Thursday Night Football Grades: Week 2 (Texans at Bengals)

Unable to stay awake for the entirety of Thursday Night Football? Watching the highlights is a great start to getting yourself caught up, but they rarely paint the entire picture. Good news: we’ll be offering in-depth analysis of each Thursday Night Football matchup, including grades for the noteworthy players from the game.

The NFL has faced a lot of scrutiny for Thursday Night Football. The matchups they choose are rarely enticing, and the quality of football tends to be poor due to the short week for the two teams. Outside of one electrifying play, last night’s Texans/Bengals matchup was no different.

Rookie QB Deshaun Watson made his first professional start, and was ultimately the difference in an ugly 13-9 win in Cincinnati. The two teams combined for just 561 total yards and 26 first downs. Many players contributed to the snooze-fest, but not all were at fault. Here’s how the game’s most noteworthy players graded out.

Houston Texans

Deshaun Watson’s Arm: C-

The 12th-overall pick is not ready to face an NFL defense from the pocket. Watson completed 15 of his 24 pass attempts for just 125 yards. And if Bengal defenders could catch, there would be at least two interceptions (and one pick-six) on that statline.

Watson is a little unsure of many of his reads and indecisive with the football, as a result, he’s taking sacks when there is pressure and, due to uncertainty, bailing from clean pockets when there isn’t. Bill O’Brien will going to need to alter his offense to hide some of his QB’s flaws in the pocket.

Deshaun Watson’s Legs: B+

What Watson is lacking as a pure pocket passer he is making up for as an athlete. His 49-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter stood up as the difference in the game; but he also came up huge for the Texans late in the fourth quarter with an 11-yard run which gave Ka’imi Fairbairn a much more manageable 42-yard field-goal attempt, which he converted to make the score 13-9.

Watson’s greatest strength also caused him some issues last night, though. He seems a little too eager to use his legs, bailing from a clean pocket on more than one occasion.

DeAndre Hopkins: B+

His routes were crisp all night and he has mastered getting away with the chicken-wing maneuver. Hopkins turned his 13 targets into seven receptions (only about eight were catchable) for 73 yards. If not for getting caught pushing off Adam Jones late in the fourth quarter, his grade would have been a little higher.

Like in the glorious, one-year Brian Hoyer era (2015), Hopkins again has a QB that exclusively looks his way in the passing game. Hopkins was third in the league in targets (192) and yards (1,521) in 2015 and is poised to get back to those numbers this season.

Offensive Line: D

Houston needs to stop playing around and pay Duane Brown. Is he the best left tackle in the game? No. But he is a very good tackle, who would look like Jonathan Ogden out there in comparison to Chris Clark and Kendall Lamm.

Unfortunately, left tackle isn’t their only issue. Greg Mancz and Xavier Su’a-Filo struggle to get any push inside, resulting in the Texans running backs averaging just 3.3 yards per carry last night. And right tackle Breno Giacomini may be their biggest issue. While the team only gave up three sacks against the Bengals, they were bailed out on multiple occasions by Deshaun Watson’s athleticism.

Even when they finally pay Duane Brown, the Texans will still have to find more solutions up front before they can be considered legitimate contenders.

JJ Watt: B+

He may not have recorded a sack last night, but JJ Watt was very disruptive to the Bengal offense. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year spent the majority of the game throwing right tackle Jake Fisher into the backfield.

Last night’s game was a great sign for the 28-year-old, who is returning from back surgery in the offseason plus a dislocated left ring-finger suffered in Week 1. Watt is clearly banged up, but still a force on the field.

Texans’ Betting Outlook

Under almost no circumstance would I advise betting the Texans in Week 3 when they travel to Foxborough. (Seriously, the line would have to be approaching 20 before I would feel comfortable.) Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia are brutally tough on young QBs. The schedule then takes the Texans back home to face the Titans (Week 5) and Chiefs (Week 6). Beware betting Houston as a heavy underdog with a rookie QB under center.Their defense may not always have the opportunity to keep them in games. They don’t get to play Andy Dalton every week, after all.

