BROKEN RECORD
Once again O’Brien’s defense couldn’t stop the run or get off the field on third down
McClain: Defense’s late run-stopping problems persist.
There was a time in the nottoo-distant past when the Texans’ defense was among the best in the NFL against the run and in the top half of the league on third down.
That was in 2018 when the Texans were third against the run, allowing 82.6 yards a game, and 13th on third down with 40.1 percent.
In the last two losses in their 0-3 start, it’s been almost painful to watch the defense get steamrolled by Baltimore and Pittsburgh, especially in the fourth quarter.
In this most recent defeat, the Texans allowed the Steelers to come from behind and win 28-21 at Heinz Field and control the ball at an alarming rate again — 36:51 to 23:09.
“You’re playing the Steelers, and they’re going to wear you down if they possess the ball like that,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “We’ve got to play the run better, but, as a team, we’ve got to play better complementary football. We did that in the first half, but in the second half we did not.
“They did a better job than we did in the second half.”
Indeed, they did. The Texans were outcoached and outplayed in the second half. Still, they were in position to get their first victory. They were on top 21-17 at halftime and 21-20 in the fourth quarter before surrendering a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
“We were up 21-20,” defensive end J. J. Watt said. “As a defensive player, if you don’t give up another point you win the game. We gave up a touchdown, unfortunately.
“We’ve got to find a way to finish games. You have to make a play. You’ve got tomake a stop.”
But they didn’t when it counted the most. It was more of the same, and it resulted in a rare Texans’ defeat when they lead at halftime. They’re now 37-4 with a halftime since O’Brien arrived in 2014.
Once again, the defense got pulverized by the run, particularly in the fourth quarter. The Steelers ran 38 times for 169 yards — 29 fewer than the Texans had been allowing — but the running game in combination with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s meticulous use of his short passing game, allowed Pittsburgh to dominate the clock.
“Give Pittsburgh credit,” O’Brien said. “They did a good job of possessing the ball. We didn’t do anything in the second half. The defense was on the field too long. Pittsburgh ran the ball well, and we weren’t able to do that.”
The Texans couldn’t run or stop the run.
After surrendering 153 yards rushing in the fourth quarter of their loss to Baltimore, the Texans let running back James Conner run for 65 on seven carries in the last period on Sunday. He carried seven times, including runs of 35 and 25. That’s seven explosive runs of at least 10 yards in the fourth quarter of the last two games.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Watt said. “We’ve got to set the edge, and we’ve got to get hats to the ball. We’re giving up runs around the edge — it was easy. We just can’t do that. You’re not going to win games doing what we’ve done in the fourth quarter these last two weeks giving up these runs.”
That’s two weeks in a row in which a good performance against the run has evaporated in the fourth quarter because the defense has spent too much time on the field.
“I don’t know why we can play the run well early and not finish it,” Watt said. “I don’t know what it is, but we’re losing games, and we better figure it out.”
There are several factors that contributed to the Texans getting flattened in the fourth quarter. The offense was invisible in the second half with too many threeand-out possessions. The one turnover — Deshaun Watson’s interception thrown into double coverage — led to a touchdown.
Watson and the offense were exceptional in the first half but collapsed under the Steelers’ avalanche against the run and on the pass rush. It’s amazing Watson survived after the hit he took from outside linebacker T. J. Watt on the interception.
Teams aren’t going to win many games when they have the ball for 3:10 in the fourth quarter and allow the opponent to control it for 11:50, but that’s the way it played out.
“They were on the field a lot,” O’Brien said about his defense. “Some of that had to do with not being able to convert third downs on offense. We had a bunch of three-and-outs, and the defense was right back out there.”
In three games, the Texans allow188.3 yards a game rushing. Minnesota, their next opponent at NRG Stadium, ran for 226 in a 31-30 loss to Tennessee.
Opponents are converting at a 48.8 clip on third down. The Texans have allowed five successful conversions on five attempts on fourth down, including two against the Steelers.
So they can’t stop the run, and they can’t get off the field on third down. That’s a lethal combination. If they don’t do something about it against the Vikings, the Texans will be 0-4 for the first time since O’Brien became the coach in 2014.
“If you’re not interested in getting better and finding ways to get better, you’re probably in the wrong profession, and you shouldn’t be in sports,” Watt said. “That’s what this job is — finding a way every day to get better, and we need to do that in a hurry.”