 8, but they did it against a quarterback who had previously thrown for just 187 yards in Week 7.
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| USA Today |
29
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32 (up 3)
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Thoroughly unimpressive all season, they now own a share of first-place. Such is the state of the lowly AFC South.
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| Yahoo Sports |
25
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26 (up 1)
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Alfred Blue averaged 2.8 yards per carry on Sunday and Chris Polk averaged 2.2. The Titans are actually pretty good on defense, but it's still going to be quite a struggle for Houston without Arian Foster.
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| CBS Sports (Prisco) |
25
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28 (up 3)
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At 3-5, they are in the division race. Can you believe it?
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| Washington Post |
21
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27 (up 6)
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J.J. Watt’s exploits have not received quite as much attention this year. But he is having another excellent season. He is tied for the league lead with 8.5 sacks and he has 40 tackles, five passes defensed and a forced fumble.
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Average
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26.2
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29.6 (up 3.4)
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N/A
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From this point on, this season shall be known as "The Bizarro Year". Seriously.
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