The Texans heard all of the noise leading up to Saturday’s Wild Card showdown against the Los Angeles Chargers. This game was a roller coaster of emotions and a bottle of chaos for the majority of the game. It took a while for the Texans to get themselves going, but once they got rolling, it was pure elation for Houston, and nothing but nightmares for the LA Chargers. The dominating defense put their stamp on this game, to a tune of four sacks and four interceptions. Quite the flex, Rex.
Texans Secondary Gives Justin Herbert Fits
Credit: The Associated Press
The Texans secondary turned the Chargers over FOUR times in this game and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert faced pressure all day on route to a 32-12 Texans win at NRG Stadium. All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr picked off Herbert twice, proving that he belongs in the Top Cornerbacks in the NFL conversation. The Locksmith Kamari Lassiter got in on the action, as well as Eric Murray, who took his interception to the house. Injuries have had an impact on this Texans team the entire season, and even though this defense will be missing Jalen Pitre for the remainder of the season, the secondary was fantastic against a quarterback in Justin Herbert, who many of the national pundits have crowned as the next big star. Herbert faced pressure all day long from a front 7 that we haven’t seen play together all year due to injury. Christian Harris and Azeez- Al Shaiir played their first game together, and they looked fantastic. The Houston Texans have a Super Bowl caliber defense that will give them a fighting chance against whoever they play in the divisional round.
Offense Off To A Slow Start, Get On A Roll After Momentum Changing Play
Credit: The Associated Press
The Texans offense had the dreaded slow start to open up this Wild Card game and every Texans fan including myself were preparing for the worst. The Chargers were up 6-0 and the Texans offense had shown absolutely nothing to give us any type of confidence that they could make this a game. The Texans were backed up on their own 1 yard line. It was looking bleak. Then something absolutely terrible happened. A fumbled snap. Things were going haywire. Immediately after, something AMAZING and INCREDIBLE happened. CJ Stroud recovered the fumbled snap, rolled right and unleashed a prayer in the face of a few Charger defenders. A wide open Xavier Hutchinson made a huge play for a 34 yard gain. The CJ Stroud magic was back. The Texans would go on to punch it in the endzone on a Nico Collins reception for a touchdown. The offense started to move the football and make things happen after this amazing, incredible play. Joe Mixon ran hard and angry on route to a 106 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Kai’mi Fairbairn hit a few field goals to give us breathing room. And the defense took care of the rest with the 4 sacks and 4 interceptions, one of them for a touchdown. Something happened in this game that should give every Texans fan a sign of hope going into the next round. CJ Stroud got his confidence back. He has found out that he can use his legs to move the chains, as he broke a few big ones. The Texans played grown man football in the 4th quarter and closed the game out on the final drive with a Joe Mixon 17 yard touchdown. A drive which included two 4th down conversions. That broken play gave this team life. They looked confident again. Just in time for the biggest game of their season next week.
A Wild and Chaotic Saturday Results in a Big Texans Win
If the four interceptions and the big CJ Stroud runs, as well as the magical Stroud heave to Hutchinson weren’t enough, the Texans had a big special teams play to go along with it! Justin Herbert had just thrown a deep ball touchdown to Ladd McConkey, now all they had to do was make the extra point right? Not so fast. Our special teams blocked the PAT and D’Angelo Ross took it back to put 2 more points on the board, making it a 25-12 game. The roller coaster of emotions in this game were almost too much to take. The Texans get a win against a hot Chargers team that almost no one believed they could beat. They showed the entire nation that this defense is not to be trifled with. The offense showed signs of life and possibly another facet that opposing defenses will need to think about: CJ Stroud in the scramble game. The Texans will need to clean things up no matter who they play in the next round, but one thing is for sure. The formula for success has been written. Protect CJ Stroud, let Nico cook, establish Joe Mixon, and trust in Demeco’s defense to muddy up the game for the opposition. The odds will be stacked against us next week, but that’s nothing new. It’s always H-Town Vs Everyone. In CJ and Demeco we trust. We will be playing with house money, so let’s go get the biggest win in franchise history and punch our ticket to the AFC Championship! Go Texans!
