Battle Red Blog
There was a lot to like in today’s game against the Denver Broncos, but so, SO much more to hate.
I don’t even want to recap the Texans’ scoring drives because they relied, exclusively, on the Texans’ patented all-field goal offense.
The defense came to play today. And, while the team came up short, they managed to make Bo Nix’s life really difficult for 3 and a half quarters.
And then the Denver Broncos attempted to murder C.J. Stroud; and that’s when I discovered that attempted murder isn’t against the rules in the NFL because the referee pulled the flag after the hit saying the defender was “already committed.”
Never mind that every time a defensive player I’ve seen in the last 15-20 years has been already committed gets the flag anyway because defense is bad, I guess.
Stroud would leave the game midway through the second quarter and it would be a slow, gradual descent down from there.
Not only would Stroud leave the game and not come back, but also G Ed Ingram (knee), OT Tytus Howard (concussion), and (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) LB Christian Harris (shin)
The only offense on the day came from Ka’imi Fairbairn who kicked five (5!) field goals of 23, 41, 38, 40, and 41 yards.
That was the offense. The Texans won the possession battle by a full nine minutes. But the fourth quarter is when it all came apart as the Broncos made their way down the field against what can only be assumed to be an exhausted defense and got the game winning field goal.
Think about that for a second. The Texans had the ball for 34:36, over nine minutes longer than the Broncos had the ball and what did the Texans do with it? 15 points on five field goals, 77 total yards rushing and just a hair over 200 yards passing.
Sure you could say “but Stroud was injured,” or “the Broncos defense is legit” or a hundred other things, but this team had scoring opportunities. They got to the Broncos half yard line, not once, but TWICE and came up with field goals.
The first time was, possibly, the most Houston Texans Red Zone Drive of all Texans red zone drives.
First and goal at the 1/2 yard line: run up the middle for no gain.
Second and goal at the 1/2 yard line: see first down.
Third and goal at the 1/2 yard line: see first down.
Fourth and goal at the 1/2 yard line: false start, leading to a field goal.
This happened when Stroud was on the field. This happened when the Texans had the defense on the ropes a bit. They had TWO chances to put up touchdowns but failed both times. That’s on the offense. That’s on the offensive coordinator.
On the bright side, if Stroud misses significant time and the offense doesn’t improve (and based on these injuries, I’m pessimistic), our new offensive coordinator is going...
