ARLINGTON – Inside the Texans’ locker room, after a blowout win of the Dallas Cowboys, the conversation had turned to the blocking performance of the offensive line.
Unlike several other games where they’ve been the subject of criticism as quarterback C.J. Stroud was under heavy duress, that wasn’t the case against the Cowboys.
Stroud was only sacked once and hit once as Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parson was held to no tackles or sacks and was limited to a handful of pressures. And running back Joe Mixon rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns.
The reconfigured offensive line of Juice Scruggs lining up next to Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil and Jarrett Patterson inserted as the new starting center, next to right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Tytus Howard looked a lot better this game.
“I feel like we did a good job upfront,” Howard told KPRC 2. “We knew what we had to do. We knew as a group we had to make a statement. That’s something we can build off of for the rest of the season. I thought we did a better job, run and pass.”
Stroud had plenty of time to operate with his one touchdown pass on the opening play from scrimmage, a 77-yard screen play to wide receiver Nico Collins called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield infraction called on Tunsil that he disagreed with.
Stroud completed 23 of 34 passes for 257 yards and was intercepted once as the passing game made some progress. Stroud had a cleaner pocket after a rough start to the season with pass blocking. He’s been sacked 35 times after being sacked 38 times as a rookie last season.
“Amazing, amazing,” Stroud said of the upgraded blocking “I was back there chilling a lot of times. I told Tytus he had a big opportunity to play well against Micah. He was able to do a really good job. I thought we mixed up the protections a lot pretty well. There’s always things to clean up, but definitely took a step forward. That’s what we wanted.”
After the game, Howard and Tunsil said there were several tough, honest conversations about what needed to be done as a group. They’re not immune to what’s been said about them. They took it to heart and wanted to show what they can do.
“We set the ceiling high for ourselves,” Tunsil told KPRC 2. “I know it didn’t start off good, but everybody knows we’re putting the work in to make sure C.J. is good and comfortable, make sure Joe finds lanes. If you do your job, they ain’t going to say too much to you. We’re just trying to stay consistent and build off this, man.”
Who’s paying for dinner? Mixon or the offensive line?
“It doesn’t matter,” Tunsil said. “We’ll take him to dinner. He’ll take us to dinner. It’s always love with Joe. Joe is a damn good back. He’s going to find the holes and he’s going to split them. He is tough.”
Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said before kickoff that the Texans were Dallas’ “little bro.” and that the NFC East franchise runs the state of Texas.
They didn’t on Monday night as they lost their fifth consecutive home game.
“‘It was all just talk,” said Tunsil after a game that had some chippy moments after plays. “We handled that. We talk with our pads.’
Mixon has rushed for nine touchdowns behind this offensive line and rushed for 100 yards for the sixth time.
“Joe is always going to make plays,” Howard said. “He runs guys over. He’s having a Pro Bowl type of season. Joe’s a dawg, man. He’s like that, for real.”
And Mixon appreciates the offensive line for their work.
“Them buys, they all bought in and I appreciate their will and want-to for key blocks down the field and big blocks in the box,” Mixon said. “I need to keep setting the tone, keep those guys fired up and keep finishing. Them guys, they bought in with the run game and doing whatever they can to open holes and I’m just staying in sync with them.
“I took my hat off to them boys. They go hard for four quarters and just go out there and impose their win. It’s a great thing to see from the linemen. As a running back, I appreciate that, especially with us being in sync.”
So, who’s treating for a celebratory dinner?
“Them boys were talking about me, but I’ll take them out before they take me out,” Mixon said. “I just told them boys, we ran out of soap. Jerry Jones wasn’t messing with us. You feel me? I ended up having an extra bar of soap.
“All those boys were like, ‘Man, we ain’t got no soap.’ That’s I might get y’all next week. I might get y’all boys some soap. Just the chemistry that we’ve built on and off the field is a great thing, and we just got to keep it going.”
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Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.
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