Britt: ‘Critical errors’ fed into late collapse
Texans starting center Justin Britt though he was “a little out of control” in Houston’s regular-season opener against the Colts. Maybe it was the excitement, he said. Maybe the game day jitters. As the leader of the offensive line, he took ownership of the position group’s breakdowns when a 17-point lead evaporated in an eventual 20-20 tie in overtime.
Britt has a key role in Houston’s revamped scheme. Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton divides pre-snap calls among Britt and quarterback Davis Mills. Their unit was often dysfunctional against the Colts. Key blocks were missed in crucial running situations. An offensive line that kept Mills clean through three quarters surrendered a gamechanging sack and fumble to start the fourth quarter, then surrendered two more sacks in overtime.
Mental gaffes made matters worse. Britt was late on a snap on the first drive of overtime, which made a third-and-17 even more difficult to convert. Later, the Texans had 1:57 remaining to break the tie, and Britt himself was flagged for a false start that complicated what could’ve been another game-winning drive.
“I feel like me personally, I made a couple critical errors,” Britt said. “Sometimes I put more weight on my shoulders than maybe needs to be. But I hold myself to a standard. I like Pep’s offense, and I like our approach, and I like the way the game was called. We, us, me can execute more and definitely put more points up on the board.”
An imposing run game is central to Hamilton’s offensive philosophy. Texans coach Lovie Smith supports it. General manager Nick Caserio morphed the 53-man roster to field multiple tight ends and a fullback. But the Texans managed 2.8 yards per carry against the Colts and just 1.5 per carry when fullback Troy Hairston was deployed.
When the Texans needed to run the ball, they couldn’t. Most notably, on third-and-1 in overtime, backup running back Rex Burkhead was dropped for a 2-yard loss when Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart swam past Britt. It was a confidencesucking tackle. Smith elected to punt and seal the franchise’s first tie.
“We feel like we can kind of run in any scenario,” Britt said. “But at the end of the day, whatever the play is called, we try to execute it. However we get to the win, we get there. We have goals of hitting a certain amount of rushing yards, yards per rush that matters to us. Whenever we don’t hit those, we evaluate to see what we can do better.”
The Texans next play the Broncos, who held the Seahawks to 76 yards rushing, albeit on just 19 attempts (4 yards per carry). Denver’s three-man front will present a different blocking strategy than Houston used against Indy’s four-man front. Smith also voiced his concern that Burkhead received more onfield snaps (71 percent) than promising fourth-round rookie Dameon Pierce (21 percent), who earned the starting job during training camp.
“Can’t defend the amount of reps our starting tailback got in some of those situations,” Smith said. “I wish he had gotten more. We’re going to work to get him more of those opportunities.”