NO SURPRISE
With running game shut down in second half, Watson couldn’t passway to victory
Offense becoming one-dimensional without run game.
PITTSBURGH — Deshaun Watson scrambled toward the sideline in front of the Texans’ bench late Sunday afternoon before launching an ill-fated throw across his body while absorbing a hit from Pittsburgh linebacker T. J. Watt.
Watson was a quarterback perhaps driven by desperation and trying to spark an offense and a game plan that had wandered terribly awry. The errant throw, intended for wide receiverWill Fuller and closer to Kenny Stills’ area, was intercepted by cornerback Mike Hilton at the Steelers’ 21-yard line.
The turnover on third-and-15, a frequent long-yardage situation Watson encountered, led to the Steelers’ go-ahead touchdownand two-point conversion on the ensuing drive. But a one-dimensional offense’s problems run much deeper than a late misfire from Watson during an otherwise solid performance.
The winless Texans’ 28-21 loss at Heinz Field was defined by a horrible running game that generated just 29 yards on 15 carries against the Steelers’ top-ranked run defense for anaverage of1.9yards per run along with a scoreless second half after building a 21-17 halftime lead during a somewhat encouraging first half for the passing game.
In the second half, the Texans had just 51 yards and two first downs. Watson threw the football only nine times in the second half after completing 14 of 18 passes for 202 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the first half.
“Just trying tomake a play, honestly; sometimesmy instincts take over and sometimes it backfires,” said Watson, who completed 19 of 27 passesoverall for 264yards, two touchdowns and one interception. “I just try to do what I can to get a spark for this team. A lot of guys in this locker room have a lot of trust and faith in what I’m doing.”
Watson could hardly be blamed for trying to do something outside of the box considering howpoorly the Texans performed in the second half and the lack of a complementary rushing attack.
After trading wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona for running back David Johnson and taking on his $10.2million base salary this year, the offseason move keeps looking worse and worse. Hopkins is thriving with the Cardinals. Sunday, Johnson rushed for 23 yards andone touchdownon13 carriesasheaveraged1.8yardsper run despite not facing a single defense with eight ormore defenders in the tackle box, according to Next Gen Stats.
Johnson also rarely had many holes to run through against a stout front seven.
“They’re a good run defense,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said. “We tried to work different schemes and really nothing worked. We weren’t able to get to the edge. Weweren’t able to get up inside toomuch. We have to figure out how to get our running game going.”
Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, a first-year play-caller, led all NFL teams in early-down passing frequency during losses to the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. He switched up his tendencies Sunday against the Steelers.
Saddled with an unproductive running game, the Texans scored zero points after halftime and squandered the lead.
“We just didn’t find a balance,” Watson said. “We didn’t establish the run, and we just didn’t make enough plays, honestly. So, things just kind of backfired on us.”
Watson threw his first touchdown passes of the season to his wide receivers, connecting in the first half with new slot receiver Randall Cobb (four catches, 95 yards) on a 28-yard score and hitting Will Fuller (four catches, 54 yards) on a fade pass for a 14-yard touchdown that gave the Texans a 21-17 halftime lead.
The passing game was finding a rhythm and chemistry for the first time during a rough start to the season. Why not keep passing if the running game is ineffective?
“Nah, you’ve got to run the ball and you’ve got to have a balance,” Watson said. “You can’t just sit back there and pass. Now, you’re giving them opportunities to pin their ears back and rush thewhole time. You’ve got to have the balance between runand pass andwe didn’t have that.”
Watson was sacked five times and hit 12 times against a Steelers defense that leads the NFL in blitz rate and pressure rate.
“With aD-line like that, they can just pin their ears back and just rush, they can drop everyone in coverage and play the sticks,” Watson said. “You’ve got to find the holes and buy some time to let those receivers get the depth that we need, but we’ve got to stay out of that. We’ve got to have positive yards on first and second down and get us in third and manageable.”
The Texans’ timing has looked worse than other teams around the league following a virtual offseason and no preseason games due to the coronavirus pandemic. Wide receiver Brandin Cooks, acquired in a trade from the Rams to try to help replace Hopkins, bristled at the suggestion that the lack of time together is why the Texans are struggling.
“That’s just a big excuse,” Cooks said. “You look around the league, offenses are playing at a high level. At the end of the day, we didn’t start our season fast.
“We started this game fast, but we didn’t finish, and that’s on us as players. At the end of the day, it’s all about inconsistency.”
In last place in the AFC South afterwinning thedivisioneachof the past two seasons, the Texans are digging a deeper hole for themselves with each mounting loss.
“We are what we are,” Watson said. “We’re0-3, but there’s a lot of positivity in this. You can’t dwell on the negativity. We’ve got 13 more games. Who knows what could happen in 13 more games? I can’t letmyself get discouraged.”