Texans Gobble Up Lions, Win 41-25 on Turkey Day

Detroit, MI: Thanksgiving is a holiday of acknowledging all the good fortune that the American people have received over the past year. Some are thankful for their good health, the clothes on their back, the food in their stomachs. Others are thankful to have a job or the opportunity to go for a grade-a education during a crazy year that featured a controversial national election, a global pandemic, and murder hornets (remember those?). Texans fans, however, are counting their lucky stars and giving thanks to the fact that they have a guy like DeShaun Watson quarterbacking their team, as Houston walked into Ford Field on Thanksgiving and absolutely embarrassed the Lions on “their day” with a 41-25 routing.

Great win, but don’t get fooled, Texans Fans

This game against the Detroit Lions was supposed to be the offensive fireworks display many fans were expecting from the Houston Texans going into this season. DeShaun Watson, despite being the leader of this mediocre menagerie of misfits that is the Texans offense, has been a top-five, top-seven quarterback this season. He’s 6thin the league in passing yards, tied for 9thin passing touchdowns, and hasn’t thrown an interception in the last five games. And yet, the Texans offense ranks 17thin yards per game, 31thin rushing yards per game, and Watson often has to play against his own defense, which gives up 411 yards per game (31stin the league in that category) and 27 points per game. But somehow, it all came together for Houston on Thanksgiving. Watson again eclipsed 300 passing for the second week in a row, completed 68% of his passes, tossed four touchdowns, and finished with a near-perfect passer rating of 150.4. And on a day that he didn’t have either Kenny Stills or Randall Cobb, Watson might have found his No. 1 receiving target going forward, connecting with Will Fuller V on six catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns; a forty-yarder that came off the heels of a false start, and an impressive 34-yard flea-flicker that had Fuller skipping into the endzone.

As for the defense, Detroit’s offense was in a giving mood, as they gave the ball away to Houston’s defense three times; two fumbles and a pick-six by the Texan’s future hall of fame defensive juggernaut JJ Watt. In reality, they should have had eight turnovers, but safety Justin Reid dropped what would have been Matthew Stafford’s second interception of the day in the fourth quarter, and they weren’t able to scoop up three of Detroit’s five fumbles of the day.

But don’t be fooled Texans fans. Just because interim head coach Romeo Crennel has gone 4-3 since taking over for Bill O’Brien in week 5, it doesn’t mean he’s the answer at head coach for your team. The search starts now for someone that knows how to develop a unique talent in DeShaun Watson. Don’t make the same mistakes the Browns did in 2019.

Sheila Ford, do the right thing

The fact that Matt Patricia is still the head coach of the Detroit Lions after his offense was held to just 185 yards of total offense & laid an egg against the Carolina Panthers last week, along with his defense giving up a horrendous 397 total yards and 28.7 points per game this season, is a crime against football humanity. The former Patriots defensive coordinator was brought to Michigan in hopes of revamping an aging Lions defense to help compliment a promising offense that was top 10 in passing categories, thanks to the efforts of their franchise stalwart in quarterback Matthew Stafford (28/42 [67% completion] for 295 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, and one fumble). But that hasn’t been the case. Patricia is reviled by Lions fans, current/former players, and the Detroit media. During his two years in the Motor City, Patricia has compiled a 13-29-1 coaching record. It took his predecessor, Jim Caldwell, four years to hit 28 losses with Detroit. Let that sink in. As for this game, the only positive takeaway for Detroit was that tight end TJ Hockenson had his best game of the season against Houston, racking up five catches for 89 yards, with 51 of those yards coming off this insane flea-flicker play. His best play of the day, though, came on Adrian Peterson’s (15/55/2) second touchdown of the day, where he won on a one-on-one block with Texans linebacker Whitney Mercilus at the goal line.

What’s next?

After enjoying a nice Thanksgiving meal to go along with their win, Houston heads back to NRG Stadium to host a No. 1 ranked Colts defense coming off a battle for the division lead in week 12 vs the Tennessee Titans. As for Detroit, if Patricia is still on this team by week 13, his squad travels southwest to Chicago to face a middling Bears team that would have played in a Sunday Night divisional showdown against the Green Bay Packers.