2024 Week 9: Texans 13, Jets 21
The first half of this game was a snooze-fest full of punts, drops, punts, turnovers, penalties, and more punts. In the second half both of these offenses started to find themselves and the Jets took off (pun intended) in the 4th quarter when they gave up on the run. Oddly enough, it took Davante Adams leaving the game for the Jets to start to move the ball.
The Jets (3-6) just saved their season with this win, for now… but they still aren’t that great of a team. They’ll probably get just enough wins (7 or 8) to be screwed at QB in the draft unless they make a splash trade to get into the top 7-10.
The Texans fall to (6-3) and are facing Detroit in Week 10 so they have a real shot at (6-4). The Colts losing last night + having the two wins over Indy almost guarantees them winning the division, but it’s not completely locked up if Flacco gets back to his form from his last 8 games before SNF.
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QB Report:
- I think the Texans have a Jets and an O-line problem. CJ Stroud’s (11/30 for 191 yards; 8 rushes for 59 yards) two lowest career comp. Pct games are his two games against the Jets.
2023 Week 14 @ NYJ - 43.5%
2024 Week 9 @ NYJ - 36.67%
- When I think back to last season I feel like I didn’t see Stroud on the run nearly as much as he has been this year, and I think their pass blocking has just simply gotten worse. On almost every play Stroud is being pressured and forced out of the pocket, which is fine since he’s mobile enough, but it’s hurt his overall assassin-like QB play we reveled in last season.
- Aaron Rodgers (22/32 for 211 yards, 3TDs) was also a dud until all of a sudden the TD’s just started to land. I don’t think the passing game was all that different this week from last week, passes were just being completed in better scenarios.
- I don’t have anything staggering to say about either run game, so onto the WRs
WR/TE Report:
- It seems like Davante Adams (7-91-1/11) and Garrett Wilson (9-90-2/10) will both be FF WR1’s moving forward. Adams will be facing the top corners as he has for years, but also draw a lot of targets from Rodgers, and Wilson is a premier receiver as is, and facing #2 corners he’ll be able to get open with greater consistency.
- Tank Dell (6-126/9) had a nice game again with Collins and Diggs out. No uprising here just nowhere else for Stroud to throw the ball. I don’t think the Jets pass defense needs to be feared anymore, nor does Sauce Gardner (5 tackles, 1 PD). Dell went off in a game that Stroud played very poorly in.
D/ST Report:
- I learned a new player on the Jets from this recap, Leonard Taylor III (2 tackles, 1 TFL). I had never heard of him so I did some research, he was a UDFA DT from Miami, and was one of those ‘maybe he’ll get drafted’ guys… but he wasn’t and the Jets picked him up. Taylor made the 53-man roster at the end of the preseason (how did I miss that?!) and hasn’t played much, but gaining snaps most weak. He played his biggest role here (about 30% of snaps) and looked very good, he was respected enough to get double-teamed on some plays, and was very disruptive, breaking through the line and forcing Stroud to get on the run… and was solely responsible for blowing up a screen pass. Javon Kinlaw (2 tackles) is on a 1-year 7 million dollar deal, and Taylor is on a 3-year 2.8 million dollar deal. I think NYJ found their replacement for 2025, 2026, and likely beyond.
image source: (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)