Winning best way to lighten the mood
When a team struggles the way the Texans had been during their three-game losing streak, especially with an offense that had scored one touchdown in each of the previous two games, winning provides some welcome relief.
The Texans aren’t printing playoff tickets after their 31-21 victory over Arizona on Sunday, but that dark cloud that had hovered over NRG Stadium allowed some sunshine to peep through Monday.
“It helps everybody’s mood,” coach Bill O’Brien said about winning. “I think everybody comes in here in a much better mood. Winning in this league is everything.” With road games at Baltimore and Tennessee, the Texans are going to be hard-pressed to win one of their next two games.
For one day, at least, they were savoring an end to their losing streak before they began preparing for the Monday night game against the Ravens.
On Andre Johnson Day, the Texans won for the first time since Oct. 15, when rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson led them to a victory over Cleveland. They scored 30 points for the first time since Watson’s last game, a 41-38 loss at Seattle on Oct. 29.
For the Texans and their exasperated fans, the most encouraging part of Sunday’s victory was quarterback Tom Savage’s improvement. He overcame a strip sack and an interception that set up short touchdown drives to throw two touchdown passes.
‘He did a good job’
Savage was drilled on a blitz around the corner by safety Budda Baker. His interception was tipped. It wasn’t a bad decision or a poor throw. Those things happen. That was the only time he was sacked, and he didn’t throw another interception.
The key was Savage bounced back and led four scoring drives, including second-half touchdown drives of 74 and 75 yards.
There’s no way playing better and winning won’t help Savage’s confidence, not to mention the confidence his coaches and teammates will have in him going into the Baltimore game.
“He did a good job,” O’Brien said. “He played smart. He got us into the right play. He was decisive.
“A lot of guys around him played well. I think guys around him playing well and then he had confidence he started hitting some throws. We ran it well, and I think that helped Tom.”
The Texans ran for 134 yards, their most since the Seattle game. Rookie D’Onta Foreman ran 10 times for 65 yards, including two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. On his 34-yard touchdown run, Foreman suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon that will require seasonending surgery.
Foreman and Lamar Miller combined for three touchdowns, including Miller’s 7-yard catch.
The offense was able to control the clock for 33 minutes, 46 seconds.
That was their best time
of possession since the 5714 victory over Tennessee on Oct. 1.
“It’s so hard to win a game in this league,” O’Brien said. “You think about the coaches and players on the other sideline, the battles being waged on the field — oneon-one, schematic and situational battles — and I’m very proud of this team.
“I know we don’t have a winning record (4-6), but this team’s had to deal with a lot of different things. We’re still in position to do something.”
In the hunt
If the playoffs started today, the Ravens would own the last wild-card berth and play at Jacksonville. That means the Texans are one of seven teams that are one game out of the last wild-card berth. They’re one of six teams that are 4-6.
O’Brien never wants to look beyond the next game. The Texans are underdogs at Baltimore and deserve to be. Then they’ll travel to Nashville, where the Titans will be looking for revenge for that 43-point loss they suffered at NRG Stadium.
“There’s a lot of football left, and we need to build on what we did,” O’Brien said about Sunday’s victory. “We’ve got another tough opponent on the road, but there’s a reason we play a 16-game schedule.”
The Ravens are coming off their third shutout of the season — the Packers’ first at Lambeau Field since 2006. Baltimore’s defense has been outstanding, but the offense has struggled.
What would a nationally televised upset of the Ravens mean to the Texans?
“It’d be big,” O’Brien said. “There’s no question about it.
“They’re a very tough team with a great head coach in John Harbaugh, a great defense and a Super Bowl quarterback ( Joe Flacco) (and) it would be great for us to go up there and pull (out) a win.”