What We Saw Roundup – Week 9

We watched every NFL Week 9 game so you don't have to — Here's What We Saw!

Brett Ford
What We Saw 44 Minutes Ago
Series Navigation
Introduction
Jaguars @ Ravens
Bengals @ Falcons
Cowboys @ Colts
Jets @ Chiefs
Lions @ Dolphins
Browns @ Saints
Giants @ Eagles
Rams @ Commanders
Broncos @ Panthers
Texans @ Chargers
Raiders @ 49ers
Packers @ Patriots
Cardinals @ Seahawks
Buccaneers @ Bears

Houston Texans @ Los Angeles Chargers

Final Score: Texans 44, Chargers 22

Writer: Kevan Downs [kdsportsnet on Instagram]

 

Two Up

  • CJ Stroud – 5 passing touchdowns certainly speaks for itself. Stroud is now up to 16 touchdowns on the season, with 10 in the last 3 weeks.
  • Tank Dell – After only seeing 1 target in his first week back in action, Dell was targeted a team high 9 times, eclipsed 100 yards, and scored a touchdown.

One Down

  • Chargers – As long as the offensive line struggles in all areas of blocking, the offense will continue to struggle. Too often the runners are hit in the backfield, sometimes they’ll make the first defender miss just to be met with a second also in the backfield. Herbert is facing pressure all game long and the team just doesn’t have a receiving threat who can always be relied upon to be open as a hot option.

 

Houston Texans

 

Quarterback

 

CJ Stroud: 21/35, 384 Yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT | 2 Carries, 20 Yards

Notes

  • Despite the huge day out of Stroud, he did actually struggle with ball placement on a handful of his throws in this game, as seen in his 60% completion rate.
  • He was working some magic throwing off his back foot. One of his two touchdowns to Kayshon Boutte and his touchdown to Nico Collins were thrown off his back foot and placed well for his receivers. He also completed a deep pass to Tank Dell off his back foot as well.
  • Stroud did a great job of avoiding pressure and extending plays with his legs, even scrambling for some first downs in this one.

Missed Opportunities

  • One of Dell’s endzone targets just missed his hands
  • On a Xavier Hutchinson target deep ball, it was just out of his reach on his diving attempt for the catch. He split the 2-high safeties perfectly and they just missed connecting for a big gain.

 

 

Running Back

 

Woody Marks: 18 Carries, 70 Yards | 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 4 Yards

Notes

  • Marks got the bulk of the work in this game with David Montgomery sidelined and put in a pretty productive day. Unfortunately for his fantasy line, he wasn’t able to score a touchdown or get more receiving work, but nonetheless, an encouraging day out of what has been a lackluster backfield.
  • For the most part, Marks was able to turn most of his touches into positive yards. He doesn’t look like the most explosive back ever but he was able to take what was given to him, opened up by the passing attack. He may be a tougher start against a more staunch defense, but at this point in the season, he’s not a bad start if you just need someone with starter workload.

 

Emari Demarcado: 6 Carries, 16 Yards | 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 8 Yards

Notes

  • Recently claimed off waivers, Demarcado got some run in this game when Marks was off the field. He ran the ball pretty poorly and got blown up in pass protection, allowing the lone sack Stroud took in the game.

 

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Kayshon Boutte: 5 Targets, 4 Receptions, 125 Yards, 2 TDs

Notes

  • Interestingly, despite the awesome stat line, Boutte, was 5th in snaps played amongst this receiver group, and tied with Marvin Harrrison Jr. with 14 routes run. The fact that even Dell surpassed his snap share and routes run doesn’t bode well for Boutte’s future performance. With Xavier Hutchinson taking the slot role from the injured Jaylin Noel, Boutte, Dell, and Harrison Jr. all split snaps on the other outside role opposite Collins, and rotated in when Collins was off the field.

 

Tank Dell: 9 Targets, 4 Receptions, 105 Yards, 1 TD

Notes

  • Here’s your Houston Texans trivia for the day: Tank Dell is tied with DeAndre Hopkins for third-fastest in franchise history to reach 100 receptions (27 games). Dell made his presence known in his second game back in action. After only 1 target last game, Dell was targeted 9 times in this one, bringing in 2 big receptions down the field, one of which went for a touchdown, and he narrowly missed another touchdown. Stroud hasn’t had a huge passing volume this season, but with the passing attack looking better in recent weeks, and Nico Collins taking a lot of defensive attention, Dell could be in for some boom weeks.
  • With Noel’s absense, Dell saw his snaps played jump from 14 to 33 and 6 routes run up to 22. Boutte retained similar usage, and Harrison saw a jump. This furthers Dell’s case as a high ceiling/low floor start moving forward as it seems him and Hutchinson will soak up the most work from Noel being out.

Missed Opportunities

  • Stroud missed Dell on an endzone target where the ball just missed his hands.

 

Nico Collins: 4 Targets, 4 Receptions, 55 Yards, 1 TD

Notes

  • Not the Collins line you might expect when you see the offense put up 44 points, but he did his job, put in a touchdown, and overall, had a productive day. The passing offense was effecetive spreading the ball around everywhere so Collins didn’t need to be relied upon to see 10+ targets in this game.
  • Collins did a nice job in blocking on one of Kayshon Boutte’s touchdowns.

