Pro Football Focus Grades Texans Through Seven Games

Your Houston Texans are 1-6. While mathematically the season is still very much alive, it’s hard not to believe 2020 is set to “worst season ever” mode. However, there are still bright spots a Texans fan can cling to week by week as we all await the new regime and the dawn of a new day. Pro Football Focus’s set of stats provides some of those glints of sunlight amidst dark clouds of abysmal player performances.

Deshaun Watson Leads Houston Texans’ ‘Best of the Best’ List.

• For instance, Deshaun Watson, savior of Houston football, currently ranks #5 out of 37 eligible quarterbacks with an 86.3 overall rating and an 83.8 passer score. Despite the incompetence roiling around him, Watson is still doing Watson things and willing wins on individual plays, if not games.
• Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil is up next with an overall rating of 85.9, carrying a lovely 92.6 pass blocking score, but suffering in the run game with only a 67.9 there.
• Roderick Johnson is the next highest rated offensive player with an 81.6 overall score, a 73.0 pass blocking stat, and 75.2 in the run game. Hopefully, Johnson keeps improving and further solidifies the Texans as a sixth offensive linemen.
• Will Fuller V and Brandin Cooks come in next with 78.0 and 77.4 ratings, respectively. The two speedsters have combined for 917 receiving yards, with Fuller hitting pay dirt five times so far this year.
• On the defensive side of the ball, there’s not as much to be happy about, with the highest score going to J.J. Watt, who has a 77.2 rating, 13th out of 110 eligible defensive ends.
• There’s a bit of a drop to 70.7 (tie P.J. Hall and Tyrell Adams), and then 70.3 (Jonathan Greenard) before the Houston defense drops below the 70.0 mark entirely.

Vernon Hargreaves III and A.J. Moore Vying For Texans’ “Worst of the Worst”

• Safety A.J. Moore (36.5) and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III (39.2) hold the not-so-wonderful distinction of scoring the lowest on the team. Hargreaves has done so poorly that he’s ranked 112th out of 118 eligible cornerbacks. As most teams only have two or three starting cornerbacks, falling below the 96th spot is borderline “not ready for prime time” play. Of course , Bill O’Brien was convinced Hargreaves was a great roster addition, so here we are.
• On the offensive side of the ball, DeAndre Carter is rolling with a 43.3 score, followed by Keke Coutee, whose rating is at 45.2. Those two wide\outs have only combined for 21 snaps at that position, however, so take those ratings with a grain of salt.
• Two of the worst notable offensive players are running backs Duke Johnson Jr. (56.1) and David Johnson (56.8). Both were traded for by O’Brien on the strength of their pass-catching ability. Duke is putting up a receiving score of 45.7 right now and David is faring even worse with a 44.7 score.

To put that into perspective, DeAndre Hopkins, whom the Texans traded for David Johnson, is currently playing at a rating of 87.8, while Carlos Hyde is sitting at 62.8, with a 67.9 receiving score.

• On special teams, high-priced place kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn is hitting a 60.0 rating on field goals and PATs. with a less than desirable 57.3 on kickoffs. Punter Brian Anger, on the other hand, is putting up a 76.8 performance.

With a bye this week and the Jacksonville Jaguars (the only team Houston has managed to beat so far) coming up on November 8th, Romeo Crennel, Tim Kelly, Anthony Weaver and Tracy Smith have a little bit of time to diagnose what’s going wrong (besides letting Hargreaves and Moore on the field during an actual game). Hopefully they can give fans something to cheer for.

Well, Houston fans that is. Miami Dolphins fans are loving this.