2017 NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Rams make major jump after crushing Colts
By Dan Parzych
14. Houston Texans (10)
On paper, the Houston Texans seemed to have a favorable opening matchup at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but unfortunately due to numerous key injuries along with a lack of offense, Bill O’Brien‘s squad was embarrassed on Sunday by their division rivals. All of a sudden, there’s even more pressure on the Texans heading into their Week 2 meeting against the Cincinnati Bengals since the last thing they can afford to happen is see themselves fall way behind in the AFC South standings.
From allowing Jacksonville to record 10 sacks to Tom Savage struggling to get anything going under center, the list goes on for Houston when it comes to reasons behind Sunday’s loss, and things got so bad at one point, O’Brien ended up making a switch at quarterback. For weeks, Savage seemed to make a strong enough case for the starting job following an impressive preseason, but now it will be interesting to see if the Texans end up sticking with rookie Deshaun Watson to potentially provide a spark against the Bengals.
After trading up in the first round to land the former Clemson star, it seemed to be only a matter of time before the switch was eventually made at quarterback, but not this soon. What’s even more embarrassing is Savage seemed to be a likely candidate to finally earn that first career touchdown pass in Week 1 after waiting for an opportunity all these years, only to end up being taken out one half into the 2017 season.