 

Xavier Hutchinson: 5 Targets, 3 Receptions, 29 Yards, 1 TD

Notes

  • Hutchinson caught an early touchdown and it seemed like this could just be his day to pop off. He’s been teetering on the edge of receiving enough target volume to be startable, and Jaylin Noel’s absence and expected increase in workload for Hutchinson made that seem like a realistic possibility. Unfortunately, Hutchinson would end his day with just 5 targets despite more than doubling his routes run from the prior game. Opportunity will be there moving forward for Hutchinson with taking over slot snaps with Noel out for season, but he still seems like a low ceiling/medium floor option with how much Stroud spread the ball around. He does now have back to back weeks with a touchdown though.

Missed Opportunities

  • Hutchinson and Stroud did miss once deep down the field. The ball was just out of Hutchinson’s outstretched fingers.

 

Dalton Shultz: 4 Targets, 2 Receptions, 42 Yards

Marvin Harrison Jr.: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 20 Yards

Notes

  • Not too much to say on either of these guys. Shultz continues to see the same field time/routes run each week and that hasn’t resulted to much for fantasy relevance. Harrison did see a jump in workload with Noel out of the rotation, but the fact that Tank Dell returning from injury is already seeing more snaps played doesn’t bode well for Marvin seeing relevance barring another injury to the receiver room.

 

 

Los Angeles Chargers

 

Quarterback

 

Justin Herbert: 13/23, 193 Yards, 1 TD, 1 INT | 1 Carry, 7 Yards

Notes

  • Herbert was staring down pressure all game long. The Texans defense recorded 8 sacks in this game, a handful of which beat the right side of the offensive line. With an ever-unhealthy Ladd McConkey, the team just doesn’t have a receiver they can trust to constantly get open. Despite facing this pressure all season long, the team seems to struggle finding their hot receiver in these situations. I’m obviously not in the QB room so I can’t say with certainty if that is falling more on Herbert or the play callers.

Missed Opportunities

  • Just a lot of incomplete deep balls where Herbert was trying to make anything happen. Plenty of air yards unrealized.

 

 

Running Back

 

Omarion Hampton: 13 Carries, 60 Yards

Keaton Mitchell: 7 Carries, 33 Yards, Fumble | 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 34 Yards

Kimani Vidal: 7 Carries, 30 Yards | 3 Targets, 1 Reception, 6 Yards

Notes

  • Hampton with 13 carries? Some clarity in this backfield? Eh, not really. Hampton led with 29 snaps, Vidal with 28, then Mitchell with 18. Routes run went Vidal with 17, Hampton with 13, then Mitchell with 10. Despite having the fewest routes run, Mitchell led the backfield with 4 targets and 3 receptions. There’s no pattern (like, one back gets this drive, another gets the next). They all mix in on different plays on different drives. Beyond each backs’ longest run of the day, they all ran around 3 yards per carry or less. Lack of success in the run game, led to tougher passing downs later on. Although a handful of times, the complete lack of trust in the passing game was evident when they called up multiple running back draws on third and long situations.

 

Wide Receiver/Tight End

 

Quentin Johnston: 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 58 Yards, 1 TD

Notes

  • A handful of deep targets and Johnston managed to finally bring one in for the touchdown. Plays like this were what Johnston drafters were hoping for with some regularity, especially after seeing it happen in preseason. Unfortunately, with how badly Herbert has been under pressure, they just haven’t been able to connect on deep balls and Johnston hasn’t been the receiver looked to in quick passing situations that the team is forced to live with often.

Missed Opportunities

  • Herbert overthrew Johnston on one of his end zone targets where he had at least some separation on his defender.
  • Herbert missed on another deep targets for Johnston. Hard to call this one too much of a missed opportunity as he was in double coverage and it was an ill-advised throw.

 

KeAndre Lambert-Smith: 4 Targets, 1 Reception, 50 Yards

Charlie Kolar: 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 31 Yards

Oronde Gadsden: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 17 Yards

Tre’ Harris: 7 Targets, 3 Receptions, 6 Yards

Notes

  • With Ladd McConkey missing the game after experiencing back spasms during pre-game warmups, Tre’ Harris ended tied with Quentin Johnston in snaps played and just short of him in routes run. Lambert-Smith played the next most of the receiver room with 40 snaps.
  • Kolar and Gadsden continue to share tight end snaps with Kolar continuing to see more snaps played due to his blocking ability, however Gadsden ran 23 routes to Kolar’s 17
  • Just avoid this receiver room. Like I said in the running back blurb, the team really showed their lack of trust in this receiver room when they call up running back draws on third and medium/long situations. Herbert has to resort to trying deep bombs down the field to get anything going. And they can’t seem to get the short and intermediate passing game figured out, which they should need to lean on with how bad the pass blocking is. It didn’t matter if the Texans sent a blitz or just a normal 4 man rush, they were getting to the quarterback. Normally, I’d say this would favor Tre’ Harris as he gets far better yards per separation in man coverage compared to Johnston, however, not much in the short game has worked for this team thus far.

 

 

Series Navigation
Introduction
Jaguars @ Ravens
Bengals @ Falcons
Cowboys @ Colts
Jets @ Chiefs
Lions @ Dolphins
Browns @ Saints
Giants @ Eagles
Rams @ Commanders
Broncos @ Panthers
Texans @ Chargers
Raiders @ 49ers
Packers @ Patriots
Cardinals @ Seahawks
Buccaneers @ Bears

Brett Ford

Writer, Editor and Podcast host for QBList.com, Ravens fan, Cool Dad