The Houston Texans are 1-0 as they defeat the Indianapolis Colts to begin the 2024 season! Huzzah! After the lackluster start last season, Houston made it a point to start hot and never look back. The Colts, by many, are also viewed as a young, promising team rising through the ranks of the AFC. So, this game had very early implications as to how the AFC South may wrap up. The implication so far is that the Texans are the class of the AFC South with tons of promising aspects. The score was 29-27 and did not express the entire story of the game. Here is the story of the game:
CJ Stroud Is Still Unbelievable
To nobody’s surprise, quarterback CJ Stroud was exceptional and was extremely efficient. Stroud went 24-32 for 234 yards and threw 2 touchdowns in the win. With a quarterback rating of 115.9, CJ played clean football and made a plethora of phenomenal throws. To help convey how clutch Stroud was yesterday, he went 9/9 on 3th and 4th downs for 85 yards along with his 2 touchdown passes.
So many great things can be said about CJ Stroud’s arm talent, but he wears his clutch jeans every game day and creates so many problems with his “It” factor. Stroud’s pass on 3rd and 11 to ice the game is the prime example of his effect. Nico Collins (whom recorded 6 receptions for 117 yards) had an unreal catch to convert the throw into a game sealing 1st down. If fWAR was a stat used in the NFL, Stroud would rank among the best.
The New Kids On The Block
The Houston Texans were among the most active teams this past offseason with many new acquisitions. Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon headlined the offensive overhaul and with good reason. Those two have had very good NFL careers up until this point and seem to keep producing at the same level.
Mixon was perhaps the player of the game for the Texans Week 1. He had 30 carries for 159 yards and averaged 5.3 yards a carry. This is SPECTACULAR considering the Houston Texans ranked 30th in rushing for the 2023 NFL season. Joe Mixon has a good chance to be the best Texans running back in almost a decade. Especially with the way the O-line was bullying Indy’s defense.
People love labeling Stefon Diggs a diva without actually knowing what he wants as a player. It’s clear that he wants a hard nose, alpha team culture and now he looks content. He recorded 6 receptions for 33 yards but caught 2 touchdowns to help decide the game. It was a great introduction to what Diggs can bring to this Texans offense. At the line, Diggs is an alpha and will run through anybody to get what he wants. Stefon is a dawg football player and CJ Stroud must be over the moon to have him at his disposal.
Defense Was Good Not Great
The Texans defense played a very interesting game this past Sunday. With dudes like Calen Bullock (1 int.) and Mario Edwards Jr (1 sack) making plays, there was some Week 1 jitters that occurred. The Indianapolis Colts had 3 huge offensive chunk plays that almost was the deciding factor for the final score. It’s certainly not good to give up big plays such as that, but the Texans have a good enough coaching staff to immediately limit those. Without the three big plays for Anthony Richardson, he was 6/16 with 41 passing yards and 1 interception. Quite the difference those big chunk plays made!
The defense will have to be better on the backend to limit big passing plays, but they were exceptional versus the run. Jonathan Taylor was limited to 16 carries for 48 yards. A night and day difference to how he has played the Texans in the past few seasons.
It’ll be a blast to watch the defense evolve and become better throughout the 2024 season and Week 1 was a good showing for the unit.
Onto The Chicago Bears
All in all, what a win for the Houston Texans to set the season tone early. Going on the road against a promising Colts team and to be as efficient as they were is a humongous sign. In the NFL, you won’t know what kind of team you have until November and it is still clearly early. But the Texans showed their early strengths and will look to build upon them together.
Next week, the Houston Texans host the Chicago Bears (1-0) for their first Sunday Night Football game since 2019. They will look to continue a great season start versus rookie Caleb Williams for a rocking NRG Stadium crowd.
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