Houston's Receiver Room, Counted Again

Jaylin Noel is done for the year. Turf toe, injured reserve, season over. I already noted the loss when it happened; what's worth sitting with now is what the room actually looks like without him.

Noel had 331 yards and two touchdowns in seven games — more production than Kayshon Boutte (194 yards, no touchdowns in seven games) and Xavier Hutchinson (257 yards, one touchdown in nine games) combined in terms of efficiency per target. He was the second option that made the offense feel like it had options. What's left is Boutte and Hutchinson absorbing more volume, Tank Dell newly back from a nearly two-year absence and still finding his footing, and Foster Moreau — three touchdowns in eight games — continuing to be the most reliable target C.J. Stroud has. That's a tight end as your best bet on third down. It works until it doesn't.

Stroud is 11 touchdowns and one interception through eight games, which is a genuinely impressive line for a team sitting 2-5. He's doing it with less around him every week. The receiver room that existed in Week 1 is not the receiver room that exists now, and the one that exists now just got thinner. Ten games left, 2.5 back of the wild card, and the offense has to carry a defense that has its own serious problems. The margin for a bad passing game is gone.