Grading the Houston Texans' lopsided loss to the Washington Commanders

The good

For all the off-the-field hoopla surrounding Brandin Cooks, the veteran receiver was one of the only redeeming aspects of the Texans' offense on Sunday. Cooks' 41-yard catch-and-run on the opening drive of the second half was Houston's first play of 10 or more yards and also led to the team's first points—a 29-yard field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn. Cooks had a 19-yard catch for a fourth-down conversion that brought the Texans to the edge of field-goal range later in the half, although the drive would end with a Davis Mills interception two plays later. Cooks—who finished with 70 yards—delivered again on fourth down with a 10-yard reception in the final minutes, leading to a late touchdown run by Mills.

The scramble marked the first rushing touchdown of the second-year quarterback's career.

The bad

It started so well for the Texans, forcing a three-and-out defensively—one of two straight to begin the game—after the opening kickoff. It was all downhill from there.

Mills was intercepted on Houston's second offensive snap, with Kendall Fuller taking a pick-six 37 yards to the house to give Washington an early 7-0 lead.

It seemed to get progressively worse from that point on. The Commanders closed the half with three consecutive scoring drives of at least nine plays, taking a 20-0 lead into the break. They out-gained the Texans 344-148 for the game, but even these numbers don't tell the full story of just how thoroughly Houston was dominated.

The ugly

The Texans' final offensive statistics were aided by a pair of scoring drives to bookend the second half, but outside of these two possessions—which went for 64 and 55 yards, respectively—it was just an all-around abysmal day on offense. They had five total yards at halftime, which put them on pace for the least productive single-game offensive performance by an NFL team this century. Houston somewhat got it together at moments over the final two quarters, but even with some late stat-padding, it still finished with a meager average of 2.7 yards per play.

Report card

Offense: F

Typically the top attraction of Houston's offense, rookie running back Dameon Pierce was a non-factor on Sunday, being held to just eight yards on 10 carries after averaging 116.5 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per attempt the previous two weeks. Outside of a couple scrambles—including the one for his touchdown run—Mills was unremarkable again, completing 19 of 33 passes for 169 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. But the offensive line deserves as much blame as anyone for Houston's struggles. Mills was sacked five times for a loss of 42 yards, and quality running lanes were few and far between—evidenced by the Texans' longest run going for a mere four yards.

Defense: C

While the Texans had their share of issues defensively, giving up 246 yards and 20 points by halftime, they do deserve credit for their play at the start of the game and down the stretch. They allowed only 98 yards in the second half, with the Commanders' seven-play, 38-yard drive to run out the clock at the end being their only second-half possession to go for more than 20 yards. Still, with zero sacks, only four tackles for loss and at least one dropped interception, there's ample room for improvement for the Texans' defense.