As the Houston Texans (2-3) return, fresh off their Week 6 bye week and still having that exhilarating feeling of beating the Baltimore Ravens 44-10 in their last game, giving them a two-game winning streak, the road gets tougher, and so does the competition.
When they travel to Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks and their raucous crowd, known as the “12s,” who can create such a loud environment for opposing offenses that it causes nightmares for quarterbacks trying to run plays, they will also face a Seahawks defense that wreaked havoc this past Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 20-12 win.
They pressured Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence on 50 percent of his drop-backs, sacked him seven times, and made contact with him 17 times throughout the game, as they seemed to have returned to their “Legion of Boom” defensive days, causing chaos for their opponents.
It will be an excellent test for the Texans’ offensive unit, which has seemed to find its groove over the last two games, especially quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was awarded AFC Player of the Week after his performance against the Ravens. Over that span, he has completed 45-of-55 passes for 477 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions.
According to Next Gen Stats, Stroud was effective when it came to quick passes (under 2.5 seconds), completing 16 of 18 such attempts for 150 yards, which included his game-high four touchdowns.
What has worked so well for Stroud is his command over the offense and his communication with the offensive line, anchored by bookend tackles Tytus Howard (right) and rookie Aireontae Ersery (left). In back-to-back victories, the two have participated in 127 pass plays and have only surrendered two sacks and four quarterback pressures.
“They’ve improved,” said Texans Executive Vice President and General Manager Nick Caserio about the offensive line. “Tytus [Howard] has played really good football. He’s playing as good football as he has at any point in his career. A lot of credit to him and respect. He’s literally played all four positions [on the offensive line] other than center. He’s done a lot.
“We drafted ‘Tae’ [Aireontae Ersery] in the second round for a reason. We thought he was a really good player. We put him out there at left tackle, and he’s played some good football.”
Houston hopes that their running back duo of Nick Chubb and rookie Woody Marks, who contributed to a season-high 167 yards in Week 5, will carry that momentum into their matchup with the Seahawks, who only surrendered 59 rushing yards to the Jaguars on Sunday.
“We’ll continue to work both guys in,” said Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans about Chubb and Marks. Some of it is gameplan-oriented, where we have particular runs for certain guys. Some of it is also just the flow of the game.
“We have capable guys who can run the football, so we want to make sure they’re as fresh as possible. ‘DB’ [Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Danny Barrett] does a great job of rotating those guys in and getting them in on the plays that we design for them.”