The Texans might have a viable offense, and that should frighten the rest of the NFL
Defense wins championships, but it can’t do it alone.
The Texans have boasted a championship-level defense for the past two seasons, but the team also boasted an offense that was a special kind of putrid, so despite 9-7 records the past two years, Houston was never considered a serious contender to the NFL's throne.
Texans GM Rick Smith knew the problem he needed to address this offseason, and, in turn, he made the riskiest move of his career.
He can take half a breath.
One game won’t tell us much in the NFL, and it’s particularly foolhardy to make proclamations following the first game of a new season — the 49ers looked dominant in Week 1 last year and we know where that got them — but the early returns on the Texans’ offseason quest to create a viable NFL offense — a winning offense — were strong.
If the Texans' offense keeps up this kind of play, and the defense doesn’t regress from its strong form of the past two years, we might just have a serious title contender in Southeast Texas.
The NFL wants parity. The league’s dream is for every team to be 8-8 and be in the hunt for the playoffs late in the season — it’s good for business.
One way it brings about that parity — arguably the most important way — is through the salary cap. The average player salary in the NFL is less than $3 million. When you have to split up the roughly $150 million pie 53 ways, it makes it hard to pay anyone big bucks.
Teams in this era opt to re-sign their “franchise” level players — never letting them hit the market — and patch holes through free agency.
While NBA, MLB, and even NHL free-agency periods are shopping sprees at Saks, the majority of NFL pickups come from Goodwill.
Starting quarterbacks rarely end up on that market.
Brock Osweiler did.
Osweiler hadn’t shown much in his limited NFL playing time in Denver, but he didn’t care for the offer the Broncos gave him following the team’s Super Bowl win. He was supposed to be the heir apparent to Peyton Manning, and considering the fact that he played better than Manning last season, he expected to be paid like it.
The Texans needed a quarterback, so they gave him that kind of money. In return, they had the franchise quarterback they needed — without knowing if he could actually change the franchise.
The Texans’ 23-14 win over Chicago on Sunday wasn’t perfect, but the Texans offense looked like a different unit in the first contest of the season.
Osweiler, in particular, was impressive: He bounced back from an early interception to end the game with 231 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-35 passing — finding rookie receiver Will Fuller five times for 107 yards and a touchdown.
The Texans’ other big free-agent signing, running back Lamar Miller, wasn’t stellar — he ran for 106 yards on 26 carries — but you saw flashes of the special runner he is. DeAndre Hopkins, one of the best receivers in the NFL, but to whom the Texans refused to give a contract extension to this summer, citing budget concerns and team policy, missed at least two chances to make big plays to add to his touchdown and five catches for 54 yards.
The Texans did display many of the characteristics of a winning offense, though, going 12-of-20 on third down, allowing only two sacks, and showing a nice balance of first downs via the ground and air. Only a 1-for-3 showing inside the Chicago 20-yard line prevented this game from being a blowout.
And before you say: “Yeah, but it was the Bears,” let it be known that the Bears defense isn’t half bad — it’s their offense that’s the problem.
The Texans knew all about that struggle, but after taking a big, $72 million risk, they might have put that problem behind them.
Dieter Kurtenbach covers the world of sports for FoxSports.com. He shares his opinions on Twitter and Facebook too.
