The Texans will play their first playoff game at NRG Stadium since January 4th, 2020. How long ago was that? Well, the word COVID wasn't even in our vernacular yet. C.J. Stroud had just graduated high school and hadn't even enrolled yet at Ohio State. Laremy Tunsil was the only position player on the current roster that was on the Texans' roster that day. It feels like eons ago, yet it's just been a tad over four years. As such, let's dive into more numbers about this Wild Card playoff game with the Cleveland Browns.
1470 - That's the math for the four years and some change between home playoff games. It's been nearly 1500 days since the Texans have played a home playoff game. I'm hoping that absence makes the heart grow fonder…as they say; in that way, I'm hoping that NRG Stadium will be rocking on Saturday!
1.27M - When 1470 days are converted to seconds, it's wild to see. 127,008,000 seconds.
195 - Texans WR Nico Collins set a career high with his 195 yards receiving against the Colts in week 18.
75 - Nico also had the longest catch of his career in that win over the Colts in week 18.
1297 - Nico also set career highs in yards (1297), receptions (80), yards per catch (16.2) and touchdowns (eight). In fact, in his first two seasons, he combined for 70 catches for 927 yards and three touchdowns. In 2023, he caught 80 passes for 1297 yards and eight touchdowns.
6 - Texans QB C.J. Stroud was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Colts in week 18. It was the sixth instance of that happening in the 2023 season. That's a record for the Texans. Stroud has done it twice, Blake Cashman, Ka'imi Fairbairn, Devin Singletary and Derek Stingley Jr. all did it once for a total of six.
1 - Stingley Jr. also won AFC Defensive Player of the Month for the first time in his career for December/January. Over those final six games, Sting finished with three INT, nine passes defensed, one TFL and 19 tackles.
2 - The Texans also had two instances of winning AFC Player of the Month. C.J. Stroud won it in November and Stingley Jr. in December. The last time that two Texans won Player of the Month in the same season? J.J. Watt - September 2018 and Ka'imi Fairbairn - December 2018. The Texans only had one other Player of the Month in that five year span.
265 - Now, we get to the gory aspect of By the Numbers. Browns WR Amari Cooper set a career high in receiving yards against the Texans in week 16. He's not played a down since then so he'll face the Texans in back-to-back games.
57 - In three previous games against the Texans, Cooper had a high of 57 receiving yards. In fact, his total in those three previous games against the Texans was 107 yards and one TD. He more than doubled his yardage total and doubled his TD total in one game on Christmas Eve 2023.
139 - Cooper's season high heading into the game against the Texans was just under 140 yards, so he nearly doubled that in the win over the Texans in the last meeting.
898 - Texans RB Devin Singletary finished just under 900 yards rushing in 2023, the highest total in his career. Considering that his first start wasn't until November, that's a staggering total. Over the first eight games of the season, Motor had 209 rushing yards. Over the last nine games, he registered 689 rushing yards. "On Pace" guy would tell you that had he been at his last-half-of-the-season pace for the whole season, he would've gone over 1300 yards rushing.
Okay, that's going to do it as those are some crazy numbers to digest. It's time to put up some more numbers tomorrow and get a win against the Cleveland Browns in what should be a raucous afternoon at NRG Stadium. CAN'T WAIT!!
