Run game better, but issues linger
Left, right, up the middle, the Texans rushing attack steadily bashed the Buccaneers front during the kind of steady, powerful drive first-year NFL head coach David Culley has said he wants to be part of Houston’s offensive identity this season.
Houston’s potential starting trio — Mark Ingram, Phillip Lindsay, David Johnson — combined for 11 carries and 46 yards on an 18-play, first-quarter drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock and cracked Tampa Bay’s defense with a 4.18yard per carry average.
It was easily the most productive sequence by a run game that’s largely struggled in the preseason. The drive offered the first promising sign that Houston’s first-team offense can be efficient on the ground in 2021, a season after the franchise had the second-worst run game in the league.
But zoom out.
Other noticeable glaring issues surrounded the drive in Houston’s 23-16 loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday night in the final exhibition of the preseason, revealing several pitfalls that could doom the team during a season in which it is already expected to struggle.
First off: Houston didn’t score on the drive.
After hammering its way to the Tampa Bay 7, the Texans’ offense turned the ball over on downs when Tyrod Taylor’s fourth-down toss to David Johnson fell incomplete in the end zone — an illusory aggressive decision that was made because kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was held out of the exhibition because of precautions with a minor muscle pull.
Culley later said the Texans would have kicked a field goal in the scenario had Fairairn been available.
So, amend the issue: Houston didn’t score a touchdown on the drive.
Red-zone touchdown conversions first emerged as an issue in the preseason opener against Green Bay, when Fairbairn kicked four field goals in its 26-7 victory, all of them with the ball set within the Packers’ 25.
Not picking up seven points near opposing end zones will be particularly costly for the Texans — a team that will be the underdog in most of its games this season — and Culley has said he’ll be aggressive on fourth downs in short-yardage situations.
The Texans converted on a fourth-and-1 with a 1-yard run by Ingram during its 18play drive. Still, three plays later, the offense had to overcome a setback on third-and-4 when left tackle Geron Christian was called for a false start. Taylor delivered a 9-yard pass to tight end Jordan Akins to continue the drive to the Tampa Bay 12, but the Texans failed to produce points within the next four plays.
“I want that kind of drive, but we’ve got to finish it,” Culley said. “We have not been able to finish that.”
A second issue: The drive was bookended by easy Tampa Bay touchdown drives.
Tom Brady carved up the Texans’ defense on two straight touchdown drives that both took less than four minutes. The future Hall of Fame quarterback finished the game 11-of-14 passing with 154 yards and a 24-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin.
Texans safety Justin Reid said, “Tom Brady went out there and did Tom Brady things,” and linebacker Christian Kirksey said the defense received its ultimate test from an elite quarterback who can crack a coverage’s code as it develops.
The Texans struggled in surrendering successive touchdown drives last season, but this season, without franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is not playing while facing 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault or harassment, the franchise doesn’t have the same offensive firepower that can alleviate defensive shortcomings.
Which brings up the third issue: The Texans have yet to be explosive on offense.
Taylor did not throw a touchdown pass in the preseason. He completed 12of-18 passes for 81 yards in three exhibitions. Until backup Davis Mills tossed two touchdowns in his upand-down performance against the Bucs, no Texan quarterback had yet thrown for a score at all this year.
The quarterbacks also combined to turn the ball over four times against Tampa Bay. Mills threw three interceptions. Taylor had the ball knocked loose by a defender from behind while rolling to his right and trying to extend the play on a third-and-6 at the Texan 39.
Taylor’s passing game has also been noticeably simplified in the preseason: short throws, rhythm tosses, nothing that provides any insight into the downfield passing game that Culley said Taylor thrived at during his time in Buffalo.
It’s not unusual to see an NFL offense limit itself in the preseason. In meaningless exhibitions, coaches sometimes eschew the final score while focusing on solving potential issues — such as a troublesome rushing attack — instead of using up game plans and plays that will be more useful in the regular season.
“Oh, it’s there,” Culley said of the downfield passing game. “I think tonight, the thing going into the game tonight was that we told our up-front people, ‘We want to establish the run. We want to consistently establish the run.’ And we did that tonight. We did that for a whole half. Now, we have to throw the ball better than we did tonight, but the emphasis tonight was to consistently run the ball against a very good front.”