Studs and duds from Houston’s 44-22 win against the Chargers

The Houston Texans put up their best performance of the season in their 44-22 win against the Los Angeles Chargers. Houston’s offense look unstoppable, going three for four in the red zone and scoring five touchdowns. Los Angeles also turned the ball over twice, which helped the Texans get this victory. You could tell from the first drive of the game that Houston was going to have a good day offensively. The 7th-ranked passing attack marched down the field in eight plays, going 73 yards for their first touchdown of the night. Quarterback CJ Stroud had one blemish in the second quarter when he threw an interception, but was otherwise near-perfect, throwing for a season-high 386 yards and tying his career-best with five touchdown passes. Defensively, they disrupted the Chargers’ offense all game with eight sacks and two takeaways. Through the first three quarters, Los Angeles only had nine points. They ended up benching their quarterback, Justin Herbert, before the end of the game. Here are the studs and duds from Houston’s third win of the season, including Stroud who threw a career-high five touchdown passes in this win and wide receiver Kayshon Boutte who had a career-high 125 receiving yards. Stud: QB C.J. Stroud Coming into this game, the Los Angeles Chargers were supposed to be a top-10 passing defense, but CJ Stroud completely shredded them. Los Angeles only allowed eight passing touchdowns in the first seven games, but Stroud had five passing touchdowns, tying his career-high. There was no stopping Stroud and the passing offense in this game. This just added to Stroud’s great performance this season. Dud: RB Woody Marks It is not like Houston needed to run the ball, but the offense was hoping to exploit Los Angeles’ statistically poor run defense. Instead, the run was barely able to get over 100 yards. Woody Marks only had 70 rushing yards, averaging 3.9 yards per attempt, including two runs over 10 yards. This is not terrible, but they need more out of the run game going forward and Marks is probably going to be the answer since David Montgomery was not doing much before his injury. Stud: WR Kayshon Boutte Boutte was essentially a non-factor for Houston’s offense before the bye week. But in this game, he emerged as the Texans’ leading receiver with four receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns. It was just his third career game with at least 100 yards. His 63-yard touchdown was tied with Tank Dell’s touchdown earlier in the game for Houston’s longest touchdown of the season. Dud: WR Marvin Harrison Jr The Texans had an offensive explosion against the Chargers, especially in the passing game. However, Harrison was barely involved. He was only targeted three times and had two receptions for 20 yards. This was really disappointing after scoring a touchdown in Houston’s last game. Still, not everyone can get targets, so maybe this just was not his week. Perhaps Harrison will get more touches next week against the Cleveland Browns. Stud: WR Tank Dell It was amazing to see Dell get his first catch in Houston’s last game against the New York Giants. But seeing his electric speed on his 63-yard touchdown was something else entirely. Despite barely being back from his gruesome 2024 knee injury, Dell stepped up and finished with four receptions for 105 yards, along with the touchdown reception. It was also his second-longest touchdown of his NFL career. Dud: DE Danielle Hunter Not only did CJ Stroud shred the Chargers’ defense, but the Texans’ defense demolished Los Angeles’ offensive line with a total of eight sacks in the game. MJ Stewart and Logan Hall each had a sack while Sheldon Rankins, Jadeveon Clowney and Will Anderson Jr all had two sacks each. However, Hunter did not have a sack. In fact, he only had one solo tackle. After having 15 sacks last year, Hunter’s production has really declined this season, at least to his standard since joining the Texans in 2024. Stud: CB Derek Stingley Jr It has been hard for Houston’s defense to get takeaways this season, but cornerback Derek got an interception in this game, which helped set up Nico Collins’ touchdown. Justin Herbert has been having a terrible season, so it is not surprising that someone got an interception for the Texans. But for Stingley to get his first of the season was good to see, especially since he had four last season and was being counted on to play a large role in this Houston defense. Stud: WR Nico Collins Speaking of Collins’ touchdown, that was one of the best catches you will see all season. How Collins managed to catch the ball with one hand and still get down in bounds is amazing. Only a stud could make that kind of play.