With his offensive line struggling, Johnson finding nowhere to run
David Johnson saw a scrum of bodies clogging up the middle of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense.
So the Texans running back used his vision and a sealing block from tight end Pharaoh Brown to bounce outside and beat corner Joe Haden to the end zone.
It was a rare example of success for the Texans’ running game Sunday, as Johnson was stonewalled by the Steelers’ stout run defense for the rest of a 28-21 loss.
There was precious little daylight for Johnson, a recurring theme for one of the least productive run offenses in the NFL.
TheTexans rushedfor just 29 yards on 15 carries, with Johnson gaining 23 yards on 13 carries, a 1.8-yard average. Without adequate holes to run through, Johnson skidded to a halt.
“No, there’s nothing that David can do differently,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “I thought the run blocking— I thinkwehave to, as a coaching staff, we have to do a much better job of scheming it up and just doing a better job.
“David’s running hard. Look, can we run block better? Yes, but we’re all in it together. Coaching-wise we’ve got to do a better job.”
Acquired in the offseason for All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, Johnson has rushed for 134 yards on 35 carries and two touchdowns. He’s 33rd in the NFL in rushing yards.
Johnson hasn’t broken many tackles or eluded many defenders since the season opener against the Chiefs, when he rushed for 77 yards on11carries. He’s averaging 1.8 yards after first contact.
“We need to do a better job in terms of the schematics of it and how we’re scheming things up and really put our guys in a better spot there to be more successful in the blocking schemes that we’re asking them to do,” offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said.
Because there’s been so much penetration against guards Max Scharping (48.3 run blocking grade, per Pro FootballFocus analytics) and Senio Kelemete (41.7 run blocking grade), center Nick Martin (55.2 grade) and Zach Fulton (66.9 run blocking grade, 39.9 pass blocking grade), it’s been difficult for Johnson to get anywhere.
Steelers rookie linebacker Alex Highsmith ran through Fulton to slam Johnson to the ground for a 1-yard loss.
Johnson ran three times behind Fulton for just 2 yards, and got nothing on a run behind right tackle Tytus Howard.
Johnson rushed for 12 yards on four outside runs to the right, including his score.
His three runs up the middle behindMartin netted just 5 yards. And Johnson’s two
runs behind left tackle Laremy Tunsil gained only 4 yards.
“Well, we tried to run it outside,” O’Brien said. “We tried to run it inside. We couldn’t run it anywhere. Pittsburgh did a good job on the edges. They did a good job on the inside.”
For the season, Johnson has three runs off left tackle for 11 yards; three runs behind the left guard for 27 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown run against the Chiefs; 11 runs up the middle for 36 yards; seven runs off right guard for 14 yards; four runs off right tackle for 22 yards; and six runs off right end for 22 yards and a score.
Johnsonhas 57 yardscombined over the past two games after finding success at Kansas City.
“Totally different defense,” O’Brien said. “Differentschemethatwe used that night. (Pittsburgh) was a lot of eight-man box, 3-4 defense, nickel defense, blitzing nickel, things that we obviously saw on tape and we felt like we had some good things for it, but just didn’t get it done. We need to do a better job for the players.”
The Texans’ lackluster running game is impacting the passing game and the play-calling. The Texans are tied for last in play-action passes. Against the Steelers, quarterback Deshaun Watson didn’t have a single playaction pass.
“Obviously we want to be able to run the ball more and we want to be able to utilize our play-action, but we’ve got to do a better job putting ourselves in a position to do that,” Kelly said. “That’s not the direction we want to go, and we want to make sure that we’re more balanced and being able to utilize the play-action dropback game in our scheme.”
Play-action passes are an effective way to keep defenses honest. Having a strong rushing offense makes defenses take those fakes more seriously.
“When I used to work for (Hall of Fame coach Bill) Parcells, he used to talk to meall the time about the hardest thing to defend in football is (the) play-action pass,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “If you do a good job ... it gives you an opportunity to get some big plays down the field.”
A well-executed play-action fake by Watson against the Ravens led to the Texans’ longest offensive play of the season, a 38-yard completion to wide receiver Brandin Cooks as he beat safety DeShon Elliott on a sideline catch.
“I think you look at some of the balls we’ve hit, the one thatwehit against Baltimore, the ball to Cooks, there’s obviously explosive plays to be made on the field, and I believe we have the right players to do it,” Kelly said.