There is always more than one way to look at these things. I suppose if we separate ourselves emotionally we can even manage to do that the day after. We predicted struggle earlier this week when we looked at the rankings in team sacks for the Texans’ opponents. We could also look at the fact that four of the five teams that have beaten the Texans are currently 6-2 and all of the teams that have beaten them have winning records. So, we could always fall back on the fact that the schedule maker wasn’t kind to them.
That being said, the hallmark of Ryans first two seasons was a sparkling record in one score games. Maybe it is fate. Maybe it is the laws of the universe balancing itself out. Maybe there are greater systemic issues at play here, but all of their losses have come in one score games. None of their victories have come in one score games. I’m not big into clutch performance as a thing. I suppose it exists, but it impossible to quantify and it isn’t particularly portable necessarily.
We break down the numbers because they might give us a clue over time what the team is lacking. It is easy to say, “just score more than the other team,” but it is more instructive to say they need to work on a specific facet of the game. I could say I need to run the ball better or convert more on third down. I can’t say, “I need to score more points.” So, let’s see what we see from Sunday afternoon.
The Numbers
Total Yards: Texans 72/268, Broncos 61/271
Rushing Yards: Texans 28/77, Broncos 23/100
Passing Yards: Texans 44/191, Broncos 38/171
Sacks: Texans 1, Broncos 4
Third Down Conversion: Texans 3/17, Broncos 6/15
Turnovers: Texans 0, Broncos 2
Penalties: Texans 4/29, Broncos 4/41
Time of Possession: Texans 34:36. Broncos 25:24
Someone please explain to me how you can look at these numbers and arrive at a Texans loss? You were +2 on the turnover ratio. You had fewer penalty yards than your opponent. You possessed the ball longer than your opponent. I am truly befuddled. I watched most of it and I am still trying to figure it out. Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly.
The Good
I mean, the offense did give the defense three whole points to work with after half time. Why couldn’t they pitch a shut out? In all seriousness, this is the NFL. You don’t shut out teams very often and you don’t shut out good football teams ever. They are going to make plays. Yes, sometimes they are a result of defensive mistakes, but sometimes they are just good plays that professionals make. So, this game is not on the defense. When you hold a team to under 20 points you should win the game. Period. Full stop. End of discussion.
If the offense scored 20 points and exactly 20 points in every game, they would be 6-2 right now. Everyone would be comparing them to the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. As it stands, they are probably one key loss away from shutting down shop. They’ve committed only seven turnovers on the season. They’ve created 13 turnovers on the season. How in all holy hell is a team +6 in the turnover ratio and losing games?
I know DeMeco has to go with the balanced approach and talk about how close this team is to winning these games. I know he can’t come out and talk about how much his offense sucks. I get it. However, I think everyone in Houston is sick and tired with the comments about how close this team is. We know what the problem is. It’s time for just a little bit of honesty.
The Bad
We knew this would happen. We knew they would struggle offensively. We didn’t know C.J. Stroud would be knocked out of the game. We didn’t know that the right side of the offensive line would need to be replaced. I really could care less at this point. Your defense kept forcing the Broncos to punt throughout the second half and you did absolutely nothing. You gave it back to the Broncos almost quicker than you forced them to punt.
Part of it is the fact that this team can’t run the football against a credible defenses. The trade deadline is Tuesday, but I can’t really imagine what would fix that. Your offensive coordinator sucks. Can we trade for a different one? As it stands, some people will mention lineman and some will mention running backs. There was a time when I was in favor of that, but moving to 3-5 makes it unlikely that you can mount enough to get to ten wins.
I suppose if there is any silver lining in this fiasco it is that Stroud showed his worth. As soon as Davis Mills entered the game you could see him make some throws and miss some throws. It was like the 2020-2022 period where we wanted to see if he could do it. He didn’t turn it over, so you could say he gave your team a chance to win, but that was fool’s gold. He couldn’t move the ball consistently. so you were just waiting for the Texans defense to tire.
The Ugly
Years ago, there was a commercial where a woman wanted to get her car battery replaced. The reapair people clearly put one in that didn’t fit and she checked in to make sure. The mechanics told her they were experienced and had been doing this a long time. She flashed back to them as children trying to hit a round peg into a square hole. They just kept beating it until it went in. For some odd reason, watching this team from opponents’ one yard line reminds me of that commercial.
Just keep doing slow developing running plays up the gut. They won’t be expecting it. I suppose in some kind of perverse way, the odds of a single instance of success increases with every attempt. It is sad when my overwhelming thought on first down is just to go ahead and kick the field goal. After all, it’s just an extra point at that point. If you continue to run plays you bring in the possibility of penalties, fumbles, sacks, and possibly interceptions.
If you convert just one of those you win the football game. If you convert both of the first and ones then it is an entirely different football game. I’ll have more on this during the week. If we were being perfectly fair, the Texans have an average offense. They play well against bad defenses and play poorly against good ones. Even with the bad ones they settle for field goals a ludicrous amount of times. Sometimes they can overcome it, but it takes a huge effort by the defense. A mutiny might be around the corner.
