Three Big Reasons the Early Bye Week Helps the Houston Texans

During the course of an 18 game National Football League regular season, nobody is going to complain about or give up an opportunity for a week of rest. Players, coaches, hell even media members need some time to chill. Of course, my wife and I choose to “chill” during the Texans’ bye week each year by visiting other NFL stadiums, but that’s our own illness. Not your problem.

That said, one of the more over-analyzed aspects of the NFL calendar is WHEN the bye week takes place. If it’s in the first six weeks, you can argue that it’s too early. Teams don’t need rest yet. Certainly, the Texans;’ bye week last season, all the way in Week 14 in early December, felt way too late.

This week it fell in Week 6, this past Sunday, in that “possibly too early” patch of schedule real estate. However, I have a few arguments as to why the Week 6 bye week came at just the right time for the Texans. Here we go: 

The offense can use the classroom and prep time 

Certainly, the Texans’ offense went into the bye week playing some of their best football in two calendar years, having scored 20 points in the fourth quarter against the Titans in Week 4, and then scoring on their first eight possessions against the Ravens in Week 5. C.J. Stroud was the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Baltimore. The bye week might feel like a momentum killer, but with four really good defenses waiting for the Texans after the bye week— Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, and Jacksonville — the break is an ideal time for OC Nick Caley to do a deep dive on what exactly the Texans do well, and where they need to focus in practice this week. There is still a ton of room for improvement, and the extra self-scouting time is perfectly placed given the massive step up in weight class starting Week 7. 

Returning players get a free week to keep practicing 

Right now, the Texans have two players who have been designated for return from the injured lists, defensive end Denico Autry and safety Jaylen Reed. They are both over a week into their three week practice window, where they could return any time over the next 10 days or so. The fact that both of them (along with several other players who could return from injured lists) get to heal while there is a week off, means less missed game time on the back end, when they return. Let Autry, Reed, and others heal while there is no opponent against whom they’d normally missing time. 

Let Derek Stingley heal

Then there are the players who are actually active, playing on Sundays, but doing so while dealing with some sort of injury, some sort of hindrance in their play. The biggest name fitting this category is All Pro cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr., who banged up a hip in Week 1, played through it, then suffered an oblique injury in Week 3 that’s kept him out of practice. With games against big time wide receivers Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Courtland Sutton, and Brian Thomas, Jr. coming up, Stingley needs to be as close to 100 percent as possible. 

The post Three Big Reasons the Early Bye Week Helps the Houston Texans appeared first on Houston Press.