Heading into Week 7 against the Seattle Seahawks, the Houston Texans led the NFL in quarterback rating allowed. Led by Derek Stingley Jr.. Houston has a deep secondary that can play any kind of coverage well. Their issue is that they learned a less on Monday Night Football.
That lesson was the same that has been taught to most other opponents for the Seahawks this season: Trying to cover Jaxon Smith-Njigba is nearly impossible. JSN leads the league in receiving yards, and that will continue after his Week 7 performance.
Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak moved Smith-Njigba around so that Houston was constantly guessing where he would be. Sometimes he was in the slot, sometimes he was outside, and sometimes he started outside only to run a route that would take him back inside.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba proves his greatness again in Week 7
But it was his route-running, perhaps the best in the NFL, that gave the Texans fits. Even when seemingly covered, he created space. Instead of trying to hit JSN deep, quarterback Sam Darnold mostly took advantage of Houston's defense by Smith-Njigba's intermediate routes. Darnold was sharp for much of the game, but JSN made him look even better.
The wide receiver finished with eight catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. Most of those came before the fourth quarter when Seattle tried to run the ball a bit more. In fact, JSN was so good that he covered up what was an iffy showing by Darnold.
In the third quarter, the quarterback held on to the ball too long in his own end zone and was sacked and fumbled. Houston recovered the ball for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Darnold tried to force the ball over the middle to tight end AJ Barner and Stingley was able to intercept the pass.
The Seattle Seahawks won the game 27-19, but the difference in the score could have been much more. Jaxon Smith-Njigba did his part, but the rest of the team combined for four turnovers. That would lose many games. At least, Seattle has a wide receiver making a claim to be the Offensive Player of the Year.