Fading fast
Mistakes plague all three units, with O’Brien in danger of having first non-winning season
John McClain says the Texans deserve their 4-7 record after breakdowns in all three phases of the game.
BALTIMORE — After watching them come close to pulling an upset against the Baltimore Ravens before losing 23-16 in a nationally televised Monday night game, the Texans are who we thought they were.
The Texans are a 4-7 loser decimated by injuries. They need one more defeat to be guaranteed of their first non-winning season under Bill O’Brien because they have a turnover-prone offense, a turnover-starved defense and special teams that are a mistakewaiting-to-happen.
All three areas contributed to the loss that increased the Ravens’ record to 6-5 and allowed them to remain in the running for a wild-card playoff berth.
It’s no wonder the Texans have never won in Baltimore. No matter what the situation — regular season or playoffs — they make more mistakes than big plays, and defeats are their destiny at M&T Bank Stadium.
“Losses are horrible, just a bad deal,” O’Brien said. “It’s a terrible feeling, but nobody in that locker room is giving up. We’re in this together. We have to do a lot of things better, and it starts with coaching.”
The Texans stunk it up on offense and special teams. Tom Savage suffered two interceptions that were thrown into coverage. He suffered another strip sack when outside linebacker Terrell Suggs obliterated left tackle Kendall Lamm.
The Texans trailed by seven with 4:56 left. They had a first down at the Baltimore 44 when Savage dropped back, and Suggs blew past Lamm, who was forced into the lineup when Chris Clark was injured.
“He (Savage) might have had one second to throw,” O’Brien said. “That wasn’t his fault.”
Suggs, 35, recorded his first sack by beating right guard Jeff Allen. “We turned it over too many times on offense,” O’Brien said. “We have to block better and run the ball better.”
The bright spot on offense was DeAndre Hopkins, who caught seven passes for 125 yards.
The Texans finished with 303 yards, including 66 rushing, averaging 2.6 yards per carry.
“It’s hard to run the ball on these guys and try to stay balanced,” O’Brien said. “We couldn’t really run it.”
Clowney has lone sack
The defense, ignited by Jadeveon Clowney, who registered the only sack, limited the Ravens to 294 yards. Joe Flacco threw for 141 yards and averaged only 4.4 yards per attempt. The Ravens rushed for 139 yards against a defense that had surrendered an average of 85 over the last nine games.
“I thought the defense played a heck of a game,” O’Brien said.
But the defense couldn’t intercept Flacco or force a fumble. The Texans have one fumble recovery in their last seven games.
“You’re not going to win when you turn it over and don’t get any turnovers,” O’Brien said. “You can’t kick field goals. You have to score touchdowns.”
The Texans have one offensive touchdown in three of Savage’s last four starts. Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked field goals of 25, 36 and 37
when the offense bogged down.
The Texans began this game with a touchdown drive — 90 yards in nine plays — with Lamar Miller scoring on a 4-yard run. Savage was 5 of 6 passing for 53 yards on the drive. But from that point, the offense might as well have been in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Savage was 22-of-37 for 252 yards. His rating was 57.5.
The running game was nonexistent. The Texans missed injured rookie D’Onta Foreman. Alfred Blue replaced him and gained 15 yards on eight carries. Miller was limited to 51 yards on 17 carries.
After the Texans gained the 7-0 lead, special teams killed them. A 34-yard punt by Shane Lechler gave the Ravens the ball at midfield. On fourth-and-6 at the Texans’ 46, they lined up to punt. The Texans were caught napping. Punter Sam Koch threw a 22-yard pass to receiver Chris Moore for a first down at the 19.
Two plays later, running back Javorius Allen scored on a 10yard run to make it 7-7
On the Texans’ next possession, they faced third-and-2 at the Baltimore 45. Savage threw an awful pass into coverage intended for Bruce Ellington and it was intercepted by safety Tony Jefferson and returned 13 yards to the Texans’ 46.
Good field position
It took the Ravens five plays to score when Alex Collins ran for an 8-yard touchdown for the 14-7 lead. The Ravens didn’t score another touchdown, but they didn’t need to with a defense that has three shutouts this season.
That was two touchdown drives that began at midfield after the short punt and at the Texans’ 46 after the interception.
Before the first half ended, Fairbairn and Justin Tucker exchanged field goals to leave the Ravens ahead 17-10.
Fairbairn and Tucker added two field goals each in the second half when the Texans treated the red zone like quicksand. They finished with one touchdown on ventures into the red zone.
“It’s tough,” O’Brien said. “I know there are a lot of opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. This is pro football, and we’ve got to win, but we’re not winning. We’ll just have to figure out how to do a better job.”