Second-half defensive debacle
Lackluster offense, third-quarter collapse squash hopes for win
LOS ANGELES — Johnathan Joseph knew his assignment by heart. The Texans cornerback was supposed to shadow speedy Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Robert Woods all over the field.
Those plans unraveled as Joseph and the Texans’ traditionally stout defense broke down in embarrassing fashion during a classic second-half collapse Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
Woods streaked behind Joseph on a post pattern in man coverage, accelerating rapidly for a 94-yard touchdown catch that broke the game open in the third quarter as the Texans allowed 27 unanswered points after holding a brief 7-6 first-half lead.
‘I’ve got to be on top of that’
This marked the second week in a row that Joseph was beaten for a long touchdown pass. He struggled during a home loss to the Colts against wide receiver T.Y. Hilton.
Joseph emphasized that the knee problem that has landed him on the injury report for the past two weeks wasn’t a factor.
“I’ve got to be on top of that route,” said Joseph outside the Texans’ locker room after the 33-7 loss dropped the team to a 3-6 record that drastically reduces their relevance for the remainder of the season. “It’s similar to the play last week. That’s my fault. I take responsibility, nobody but me.
“It’s a post route. There’s nobody in the middle of the field in that particular coverage. I’ve got to stay high and on top of the route.”
The net effect of the touchdown: boosting the Rams’ advantage to 16-7 to start the third quarter.
It had a snowball effect, though, as Rams quarterback Jared Goff built momentum after an uneven first half. It marked the first of his three touchdown passes in the third quarter.
“It busted the game wideopen,” Joseph said. “It was only one play, but the way the game was going, we can’t give up a big play like that.”
But how the defense regressed after an encouraging first half can’t be attributed to only one play.
The Texans limited Goff to 11 of 20 passes for 104 yards in the first half for a 69.6 passer rating. He heated up considerably as Rams coach Sean McVay made adjustments with his strategy to take advantage of the Texans’ aggressiveness.
The touchdown pass to Woods was a back-breaker. He finished with a game-high eight receptions for 171 yards and two touchdowns as he was targeted 10 times.
“Long game,” Texans free safety Andre Hal said. “We were on the field and I guess they had seen something we didn’t have a good coverage in, and they exploited it. They had a great scheme. They saw we were in man coverage and schemed it up and had a good play.”
Overall, Goff finished the game completing 25 of 37 passes for 355 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
One of the rising young talents in the game, the former top overall pick from Cal became the latest upper-echelon quarterback to confound a shorthanded Texans defense that misses injured pass rushers J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus.
Against Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, Alex Smith and Goff, the Texans have allowed a combined 15 touchdown passes. They lost all of those games.
“Obviously, there’s some great quarterbacks in this league,” Texans cornerback Kareem Jackson said. “They just made some plays.
“The first half, we did everything we were supposed to do. Second half, they made a couple plays and he made a couple throws.
“We lost. We played like (…) in the second half. We can still find some bright spots in what we did good. They make a play and everything kind of spirals from there. We’ve got to put a complete game together.”
Good start, bad finish
The Texans allowed just six first downs and 131 yards of total offense in the first half, but gave up 19 for the game and 443 yards of total offense.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien chalked up the disparity largely to fatigue, considering how badly the offense was performing. Quarterback Tom Savage did the defense no favors with his four-turnover meltdown.
“We weren’t doing anything offensively,” O’Brien said. “It’s a team game. You know, if you’re not doing anything offensively it’s hard to be on the field all the time.”
Texans cornerback Kevin Johnson got off to a fast start with several hard hits, but grew tired and dehydrated. He was sidelined for a long stretch.
“I started cramping up and I had to come out,” Johnson said. “I have to make sure I stay hydrated. We came out of the gun and I thought we did a great job as a defense, kind of stopping them in the run game and pass game. We got to hold on longer.”
In their five losses since a season-opening defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars, they’ve allowed 17 touchdown passes with only one interception in those defeats.
“We’ve got to find a way to figure it out,” Joseph said. “There’s no special ingredient for it. We’ve got to stick to what we do and we’ve got to do it for four quarters.”