The Day After the Day After: The Baltimore Ravens’ ruining of Christmas for the Houston Texans

The Day After the Day After…when the uncooked, fast feelings from the aftermath of a sport diminish into the realm of readability and the proverbial (or literal) hangover now not haunts the thoughts. With that, a assessment of Week 17:

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This staff has misplaced by extra, but it surely’s onerous to discover a worse high quality loss in staff historical past: Of their comparatively quick historical past, you’ll discover worse statistical beatings in Houston Texans’ historical past. Nevertheless, given every little thing concerned in case you put this because the worst loss in Houston historical past, few would argue. Possibly the one comparable loss, given the eye and stakes, could be the Wild Card Abomination in opposition to Kansas Metropolis (30-0) on the finish of the 2015 season. Baltimore jumped out early, and whereas Houston provided a short ray of hope for a aggressive comeback, the Baltimore Ravens floor Houston into the NRG turf. The offense, an issue space all yr, proved its most ineffective. The protection, save a second quarter rally, performed its worst sport of the yr. The one silver lining: it wasn’t the playoffs, so there may be probability to enhance…possibly.

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The play that broke Houston’s again: Very similar to this previous Saturday, the important thing a part of the sport got here within the second quarter. Particularly, one play within the second quarter killed what little momentum Houston had and guaranteed a snug Baltimore victory:

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NFL MVP: Houston owns the excellence of internet hosting the highest two candidates for MVP within the AFC. In Week 5, Houston harried Josh Allen into his worst sport of the season. In Week 17, Lamar Jackson had an outstanding sport. Possibly Houston isn’t the ultimate tiebreaker, however after this sport, benefit Jackson. Now if Lamar may try this within the playoffs…

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FUN WITH NUMBERS:

65-8: The mixed scores of the final two video games the Texans performed on Christmas Day at dwelling. Christmas is normally seen as a time to get pleasure from being at dwelling with household ala a Hallmark particular. With Houston professional soccer, it’s extra akin to a Rob Zombie movie household. In 2017, the Texans hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers and proceeded to lose 34-6. That staff was a shell of an energetic roster, with so many stars injured and the Texans simply taking part in out the string. This sport, nicely, accidents had been a consideration, however that doesn’t come near explaining Houston’s beating. For reference, the final Houston professional soccer staff to win on Christmas: 1993, when the then Houston Oilers outlasted San Francisco 10-7 in San Francisco.

147: Variety of speeding yards Derrick Henry gained on 27 carries and one TD. If anybody was pleased to return to Houston, it was Derrick Henry. 4 of his six 200-yard speeding video games got here in opposition to Houston and three of these at NRG. No, he didn’t acquire 200 at the moment, however that was as a lot about Lamar Jackson (87 yards speeding) and the Ravens calling off the flock by the fourth quarter. His two 2023 video games in opposition to Houston noticed him acquire 51 complete yards speeding. The Ghost of Christmas Previous got here again to Houston, and it wasn’t precisely a Fezziwig occasion for the Texans.

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GAME BALLS

DE Will Anderson Jr.: Kinda onerous to offer out an excessive amount of reward to the protection after they surrendered 254 yards on the bottom and 31 factors. Nevertheless, when the sport was nonetheless getable for Houston, Will Anderson Jr provided the spark. On back-to-back performs, when Baltimore, up 10-0, appeared on the verge of one other straightforward rating, Will Anderson registered two consecutive TFLs, driving the Ravens again 10 yards and forcing a punt. He did additionally get credit score for half-a-sack within the first quarter with Tommy Togiai. Finally, it didn’t assist the staff win, but it surely gave them a shot.

P Tommy Townsend: He had the punt of the yr within the second quarter. After Houston’s third possession resulted in a punting scenario, Townsend hit a 61-yard magnificence that resulted in a -1 yard punt return by Texans alum Steve Sims, inserting Baltimore at their 6-yard line. Nevertheless, a participant out-of-bounds penalty noticed Houston re-kick. Townsend then proceeded to hit a 69-yard sand-wedge that hit in need of the Ravens 1 and spun again for a Houston participant (Ross) to down it on the Ravens 4. The next play arrange the Kamari Lassiter security on Henry. For the sport, Townsend punted six occasions, averaging 48.2 yards/punt. The Ravens returned two of them for a mere seven yards. Save a dumb kick-interference penalty within the first quarter, the punting unit a minimum of acquitted themselves decently.

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SHOULD BE FORCED TO LISTEN TO JOHN MCCLAIN SING ALL THE BEYONCE LYRICS ON REPEAT WHILE CLEANING UP THE REFUSE FROM A BALITMORE CRAB SHACK

QB CJ Stroud: I’ve been a bit reluctant to place him right here, particularly given the efficiency of the offensive line and Slowik. Nevertheless, as Stroud stated himself in post-game feedback, he didn’t play nicely. 17 of 31 for 185 yards and one INT is not going to get it achieved in opposition to a staff like Baltimore. Granted, he obtained no assist from the working sport (17 carries/58 yards) or the O-line. Nevertheless, the accuracy that so outlined Stroud’s rookie season was not there. Within the second quarter, when the squad was down 10-0, Stroud missed on three straight throws. The primary two, Stroud had loads of time to set and throw, however went means off-target. On third down, Tunsil bought pushed into Stroud, however Dalton Schultz was sitting simply past the Ravens’ entrance line. A mere dump-off cross has Schultz working for a large acquire. As an alternative, Stroud overthrew Schultz. That typified not solely this sport, however Stroud’s efficiency as of late.

Total Houston Teaching Employees: Whereas Slowik will get quite a lot of (well-deserved) blame, the general teaching employees failed this take a look at. A ten-man protection to attempt to cease Derrick Henry on a goal-line play (Henry bought his speeding TD) and a running-into-the-punter play that everybody noticed coming save the man who dedicated the penalty…all at dwelling? The play-calling bought so questionable that even Greg Olsen was calling it out. Sure, the staff was on its third sport in 11 days, however so was Baltimore, and also you noticed a remarked distinction between how every staff went about its enterprise.

Fox Sports activities Executives: Somebody thoughts telling me why Greg Olsen is languishing because the #2 coloration analyst for Fox’s soccer protection? Certain, Fox paid Brady $375M over 10 years and it’s Tom Brady, however having heard each this season, Olsen is the far superior sport commentator. On condition that Brady, additionally a minority proprietor of the Las Vegas Raiders, has league-mandated limits, and it makes even much less sense. Can perceive the sunk-cost fallacy, however transfer Brady to the studio and let Olsen prepare dinner.

Houston now enters into an prolonged break, awaiting the NFL willpower of the time of their regular-season finale in opposition to Tennessee. Probably that sport will kickoff within the early time-slot for Sunday, Jan 5. Nevertheless, we’ll get official affirmation after this week’s video games. Houston is assured a minimum of yet one more dwelling sport, when they’ll host the very best seeded Wild Card staff on Wild Card Weekend because the #4 seed (time TBD, however simply guess on the standard Saturday afternoon slot).