Week 10 is a comfortable enough time to know just what a football team presents. Enough time for units to form cohesion has passed and enough injuries have hit to allow rosters to truly set.
According to Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports, the Houston Texans have turned in an A-minus in the outlet’s recent grading of all 32 teams.
Mired in a long rebuild, this was supposed to be the transition year upward with a rookie quarterback in C.J. Stroud and first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Stroud is arguably a top-10 quarterback in the league already and has the Texans offense as a top-10 unit. He’s thrown just one interception while being responsible for the Texans winning games. Ryans has the defense on the upswing, too, even with rookie Will Anderson not making an immediate impact in the pass rush.
While Anderson may not have enough sacks with just 2.0 to show through eight games, the No. 3 overall pick is making his presence felt with nine quarterback hits, ranking third-most on the team. The beneficiary of Anderson’s presence is fourth-year defensive end Jonathan Greenard, who leads Houston with 6.0 sacks, primarily due to the attention Anderson commands.
Where Stroud is helping the Texans most is with his ball security. To date, the No. 2 overall pick leads the NFL with fewest interceptions — one — among quarterbacks who have started since Week 1. Nevertheless prolific games such as Stroud’s 470-yard, five-touchdown outing in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reinforce that the Texans chose wisely when evaluation the quarterback class.
Houston gets back in action Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at Paycor Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals for Week 10.
