Texans avoid another close game by going for jugular
The Texans had avoided the down-to-the-wire finish they’ve faced too many times this season.
With just under two minutes to play Sunday afternoon, Deshaun Watson capped an outstanding day with a 44-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller to put the Texans ahead of the Falcons by 15 points.
It would be tough for Atlanta to overcome that big a deficit so late in the game. But Tashaun Gipson wanted to make it a little tougher.
In the final minute, he picked off a Matt Ryan pass
and went flying down the field. Gipson scored a 79-yard touchdown to push the Texans to a 53-32 score, putting an exclamation point on their biggest win of the season.
“When I had the ball at the end, I went for it. More points is a good thing for us because in a lot of games, we are coming down to the wire,” Gipson said. “Each week, we are like, ‘Why do we make these games so close?’ ”
The reasons vary. Sometimes, the offense can’t get going. The Texans’ running game has struggled to light it up, or the offensive line hasn’t given Watson adequate time to make plays.
Other times, someone in the secondary blows an assignment and allows an opponent to put up late points.
Whatever the case, it’s been commonplace for the Texans, who until Sunday hadn’t seen a bigger scoring differential than seven points in any game this season.
They won by 21 points Sunday. The point differential in their previous four games combined was 16.
“Four of the last five games came down to a one-possession game,” Gipson said. “We have the team where ... we should be able to win by 14 points, 10 points — at least two scores. And this was a game where offensively, defensively, we put it all together, and we put up 53.”
The Texans aren’t going to be able to do that every week by any means. They will face opponents tougher than Atlanta.
But Gipson is right about their abilities to win by larger margins.
On Sunday, Watson was outrageous. He completed 28 of 33 passes for 426 yards and five touchdowns.
Between Watson’s talents — which continue to boggle the mind — and offensive weapons like DeAndre Hopkins, who caught seven passes for 88 yards, and Fuller, who had the best game of his career with 14 catches, 217 yards and three touchdowns, the Texans can certainly score.
Add in a Carlos Hyde/Duke Johnson-led running game that continues to show improvement, and this is a tough offense to stop.
Defensively, the Texans boast J.J. Watt, who picked up his fourth sack of the season Sunday and recorded five quarterback hits. They also have key contributors like Whitney Mercilus and D.J. Reader, who regularly make big plays.
The problem for this team has been a lack of consistency and cohesion. When the offense has been on, it has lacked support from the defense. When the defense is suffocating an opponent, the offense has been unable to score points.
So for several weeks, a nailbiter has ensued.
“Nobody wants the game to come down to the wire,” Gipson said. “Sometimes it’s nice to put your feet up and win in convincing fashion, and we were able to do that today.”
It was close for a half. Atlanta led 17-16 at the break, but the Texans put together a stellar third quarter to come out of a hole and dig one for their opponent, outscoring the Falcons 17-0.
Even though Atlanta threatened to come back in the fourth quarter, the game stayed just out of reach thanks to the thirdquarter cushion.
Sunday’s win was a good one. There were a few issues — mostly on special teams. Ka’imi Fairbairn missed two PATs, and DeAndre Carter fumbled a punt return that set up a late Atlanta score.
Those things can be costly, especially against an opponent like the one the Texans face next week in Kansas City.
While Sunday was worth celebrating, the lingering challenge of the Chiefs was certainly floating through the air at NRG Stadium.
Coach Bill O’Brien didn’t show much excitement, despite the offense’s masterful performance. He wouldn’t stray from his normal “we’re just trying to get better each week” line during the postgame press conference.
And his team will have to be better to beat the Chiefs on the road next week.
But the Texans showed they stand a chance against anyone when they are firing on all cylinders.
“I think we put it all together well,” cornerback Johnathan Joseph said. “It was a chess match, but we fed off the offense, and they fed off us. Everyone contributed, and the result was really good. It’s a great feeling at the end when you know that the game is out of reach. Every game won’t be like that, but when you can make that happen, it’s a great thing.”