Another calamity
Inability to run dooms Mills, while defense keeps allowing big plays
When the Texans were tied 10-10 in the second quarter and behind 19-13 in the fourth, you just knew they were going to lose to Seattle at NRG Stadium on Sunday.
And they did. In typical Texans fashion that’s become a formula for failure, they couldn’t run or stop the run, and they couldn’t score enough touchdowns to win or prevent long touchdowns to keep the game close in the fourth quarter.
As a result, the Texans are 2-11 and tied with Jacksonville one half-game behind Detroit for the worst record in the NFL.
And next week’s game is against the Jaguars, a rematch to see which team can finish last in the AFC South and become the most likely to overtake the Lions for the first pick in the 2022 draft.
“It always feels bad because the record is what it is, and that’s not very good,” coach David Culley said. “That’s not what we expected.
“I feel like I’ve got a great bunch of guys in this locker room that’ll do everything we need to do to get it corrected, (but) we just haven’t been able to get that done, and that’s on me.”
That’s on just about everybody who’s contributed to a wretched season that could conclude with a franchise-record 15 defeats.
One of the few bright spots was the play of rookie quarterback Davis Mills in the first half when he completed his first 14 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown. But he couldn’t sustain it, even though he finished with 331 yards after a bad third quarter.
The Texans trailed 16-13 at halftime after Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 61-yard field goal — the longest in team history — with no time left on the clock.
haven’t given them (big plays) up is because we kept the ball in front of us,” Culley said. “We knew they had two guys that could really get down the field that were big playmakers in DK (Metcalf ) and Lockett. They got behind us a couple of times.”
The Texans did a good job against Metcalf, who caught four passes for 43 yards, a 10.8-yard average. His longest reception was 22 yards.
Lockett was another matter. He had five catches for 142 yards, a 28.4 average. On his 55-yard touchdown, he beat cornerback Terrance Mitchell and safety Justin Reid.
“The runs (and the lack of ), gap control, which has always been the case for us,” Culley said. “Then the big plays down the field, guys are letting the (receiver) get behind them, and we knew these two guys (Lockett and Metcalf ) could get behind (us).
“When you think they’re not behind you, they’re going to get behind you because they’re very explosive and very fast. We didn’t do a good enough job And the Texans didn’t score again.
They had opportunities. In the second half, they crossed midfield four times, reached the 50 another time but failed to score any points.
Culley said it wasn’t so much what the Seahawks did but what the Texans didn’t do.
“They played it just like we knew they would play it,” he said. “We just didn’t execute the way we needed to. Usually, when something like that happens, we don’t have everybody all on the same page or doing exactly what they need to do.”
That certainly would be the case for the defense. The Seahawks scored on three long plays. Running back Rashaad Penny scored Seattle’s first touchdown on a 32-yard run. He also scored the Seahawks’ last touchdown on a 47-yard run.
Russell Wilson threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett with 52 seconds left in the first half to give the Seahawks a 16-10 advantage.
“We talked about the last three weeks, and the reason we keeping them in front of us.”
As usual, the Texans had an issue with their running game. They started the game averaging 78.8 yards, last in the league. Their 25 carries were good for only 63 yards, a 2.5-yard average.
Rex Burkhead, the leading rusher with 40 yards on 11 carries, left the game with a groin injury. The only other healthy back was Royce Freeman, who carried 11 times for 15 yards, a 1.4 average.
“We tried to do what we needed to do, but we only had one guy back there to be able to do it,” Culley said. “I thought early we attempted to do it, and it helped us. We weren’t getting a bunch of yards, but the fact that we were attempting to do it helped us.”
Culley meant the play-action Mills used. Mills, who made a lot of throws on the move, was under a lot of pressure from the Seattle defense in the second half. And it’s difficult for any quarterback, especially a rookie, to operate an offense devoid of a running game.
“You’ve got to have balance, and we don’t have that balance right now,” Culley said. “You put all the pressure on your quarterback and your line to drop back and throw. We’ve got to continue to try to find that balance.”
That lack of balance has contributed to the Texans being outscored 194-62 in the second half, including getting shut out in the last two quarters Sunday. They’ve been outscored by 179 points, the most in the league.
After his team’s 11th loss in 12 games, Culley was asked how he felt.
“Disappointed,” he said. “Just very disappointed.”
A lot of Texans fans feel the same way, but too many don’t feel anything because they just don’t care right now, and it’s hard to blame them.