MUCH MORE AT STAKE
Another AFC South title is nice, but Texans need to focus on bigger prizes that lie ahead
TAMPA, Fla. — Because the Texans have conquered the AFC South many times, their T-shirts read: “The South is Not Enough.”
Winning four such championships in the last five seasons is nice, and certainly worth celebrating, but the division crown is but one box on the Texans’ checklist.
That they marked it off with a stumbling, unimpressive effort in a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday shouldn’t really matter.
Except it does.
Of course, in the standings it is not how, but how many. But how the Texans played in getting past the Buccaneers would be successful only against the Buccaneers, the most turnover-prone team in the NFL.
Tampa Bay lived down to its reputation, committing five turnovers, including two interceptions thrown by quarterback Jameis Winston in his first three passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown to give the Texans a lead less than a minute into the game.
The second one was run back for a score as well, though a penalty negated that six-pointer, leaving the Texans to settle for a field goal and a 10-point lead before half of the fans in the half-empty stadium had halfway settled into their seats.
The romp should have been on. The Bucs committed three more turnovers and had a field goal blocked. Yet, the game was tied 17-all at the half, and the Texans never held more than a threepoint lead after intermission.
This close game was courtesy of a poor offensive performance.
Knowing the Bucs’ defensive weakness was against the pass, the Texans still elected to try to establish the run. And Houston managed just 229 total yards, a season low, against a team that came in allowing more than twice that, including 312.4 passing yards alone.
That Deshaun Watson, Mr. Everything for the Texans, wasn’t 100 percent might have factored into the play-calling, but it is more likely that after the early interceptions led to scores, Texans coach Bill O’Brien chose to be a bit conservative. It almost backfired.
Houston ran the ball on nine of 11 first down plays in the first half, and seven of those went for 2 yards or less. Tailbacks Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson combined to rush for only 24 yards on 12 carries in the half and finished with 31 yards on 19 attempts for the game.
“I tried to make the most out of those runs, but there wasn’t much there today,” Hyde said. “It wasn’t pretty for us on the offensive side of the ball.”
After the game, O’Brien said he has to be better at getting the offense going. He has said that the entire season for a team that entered Saturday ranked last in the NFL in first-quarter points.
He’d better hurry up. There is only one regular season game left.
The key word of the day from O’Brien was “resilient.” He couldn’t say that enough about his team.
It is a perfect descriptor for this Texans team.
O’Brien deserves credit for guiding a focused squad that doesn’t overreact to bad plays, bad calls, bad decisions.
They don’t spend much time licking their wounds, not even self-inflicted ones.
O’Brien has them accustomed to dealing with such issues.
This is a team that at times can’t seem to get out of its way, working its way into predicaments that lead to close games and out of them with victories.
Three of the Texans’ last four wins have come by exactly three points, with these last two featuring a blocked field goal.
After Winston threw two touchdown passes in the last two minutes of the first half, the Texans held the Bucs to just a third-quarter field goal and shut down their attempt to pull off the upset by stopping them on downs and with an interception in the final three minutes.
“The takeaways with our defense are huge in a game (where) offensively, it was a struggle,” O’Brien said.
Watson, who missed throws he normally makes with ease, obviously was bothered by his foot or ankle or — gasp! — his Achilles. He says he is fine, but he was moving gingerly at times.
An important question, besides how Watson feels after the adrenaline subsides, will be how the Texans handle this week.
They can finish no worse than the No. 4 seed, which would mean a home playoff game in two weeks and a trip to Baltimore to face the No. 1-seeded Ravens if they get past the first round.
There might be no need to risk Watson or several other key players heading into the playoffs on the slim hope of getting ahead of Kansas City for the No. 3 seed.
O’Brien said regardless, the Texans are going to play to win. He can’t mean that. But we’ll see.
As much as the Texans could use the work, they need the rest. As ragged as Saturday’s win was, that’s the reward for being division champions.
Not only was Watson hobbled, receiver Will Fuller left the game with a groin injury and tackle Laremy Tunsil limped off favoring his left leg.
The latter injury factored into O’Brien not going for a fourth-and-1 that could have iced the game late.
The fewer factors involved in his decision-making, the better. (I can’t wait until he explains what was going through his head when he chose to run the ball instead of taking a knee at the start of the Texans’ last possession.)
Getting as close to 100 percent in two weeks means much more than an 11th win. Houston won 11 games last year and was eliminated in a home playoff game.
The South is not enough.