There may potentially be some value in their division-winner futures, however. Sportsbooks have them pegged as the second choice in the South at 9/4 (+225), behind the 0-1 Titans (33/20; +165) and just ahead of the 1-0 Jaguars (5/2; +250). The Texans managed to win the South last year with Brock Osweiler at the helm of an atrocious offense. The defense is still very good, and Houston only needs serviceable QB play to be in the hunt. Watson gave them almost that in Week 2 and should get better with more reps. Unless you believe the Jaguars are for real or the Titans will live up to their potential under Mike Mularkey, it’s reasonable to see the Texans as the rightful favorite.

Cincinnati Bengals

Andy Dalton: D+

If you remove the 50-yard heave into triple-coverage that AJ Green miraculously came down with, Dalton would have been 19/34 for 174 yards. Dalton’s offensive line isn’t doing him many favors, but he’s also missing throws when he does have time. Case in point: Dalton missed a wide open Brandon LaFell streaking down the left hash late in the second quarter. There wasn’t a defender within five yards of LaFell, and it would have been a touchdown if not for the errant throw.

Dalton’s not the sole reason Cincinnati lost last night, but he played a major role. The firing of offensive coordinator Ken Zampese was made with Dalton in mind. The Bengals have promoted QB coach Bill Lazor to OC, in hopes it sparks an offense that hasn’t scored a touchdown since Barack Obama was in office.

Alex Erickson: B+

As a receiver, Alex Erickson was efficient, turning his six targets into four receptions for 67 yards. The 24-year-old has proven adept at finding soft spots in defenses, and always seems to be on the same page as Dalton when he’s forced from the pocket.

But his greatest impact was felt in the return game. Erickson returned four punts for 57 yards, including a 26-yard return that set the Bengals offense up at the Houston 39-yard-line. He also returned two kicks for 76 yards.

It’s time for Adam Jones to give up the return duties.

AJ Green: B+

New offensive coordinator Bill Lazor will succeed if he finds more ways to get the ball in AJ Green’s hands. And it may not take much offensive genius to do so. The Bengals biggest play of the game came when Green out-leaped three Texans to haul in a 50-yard pass from Dalton. But the elite WR’s stats are hindered by the limited catchable targets he’s seeing. Green can only impact the game as much as Dalton allows him to.

Offensive Line: F

There’s not a single player along the Bengals offensive line that can be happy with his performance last night. If you remove the one gadget play that resulted in a 12-yard gain before John Ross fumbled it away, the Cincinnati offense produced a pitiful 70 yards on 23 carries.

The line is generating no push and it can’t protect its QB, either. Dalton was sacked another three times last night (to go along with five in Week 1) and was hurried on the majority of his pass attempts. But sure, letting Kevin Zeitler and Andrew Whitworth walk in free agency was the right move …

Maybe it’s not fair of me to pin this on Cincy management. Who could have possibly foreseen this brutal performance from the O-line? It’s not like Dalton took 41 friggin sacks last year.

Geno Atkins: A-

Geno Atkins absolutely manhandled the Texans offensive line last night. But he also displayed great patience when asked to stunt in pass-rush. When the Texans RBs tried running up the middle or over the left guard (into Atkins), it resulted in just 32 yards on 11 carries. Toss in his two sacks and multiple hurries, and you’ve got one hell of a performance from Atkins.

Bengals’ Betting Outlook

The Bengals have a few extra days to prepare for their trip to Lambeau Field next week, where they will fall to 0-3. In Week 4, they travel to Cleveland before heading back home to take on the Bills in Week 5. New OC Bill Lazor will need to find a way to get the ball in AJ Green’s hands more and make rookies Joe Mixon and John Ross a bigger part of the offense. But their offensive success will still boil down to whether their O-line can block, and I don’t like those odds. I see a last-place finish for Cincinnati in the AFC North (yes, behind the Browns).

Sportsbooks have dropped the Bengals odds to win the AFC to 66/1, and their odds to win the AFC North are now 15/2. That’s a lot longer than the odds at the start of the year, but I wouldn’t touch either with a ten-foot pole.