JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser each week during the 2024 regular season will speak with a writer or media member covering the Jaguars' opponent.
Up this week:
John McClain – longtime Houston Chronicle NFL writer now with HoustonTexans.com – about the Houston Texans' matchup with the Jaguars at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, Sunday at 1 p.m.
Question: The Texans are 2-1, winning their first two games before a 34-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. They remain in first place in the AFC South. What's the state of the Texans entering Sunday?
Answer: First of all, they made the first two games a lot closer than they should have been. And in the second one, the victory over the [Chicago] Bears, the Bears' defense did a great job of shutting down the run and containing [Texans quarterback] C.J. Stroud by playing a lot of deep zone. When they did, the Texans couldn't run the ball. They go to Minnesota – and again, they couldn't run. The offensive line was terrible. [Left tackle] Laremy Tunsil, who has nine penalties in three games and one that was declined, had five penalties against the Vikings – and the offensive line had seven. Right now, they're the best team in the AFC South, but if they don't beat the Jaguars, it's going to be anybody's race.
Q: Stroud is a big-time quarterback in his second season. Assess his development.
A: He has been a great leader and has been voted captain two years in a row. He's great on the field, on the sideline, in the locker room – as well as on the practice field. Everybody loves Stroud and looks up to him. He takes the blame for everything – whether it's his fault or not. He'd gone nine games in a row without throwing interception through last Sunday, but then he had two against the Vikings – one that was tipped. So he has been very careful with the ball. He had three completions for 50 yards wiped out because of penalties on the offensive line against Minnesota. Teams are keeping the receivers in front of them, so he has been struggling to throw the ball down the field the way they did last season. When defensive coordinators have an offseason to study you, you have to evolve as defenses are evolving.
Q: What do they want to be offensively? What are they when they're really good?
A: In Indy [in Week 1], they ran for 213 yards, and [Texans running back] Joe Mason had 159. Little did we know, the Colts were going to have one of the worst run defenses in history. That kind of tarnished that accomplishment, and then they have not been able to run-in the last two games. The offensive line right now is bad. It started off great, but these last two games, the line has been exposed. They have no excuses for injuries like they did last year. Right now, all their five starters are the ones they want and they're healthy.
Q: Defensively, um, on paper, this looks like a really good defense. Assess the defense.
A: If you look at the game Sunday, you say, 'Well, they gave up 34 points.' The defense had four sacks. The line has gotten good pressure. They try to win with four and every once in a while five, but the defense is playing really well, which is weird when you see [Vikings quarterback] Sam Darnold have 4 touchdown passes. They've got great pressure on all three quarterbacks. They hit Darnold a lot, so they should be able to get pressure on [quarterback Trevor] Lawrence. But in the secondary, you have a rookie corner – Kamari Lassner – who played really, really well. And then they have a a rookie safety, Caleb Bullock. He's playing well even though he comes off the bench. So they've had they still had some coverage issues. They acted like in the first half they've never seen [Vikings wide receiver] Justin Jefferson and then they contained him in the second. But they've gotten good pressure and they'll get good pressure on Lawrence, I'm sure.
Q: Assess this team overall moving forward. What can it be?
A: I see a lot of national people talking about them as a Super Bowl contender. I've never done that. I think that they've never been beyond the divisional round of playoffs. Get beyond the divisional round first. The best record they had was 12-4 in 2010. They took advantage of an easy schedule last year. Their schedule is brutal. They're lucky they get Jacksonville and Buffalo here in the next two games and don't have to go on the road where they can stink it up. People here will be really disappointed if they don't win the division. But every time they've been in the playoffs, they've won the division and they won the wild card game here (in Houston), and then they've always gone on the road. Until they get beyond the divisional round of the playoffs, I don't think they're a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
