Pro Football Focus Grades The Texans In Their Victory Over The Saints

Watching the Houston Texans win their fourth game in a row was fun. Take a gander at how Pro Football Focus graded the efforts of various Texans in the win over the Saints. As always, you may find that you disagree with some or all of PFF'a assessment, but there may be a thing or three in here you forgot about or didn't focus on when you watched the game live. Enjoy.

Offense:

• Brian Hoyer (+0.8 overall) returned to action, completing 21-of-27 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception and an NFL rating of 107.6. When he wasn’t pressured, Hoyer was 17-for-20 for 136 yards with the two TDs and a PFF rating of +2.2.

• Ben Jones bounced back after a sub-par effort last week, leading the offense with a +2.9 overall rating, including a +2.4 run block rating.

• Both of Houston’s tight ends performed well as Ryan Griffin (+1.8 overall on 42 snaps) and C.J. Fiedorowicz (+1.6 overall on 45 snaps) ended with positive ratings.

• It was only the second time this season that DeAndre Hopkins posted a negative overall rating (-0.4). Hopkins hauled in 5-of-8 targets for only 36 yards including one dropped ball.

Defense:

• J.J. Watt continued his monster season with a +7.6 overall rating, including a +7.1 pass rush rating. He had two sacks, six QB hits, three hurries and three stops. It’s the second consecutive week Watt has posted an overall rating above +7.5.

• Johnathan Joseph (+3.6 overall) continued his strong play of late allowing four receptions for 24 yards, a long of 11 and one pass defended. It’s the third straight week he’s posted the best coverage rating on the Texans defense, and his third straight week posting an overall rating above +3.0.

• For only the first time since Week 3, Whitney Mercilus posted a negative rating with a -1.6 overall rating on his 45 snaps.

• After Week 12, the Texans now own PFF’s fifth-ranked defense with a cumulative rating of +82.8.

Special Teams:

• It was a fairly quiet day on special teams as Shane Lechler registered a +0.3 overall rating on punts, while Nick Novak registered a +0.5 overall rating on field goals and kickoffs.

Signature Stats:

• Brian Hoyer ranks 26th in the league on deep passing, hitting just 12-of-33 throws longer (36.4 percent accuracy) for 366 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. Hoyer also ranks as the 26th most accurate QB overall with an accuracy percentage of 71.5 for the season.

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