‘Go out and handle business,’ how Texans are approaching playoff push.
Texans tight end Dalton Schultz underscored how the defending AFC South champions are approaching their final push for a division title, or a wild-card playoff spot.
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What winning out means for Houston
Riding a six-game winning streak, the 9-5 Texans would qualify for the playoffs as a wild-card entrant in the seventh and final seeded team in the AFC.
With three remaining games against the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, and Indianapolis Colts, the Texans will win the AFC South if they win out and the Jacksonville Jaguars, one game ahead of them in the division, lose at least one of their final three games.
“We’re chasing perfection,” Schultz said.
Win out, and the Texans are assured of making the playoffs for the third year in a row.
Win out and get some help from the Denver Broncos against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Texans earn another division title.
The ambition is set.
“It’s that one-game-at-a-time mentality. I know nobody wants to hear it, but that’s what I believe, that’s what we control, is one game at a time,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Come out, handle business each week,” Ryans continued. “That’s what we’ve got to do down the stretch here, we’ve got to go out and handle business. I told our guys: you go out and handle business each week, you’re just putting yourself in a better spot. So, you just keep going out, controlling what you can control, not really focused on what everybody else in the AFC is doing. Focus on the Texans. Focus on stepping your game up and playing better.”
The AFC playoff picture and Texans’ path to the postseason
In the playoff standings, the Broncos are atop the AFC at 12-2 followed by the 11-3 New England
Patriots, the 10-4 Jaguars, the 8-6 Pittsburgh Steelers, the 10-4 Chargers, the Texans’ road opponent in two weeks, and the 10-4 Buffalo Bills
The Texans split with the Jaguars, lost to the Broncos, beat the Chargers last year in the AFC wild-card round, and defeated the Bills this season. The Colts are one game behind the Texans at 8-6 overall.
And the Baltimore Ravens are 7-7.
Defensive standards under scrutiny after Cardinals win
The Texans are coming off a 40-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. However, their top-ranked defense allowed four more points than their NFL-best average and Jacoby Brissett threw three touchdown passes, two of them to dominant tight end Trey McBride.
“From that game, defensively, that game was not up to our standard,” Ryans said. “There are a ton of things that we can improve upon, a ton of things that we need to get better at, things that we worked and we didn’t. We didn’t play up to our standard, defensively. We have a lot to go out and improve.”
It was their most points yielded since a Week 10 win over the Jaguars.
The Texans had just two sacks.
“We left a lot of the plays out there,” Ryans said. “We have to keep playing up to our standard. That’s what we judge ourselves against, the standard. The standard is the standard. It doesn’t change. So, we’ll continue to look at the tape intently and see where we can get better.”
The standard is high for a defensive-minded team.
C.J. Stroud’s efficient performance fuels Texans’ offence
Meanwhile, quarterback C.J. Stroud threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions, two touchdowns to wide receiver Nico Collins.
“Overall, I thought C.J. did an outstanding job playing very clean, very efficient throughout the game,” Ryans said. “The ball went to multiple guys because he was going through his progressions, making the proper reads. When it wasn’t there, he was able to scramble, make a play. He was able to escape the pocket, throw the ball away when it wasn’t there. I thought his decision-making was really, really great. He stepped up in the pocket with his eyes down the field multiple times, made great decisions. That’s what we expect from him, to play clean, make great decisions, protect the football and make plays when plays are there to be made. That’s what he did for us, and he had a really great game.”
Stroud was pressured on 40.6% of his drop-backs Sunday, per Next Gen Stats.
They were 3 for 6 in the red zone.
Lessons from last season’s disappointment
“We know what happened last year,” offensive guard Tytus Howard said. “We lost the way we lost. We’re just not trying to be in that same position again this year. So, we’ve just got to focus on the small details and get better every week.”
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