Offense lacks that opening drive by scoring one TD on Watson’s last 33 first possessions
Slow starts have become commonplace for a Texans offense that’s been inconsistent during an 0-2 start.
In losses to Kansas City and Baltimore, the Texans have failed to score on their first series. Not only have they failed to score, but they’ve failed to get a first down.
Now they travel to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers at Heinz Field. A fast start — unusual for them — might help the Texans break their losing streak.
The problem can’t be blamed on offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, who’s calling plays for the first time. Not scoring a touchdown on their first possession against the Chiefs and Ravens is nothing unusual for the Texans. Dating back to the start of the 2018 season, in Deshaun Watson’s 33 starts in regular season, they’ve scored one touchdown on their first series.
That was in 2018 at Denver, where they defeated the Broncos 19-17.
On their other 32 opening drives, the Texans kicked seven field goals, missed a field goal, punted 19 times, lost four fumbles and suffered one interception.
Since the start of the 2018 season, after both teams had their first possession, the Texans have led seven times, trailed 10 times and were tied 16 times.
Interestingly, on their first series of the playoff game last season at Kansas City, the Texans scored a touchdown on their first series — Watson’s 54-yard pass to Kenny Stills — and they still lost 51-31.
On a Zoom call this week, coach Bill O’Brien was asked about the offense’s inability to score touchdowns on its first possession over the last three seasons. As he pointed out, it’s not because of a lack of preparation.
“We’ve got to start faster,” he said. “We put a lot of time into the opening drive. We practice it. We go over it. We do it Friday and Saturday.
“I think we’ve got to keep working at. It’s something we know we have to do better. I don’t really have a great answer other than we’ve got to do a
better job.”
In the 34-20 loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, the Texans punted on their first series. After forcing Kansas City to punt on its first possession, the Texans responded with a touchdown drive that ended with running back David Johnson’s 19-yard run for a 7-0 lead. Johnson ran four times for 37 yards, and Watson completed 5 of 5 for 43 yards on that scoring drive.
In the 33-16 loss to the Ravens at NRG Stadium, the Texans and Ravens went three-and-out on their first series. After falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter, the Texans pulled within three when Watson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Darren Fells, and that was as close as they got.
“We’ve got to start faster,” Watson said, echoing O’Brien. “We get down early in the game, and we’ve got to fight our way back. You never want to do that versus any team.
“Just little mistakes (and) not executing, opportunities we're not capitalizing on. We’re just not making plays. We’re just not capitalizing on those opportunities for us to take that next step.”
Falling behind early and being forced to play from behind has become a habit. It’s a habit they want to break. Beating good teams like Kansas City, Baltimore and Pittsburgh is tough enough, but having to play from behind makes the Texans’ predicament even more difficult.
“It’s definitely critical,” O’Brien said about playing from behind. “(Against Baltimore), we get down 10-nothing. We cut it to 10-7, and you feel like you’re back in the game, and then it gets to 13-7. Then we fumble (Keke Coutee), and they take it in for a touchdown. It’s 20-7. Those are hard deficits to come back from.”
If the Texans put themselves in a hole at Pittsburgh and have to play from behind again, there’s a good chance they’ll lose and be 0-3 for the second time in three seasons.
“We have to improve in every area,” O’Brien said, “and we’ve got to try hard to get off to a better start and not fall behind like that.”
The Texans know what they have to do to score early and not play from behind. They have to avoid the pitfalls that have plagued them.
“What can we do different to get the ball in the end zone?” Watson said. “Continue to grow and keep pushing forward, find ways to get better and keep trusting all my guys in that locker room. If we continue to do that, stay as one and don't let it break us up and don't let it snowball, then things will be fine.”