Tight ends are in the (end) zone
When it comes to scoring touchdowns, the Texans’ tight ends have been more productive than any in the NFL.
Darren Fells (three) and Jordan Akins (two) have combined for five touchdowns, and no team’s tight ends can match that output. At no time during the team’s 18-year history have the tight ends scored five touchdowns through the first five games of the season.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson is utilizing the tight ends, and they’re making an impact on offense with a minimal number of catches compared with the wide receivers. Fells and Akins have combined for 19 receptions for 247 yards.
By comparison, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller also have combined for five touchdowns, but together, they have 59 catches and 747 yards.
Fells, 6-7 and 270 pounds, is a huge red zone target with outstanding hands. He’s also the better blocker. Akins, 6-4 and 243, has more speed, lines up all over the field and gets a lot of yards after the catch.
Interestingly, Fells (basketball) and Akins (baseball) arrived late to the NFL because they played professionally in other sports. They’re making up for lost time, and Watson is taking advantage of their ability to get open and hang on to the ball when it arrives.
“Starting with Fells, a big, tall, physical guy who can go up and pluck the ball, is very smart, has a lot of experience and can also block,” Watson said. “Ake is a passing receiver but runs routes, blocks and does a lot of different things. He has great hands and great speed.
“Both of those guys are very good for each other, have a lot in common off the field. You see (them) always working with each other. The chemistry is there. They’ve been doing a great job.”
One reason the tight ends are doing a “great job” is because they’re being coached well, and Bill O’Brien has enough confidence in them to provide them with opportunities.
Will Lawing, who was elevated this season to tight ends coach, is doing a terrific job. Not only does he coach Fells and Akins, but he’s got two more tight ends on injured reserve, Jordan Thomas and rookie Kahale Warring.
O’Brien calls the plays. O’Brien and offensive coordinator Tim Kelly like to utilize two tight ends, two wide receivers and one back — or “12 personnel,” as they call it.
Last season, the Texans used more 12 personnel than any team in the league, according to Sharpfootballanalysis.com. And they did it primarily with Thomas and Ryan Griffin. Thomas had four touchdown catches. No other tight end had one.
Fells and Akins already have surpassed last year’s total. Expect them to score more touchdowns. They’re athletic enough to sometimes line up outside with Hopkins and Fuller inside. They also have success running out of that formation. O’Brien didn’t want to get too specific when asked about the team’s success with two tight ends.
“I really don’t want to get into all the details of that, but I think it has a lot to do with what you’re going to see defensively,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of different combinations of personnel groupings we can use, and we try to study and think about, defensively, how they’re going to attack it.
“What personnel are they going to use? What’s going to be their scheme, and how does that fit what we want to do — run and pass, third down, red area, all that. That’s something we look at every week. That’s the nature of what we say is a game-plan offense.”
If O’Brien and Kelly think the Chiefs are vulnerable with Fells and Akins on the field instead of one tight end and three receivers — another popular formation for the Texans — they’ll get more playing time and more chances to contribute to the passing game.
“They’ve done a good job,” O’Brien said. “Fells came in here in the offseason, and he had a good training camp, and he’s gotten better and better. He’s very mature, works very hard. He’s been a really good addition to our team.
“(Akins) is a guy that’s improved since the day he got here. He’s a good teammate, cares about his role, cares about trying to practice at a high level every day and tries to do the best he can for the team.”
The tight ends have helped Watson and the offense get red hot in the red zone. The Texans have scored touchdowns on 73.3 percent (11-of-15) of their trips into the red zone, second in the NFL to Seattle (77.8).
The tight ends also have played a role in the Texans ranking first in the league on third down, converting on 53.2 percent.
“Those guys are doing really good jobs of getting open and making plays that come their way,” Kelly said. “They’re reliable, and Deshaun has really grown to trust them.”
And the more Watson trusts them, the more opportunities the tight ends are going to get to increase their league-leading touchdown production.