The first Saturday game of the 2024 NFL season went down in Week 16, with the Kansas City Chiefs topping the Houston Texans 27-19. With the loss, the Texans fell to 9-6 one week after clinching the AFC South.
While several teams have lost to the Chiefs, each loss at this point in the season risks dire consequences. While the Texans are no longer in danger of missing the postseason, they narrowly lost a chance to beat the top team in the league and extend their winning streak late in the year.
Despite the result, there were a lot of positives the Texans could take away from the win. DeMeco Ryans noted that he was “proud” of the team for their grit in the loss, particularly with the injuries they endured.
But the loss was a tough pill to swallow for more than one reason. Houston lost second-year wideout Tank Dell on a touchdown pass in the third quarter, an injury that could potentially hurt them down the stretch. Dell’s injury was unpreventable, but several other factors that led to the one-score result were not.
Time and again, the Chiefs continue to figure out how to win the small battles and come out on top. Rarely is a singular player ever responsible for a loss, but the Week 16 result fell on specific shoulders more than others.
Texans’ offensive line
The Texans’ offensive line has let them down all season long, and they struck again in Week 16. C.J. Stroud entered the game as the second-most sacked quarterback on the year — behind just Caleb Williams — and was taken down two more times against the Chiefs.
Two sacks are not catastrophic, but it was the errors that did not show up on the box score. Stroud consistently ran for his life in the backfield and was almost never given a clean pocket. It seemed as if every play ended with Houston’s franchise quarterback looking up at the stars.
The same issues have plagued the Texans all season long. As of Week 16, Stroud has been pressured the most of any quarterback in the league, leading to him also being hurried at the highest rate, per Pro Football Reference. His 62 hurries are 12 more than any other player in the NFL.
Pass protection was not the only area in which the offensive line struggled. They also failed to create any running room for Joe Mixon, resulting in the star tailback ending the game with just 4.1 yards per carry on his 14 attempts. Kansas City entered the game with a top-five rushing defense, but the brick wall Mixon consistently ran into was assuredly worse than he could have prepared for.
It was not as if any singular player was their problem in Week 16. It was just a subpar effort from the unit as a whole, which is never part of a winning formula.
Xavier Hutchinson
Before Dell even went down, the Texans were already shorthanded at receiver. Stefon Diggs’ replacement, John Metchie III, did not suit up for the game, giving Xavier Hutchinson the starting opportunity.
Essentially the team’s fifth option at wideout, nobody expected Hutchinson to shine in the game. It was a tough matchup with the Chiefs’ elite secondary, and he was not asked to do much. The issue was that he did not do enough with the opportunity he was given.
Despite being on the field for most of the offensive snaps, Hutchinson garnered just one target, catching his only ball for eight yards. His lackluster route running did not exploit the Chiefs’ lack of press coverage on him, eliminating himself from nearly one of Stroud’s dropbacks.
Once Dell went down in the third quarter, his responsibilities grew on paper. Hutchinson became the de facto No. 2 wideout behind Nico Collins, but he failed to demand another target and remained invisible on the field.
With Dell now out for the year, Hutchinson could be in line to start the rest of the Texans’ games. The front office has to be sweating at the thought of that.
Christian Harris
Since leading tackler Azeez Al-Shaair was suspended for the hit that injured Trevor Lawrence, Henry To’oto’o has stepped up for the Texans’ linebacking unit. Christian Harris has not.
It was just his second game back from injury, but Harris was all over the place in Week 16, not in a good way. On a positive note, he ended the game with seven tackles, including one sack. Beyond that, the rest of his impact on the game was harmful.
Harris appeared to be at fault in nearly every one of the Chiefs’ big runs. On Patrick Mahomes’ 15-yard scramble in the first quarter, Harris was slow in recognizing the play and failed to come off of Kareem Hunt. His delayed reaction resulted in Mahomes trucking him at the goal line for the score.
Harris also missed Samaje Perine in coverage later on, leading to a 36-yard catch for the running back down the far sideline. Perhaps he was still dealing with lingering effects from his calf injury, but Harris’ visibly slowed movements in Week 16 were the direct causes of several big plays.
The third-year linebacker’s struggles were not unnoticed, as PFF gave him a heinous 46.6 player grade for the game, the fourth-worst on the team.
