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

Pro Football Focus has their grades out for various Texans from yesterday's win over the Jaguars. As always, you may find that you disagree with their assessment, but PFF may also point out a thing or two you had not considered when you watched the game live. Enjoy.

Offense:

• Brian Hoyer returned to action and posted a +0.5 overall rating after completing 25-of-40 passes for 249 yards with one TD, one INT and two sacks.

• Alfred Blue has posted his two best grades of the season in the last two weeks, posting a +2.4 overall rating in Week 17. He rushed 21 times for 102 yards, including 55 yards after contact and forcing a season-best five missed tackles.

• Center Ben Jones really struggled in this one, posting his worst grade of the season with -5.3 overall grade, including a -1.3 pass blocking grade, -2.1 run blocking grade and a -1.9 penalty rating.

• Wide receiver Jaelen Strong has been coming on in recent weeks as his workload has steadily increased, including his three best grades since Week 15. Strong posted a +1.3 overall rating after hauling in 6-of-7 targets, second-most behind DeAndre Hopkins, for 56 yards with 40 yards after contact with a long of 20.

Ben Jones is obviously playing hurt, so take any criticism of him with a healthy dose of salt. It is, however, promising that Jaelen Strong is producing as he becomes a bigger part of the Texans' offense.

Defense:

• J.J. Watt was his dominant self yet again, leading the way with a +7.3 overall rating, including a +4.9 pass rush rating after amassing three sacks, two QB hits, four hurries, two batted passes and six stops.

• Whitney Mercilus has been a solid contributor all season, and posted a fifth-straight positive grade. He tied his season-high with a +5.4 overall rating, highlighted by a season-best +5.9 pass rush rating after racking up four sacks, three hurries and four stops.

• Cornerback Johnathan Joseph was solid yet again, not allowing a completion on three targets including two passes defended, leading to a secondary-best +1.8 overall rating.

• For the fourth straight week, Kareem Jackson posted a grade above +1.4 as he graded out with a +1.5 overall rating. He allowed three catches on three targets for 23 yards with a long of 11 to go along with one interception.

Tales of Johnathan Joseph's demise have been greatly exaggerated. And though I still occasionally get frustrated with Kareem Jackson in coverage, I find myself repeatedly impressed with his open-field tackling.

Special Teams:

• Shane Lechler posted a -2.2 overall grade on his punts after all four of his punts were returned and his net yardage on those punts was 35 yards.

While the coverage unit certainly misses Charles James II, Lechler just hasn't seemed to consistently get the distance and hang time throughout the year that we've gotten used to.

Signature Stats:

• Brian Hoyer finished 11th in the league with a PFF QB rating of 88.99, one spot ahead of Philip Rivers.

So Brian Hoyer is a better quarterback than Philip Rivers. The numbers say so, and you're not going to disagree with numbers, are you?

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