{"id":408531,"date":"2025-09-30T09:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T09:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/408531\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T09:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T09:32:11","slug":"texans-guard-rotation-continues-with-uptick-in-playing-time-for-juice-scruggs-did-a-good-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/408531\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans\u2019 guard rotation continues with uptick in playing time for Juice Scruggs: \u2018Did a good job\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Texans\u2019 rotation at left guard took another spin Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Although former Pro Bowl blocker Laken Tomlinson started the game, Juice Scruggs played the majority of the snaps. He lined up for 57 snaps, 80 percent of the playing time, during a 26-0 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Tomlinson played 14 snaps overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Scruggs had a 49.3 overall blocking grade and a 66.2 pass blocking grade. Tomlinson had a 69.2 overall blocking grade and a 79.7 pass blocking grade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kNAFkD cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI\u2019m gonna be ready for whatever,\u201d Scruggs said Monday. \u201cWhatever they want to do. I just got to go out there when my number is called and perform. I\u2019ll say it\u2019s harder just not rotating. Rotating is easy when you know you\u2019re about to get in. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s hard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">A former second-round draft pick from Penn State, Scruggs started 13 games last season and has 19 career starts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cJuice has done a nice job with the reps that he\u2019s taken,\u201d Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. \u201cWe can all get better up front. Collectively, we still have improvements to make. It\u2019s when we\u2019re on blocks, you\u2019re staying attached, finishing blocks better. We can all improve in that area and get better. I thought Juice did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Scruggs has previously started at center, left guard and right guard for the Texans. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">While the second-round draft pick was in college, Scruggs was involved in a serious car accident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Scruggs fractured his L3 vertebrae and suffered a concussion. He was in a back brace for eight months and missed the entire season. He battled his way back and got back on the field against Maryland in 2020, nearly two years after the crash and appeared in seven games as a reserve. By 2021, Scruggs was a 13-game starter and an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Selected to the East-West Shrine Bowl all-star game, Scruggs was acquired after the Texans traded back into the second round to select him 62nd overall following a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles as they sent them their 65th, 188th and 230th overall selections to acquire Scruggs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Officially named Frederick Henry, Scruggs got his nickname as a child who didn\u2019t like to drink milk. Born in Ashtabula, Ohio before attending high school at Cathedral Prep in Erie, Pennsylvania, Scruggs emerged as a blue-chip recruit and state Lineman of the Year who chose the Nittany Lions over LSU, Ohio State and Michigan<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Texans chose him to upgrade the center position, but he wound up at guard. Although Scruggs, a team captain and third-team All-Big Ten Conference selection has played guard, the Texans viewed him more as a center. The Texans drafted Scruggs after two centers were selected ahead of Scruggs with the New York Jets picking Wisconsin center Joe Tippmann and the New York Giants selected Minnesota center John Michael Schmitz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Texans\u2019 offense got into a flow against the Titans with three fourth-quarter touchdowns: two by running back Woody Marks and one by wide receiver Jayden Higgins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kNAFkD cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI just think we just found a rhythm,\u2019 Scruggs said. \u201dWe just kept going, kept the red game going. And finally started to break out a little bit. It started to show a little. Holes are opening up. I just we just got to find our identity. And I think we started to find that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">One year after an embarrassing 31-2 Christmas loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Texans face them again on the road Sunday. M&amp;T Bank Stadium is the site of the Texans\u2019 AFC divisional round playoff loss two seasons ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe definitely remember what happened the last time we played them,\u201d Scruggs said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s definitely something on our minds. But we just got to focus, prepare, do whatever we can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texans\u2019 rotation at left guard took another spin Sunday. Although former Pro Bowl blocker Laken Tomlinson started&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[7,221,253,2368,7463,1826,6,948,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-408531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-texans","11":"tag-houstontexans","12":"tag-juice-scruggs","13":"tag-laken-tomlinson","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-penn-state","16":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115292559592104644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}