Houston Texans Final Score/Post-Game Recap: Texans 5, Cardinals 31

This was the one we had circled on our calendars. DeAndre Hopkins and J.J. Watt facing off against their former team. Two franchise giants, the greatest player in franchise history and a future Hall of Fame wide receiver who was turned into David Johnson, Brandin Cooks, and Ross Blacklock. One team is now 7-0. The other is 1-6.

Houston was trounced once again, and the Cardinals didn’t even run their entire offense, hampered by COVID-19 and playing down to their opponent some. They consistently ran the ball well, using Chase Edmonds and James Conner to pound the rock. They hit some quick sideline passes to pick up easy yards. The middle of the field is a bank that is always open against the Texans; a Zach Ertz touchdown broke the entire game open. Former Houston fan favorite DeAndre Hopkins managed one touchdown on a short pass, catching 7 total passes for 53 yards.

The Davis Mills offense was the same as last week. The training wheels were still on. It was screens and quick passes to nowhere. The new wrinkle was making David Johnson the focal point of the third down offense. Houston went 2-13 in such instances.
Houston ran 49 plays and only had 160 total yards of offense. The interior was leaky. Max Scharping was benched. J.J. Watt picked up one tackle, one tackle for a loss, and a quarterback hit, with Davis Mills throwing his way out of a sack.

Really, the only bright spot of Houston’s entire game was their pass rush. They managed to get some pressure on Kyler Murray, controlled the quarterback run game, and unleashed a couple of big hits. Jonathan Greenard has two sacks this season and has continued to be the best EDGE defender Houston has. Aside from that, it was terrible, atrocious, and wonderful for those of us who are Texans masochists.

This is what the Texans deserve. Stupidity has consequences. These are the moves Cal McNair paraded around as being “really exciting.” The only solace for Houston is this game was on the road instead of at home, so Cal was able to miss out on seeing the abyss first hand with his fanbase cheering on players who departed.

The Houston Texans host the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday at 12 p.m. in Houston, Texas.