Curious to see what the consensus is on him, now that he's played a string of games in a row (for the first time in his career). The line has certainly stabilized the last 3 games... with 2 of them being against legit hell-raising D-lines and elite D-coordinator-head coaches. I've seen a mixed bag from him... some good, some not so good... but they definitely have to see what he is going forward, and if he can stay in shape and live up to the potential he had when they selected him in front of possible QB choices.
I think he just needs reps. He got behind last year and has had some injuries. He's not yet on the same level as some of the other guys in his class (Martin, Bitonio, Gabe Jackson) but hopefully he'll get there soon. I don't know what his PFF grades have been or what the film shows on him but Cinci and NYJ have 2 of the better defensive lines and the Texans offensive line has played well as a whole. So I assume he is coming around.
he is flashing and it's sexy. He got blown up twice but recovered to redirect the DT and away from yates. Also saw, that he knocked down blue. Blue would rather run into linemen than the opened gap.
Conventional wisdom is that it takes 2 years or so for a drafted OL to develop into starters. XSF appears to be on track.
Went from liking the pick at the time of the draft to hating it (because of him not staying health) to slowly starting to like it again. The 2014 draft is still far from a good one, but if XSF and Hal continue to contribute it won't be a total waste outside of the first round (aka the Rick Smith special).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">XSF wore out Leonard Williams and both ILBs for the Jets. Really impressive game from XSF. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/668987981118709760">November 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s over at the snap. Lamm and CFJ are already into the second level. Short corner for Shorts. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Texans?src=hash">#Texans</a> <a href="https://t.co/2T4IQiA2uF">pic.twitter.com/2T4IQiA2uF</a></p>— PDS (@PatDStat) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatDStat/status/668987611608973312">November 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is good news. I was writing the guy off since he was getting beat out by street free agents. If he can turn into a player he just might keep Rick Smith around for a few more years.
