The Houston Texans keep putting together quality special teams units.
Veteran NFL reporter Rick Gosselin named the Texans the best special teams unit in the NFL in 2023 for the second consecutive year. Two weeks after the regular season ended, Houston return specialist Steven Sims took a punt back 67 yards for a touchdown in the loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
STEVEN SIMS 67-YARD PUNT RETURN TD FOR THE TEXANS.
📺: #HOUvsBAL on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/mOqD2jfu4M pic.twitter.com/y0miqMggP1— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2024
Gosselin evaluates every NFL team on 22 kicking-game categories and assigned points. The Texans ranked top-10 in 15 of them, including kickoff returns yards, fewest blocked kicks (with zero) and fewest turnovers (also with zero).
Houston’s success is all thanks to special teams coordinator Frank Ross, who DeMeco Ryans retained after he took over as head coach this year. He’s been with the Texans since 2021 after time with the Indianapolis Colts previously.
And during Sims’ punt return touchdown, Ross couldn’t contain his excitement.
MOOD IN H-TOWN pic.twitter.com/qT0cdyP3Wt
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) November 5, 2023
This was the only true moment of jubilation for Houston in the 34-10 loss, though. Sims’ score was the only touchdown of the afternoon for the Texans after the team score a field goal earlier in the game.
While the game was tied at halftime, 10-10, the Texans offense couldn’t find any groove against a stout Ravens defense. On the other side, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson went off in the second half with three total touchdowns – two on the ground and one on the ground.
The Texans are out of the playoffs, but have a lot of promise heading into the second season with Ryans. Ross will most certainly be back as well after his second consecutive
