The Houston Texans have eased to a fourth consecutive victory courtesy of a 24-6 triumph over the New Orleans Saints at NRG Stadium this evening. “We gashed them a few times and just kept running it down their throats”. Hoyer was playing well before he was injured and has thrown at least two touchdown passes in five of his last six starts.
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NOTES: Texans TE Ryan Griffin recorded his first touchdown of the season, a 10-yard catch capping the opening drive.
“Then, couple that with, I think, a real good secondary – experienced players, corners that are sudden with good ball skills”.
Last week, Payton took a closer look at backup offensive tackle Andrus Peat – the team’s top 2015 draft choice – more playing time by lining him up at left guard in place of Tim Lelito. Stick with Fitzpatrick while he tries to get his defense firing on all cylinders, or give the big-armed Smith the nod at some point if the big deficits become a regular occurrence and he wants to determine once and for all if Smith has what it takes to become a quality NFL QB?
Two weeks ago, the Saints suffered their most lopsided defeat in the Payton-Brees era in a 47-14 rout at Washington, which led to defensive coordinator Rob Ryan getting fired.
The Texans closed out the scoring late in the third quarter when Novak nailed a 34-yard field goal at the conclusion of an 8-play, 54-yard drive that consumed 3:23 off the clock.
Strief nailed the problem earlier this year, after the Saints got off to a 1-4 start, when he said: “It’s a lot better to come to work in this atmosphere than it was last year”.
“We just never got into a rhythm”.
“It is hard because the field is so condensed down there”, Blue said of the touchdown.
“I continue to believe in this team”, Cooks continued. “And that’s what I did”.
I’m still hesitant to project that the Saints will completely “blow things up”.
What a turnaround for Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans. They played a heck of a football game, don’t get me wrong.
DREW’S DAY: Brees was 25 of 44 for 228 yards on the day his touchdown streak ended. He had two more sacks Sunday, increasing his season total to an NFL-leading 13.5.
“But at the same time, we gotta respond”, said Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro, who said he believes that is legitimately possible. “Everybody did their job, executing their assignments”.
Although it was impressive how the Texans limited the Saints to just 268 yards of total offense, surrendered a season-low 50 rushing yards, zero touchdowns out of three red-zone opportunities and held them to 3-of-12 on third downs, the bigger picture is how the defense has transformed itself from pitiful to approaching a gold standard over the past month.
They will be facing the league’s 2nd-ranked offense as well as the league’s worst defense so we’ll have to see if the game plan that the Texans have put together is adequate for this formidable opponent. Watt is doing right now? Jackson proved integral in helping keep the Saints out of the end zone for the first time in 156 games, recording four tackles along with his interception at the goal line as the Saints threatened in the fourth quarter.
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“It felt good just to be back out there with the guys”, Jackson said.
