Two of his three picks this season have come on the opening drive, one of them a costly red-zone mistake. The scheme called for AJ Bouye to cover Kelce quite a bit, and that worked to Houston’s advantage, especially after the way Kelce annihilated the defense at NRG Stadium previous year. The Houston defense impressed in week 1, registering 5 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble, while allowing a mere 14 points and 258 yards of total offense, good enough to put Houston in the top-5 for most defensive stats after week 1. Watt, who looked a lot better after playing hurt last week.
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Osweiler got the Texans on the board first in the first quarter, following a bobbled snap between quarterback Alex Smith and center Mitch Morse that gave Houston the ball at the Chiefs’ 27-yard line, as Osweiler found Hopkins on a fade near the sideline for a touchdown.
FAST FACTS: The Chiefs scored 21 points in the final 21 minutes to tie the San Diego Chargers last Sunday in the season opener.
However, there was a weakness in the defense. They got 119 yards off 19 carries, leading to a rather high 6.3 yards per carry. Charcandrick West added 61 rushing yards of his own.
The Chiefs managed to stay in the game and have a chance to win despite committing so many penalties (nine for 77 yards) and three turnovers. The coverage on the back end was mostly very good. His ability to run a defense actually earned him the head coaching gig in Kansas City prior to the arrival of Andy Reid in 2012. He is definitely more risky than Brian Hoyer or Ryan Fitzpatrick were the past two seasons, but as a result he needs to make sure to not mess up.
The Texans (2-0) cashed in on that turnover on the next play when Brock Osweiler connected with DeAndre Hopkins on a 27-yard pass for the game’s only touchdown. Overall, he didn’t play that well but might need more time to learn the offense. It’s tough to play a “field position” game when running the ball AND covering kicks are both “minus” areas. Also, a big concern for Miller coming into the season was the sudden increase in usage.
Last year, the Texans’ offense was horrendous.
Fuller, who ran a 4.32 40-yard-dash at the combine, has already shown a knack for taking short passes and turning them into big gains. That was important. I thought our defense really stood up there and when they had to, in critical situations, played well. While this is nice in theory the Texans will be bringing the heat all game with one of the best pass rush crews in the league. The Texans struggled mightily against Kelce last season as he****. Also, don’t look now, but the Texans are now 9-3 (dating back to last season, including the playoff loss) with safeties Andre Hall and Quintin Demps handling starting duties. The former member of the Miami Dolphins has 189 yards on 53 carries but is only averaging 1.83 yards per carry after contact (No. 11 of 13 running backs getting at least half their team’s attempts), and he has no runs better than 15 yards.
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Kansas City rookie Tyreek Hill had a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown negated because of a holding penalty late in the fourth quarter.
