The Texans need some momentum, now!
As it is customary, on the Twelfth night after Christmas you should take down all your decorations.
So what better way for the Houston Texans to forget the Christmas Day massacre to the Baltimore Ravens than to take down all the decor and head to Nashville.
The Texans were absolutely embarrassed on the 25th in front of a national audience by a very impressive Ravens outfit.
Every aspect of the game was poor. The biggest highlights for the Texans were a Tommy Townsend punt landing inside the five and a Kamari Lassiter safety on Derrick Henry for the Texans only score of the day.
The Ravens were so impressive and showed the Texans just how far off the pace they really are from early season projections.
As stout as the Texans defense were they struggled to contain Lamar Jackson – who once again has his name firmly in the MVP conversation. The Ravens quarterback had two passing and one rushing touchdown.
C.J. Stroud on the other hand had another slow production day in the air, only mustering 185 yards and an interception. His numbers were so low that he was almost eclipsed by Henry, who ran for 145 yards and a touchdown.
Sluggishness must go
It seemed that the Texans were still carrying some of the flatness from the Kansas City Chiefs game, in which team-favourite Tank Dell sustained a horrific season-ending injury that visibly shook his quarterback and friend Stroud.
The energy just was not there all day and many Texans fans could not wait for the game to be over just to stop the bloodbath.
As we move past this and focus on the final game of the regular season away at the Tennessee Titans, the AFC South Champion Texans need to travel to save face and find a way to build momentum against a team that have already beaten them this year and avoid the sweep.
That momentum may prove key to saving them from being a one-and-done team. They have potential match-ups with either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Los Angeles Chargers on Wildcard Weekend.
The keys to victory will be getting the ground game going with Joe Mixon against a very good and large defensive front.
But maybe the bigger key is finding a way to get Stroud back humming and throwing confidently and accurately. He has missed a lot of open passes in the last few weeks which is uncharacteristic for him.
The Texans just need a statement win to show the rest of the league they will not be a soft touch in the playoffs.
