Battle Red Blog
There is always more than one way to look at these things. I suppose if we separate ourselves emotionally we can even manage to do that the day after. We predicted struggle earlier this week when we looked at the rankings in team sacks for the Texans’ opponents. We could also look at the fact that four of the five teams that have beaten the Texans are currently 6-2 and all of the teams that have beaten them have winning records. So, we could always fall back on the fact that the schedule maker wasn’t kind to them.
That being said, the hallmark of Ryans first two seasons was a sparkling record in one score games. Maybe it is fate. Maybe it is the laws of the universe balancing itself out. Maybe there are greater systemic issues at play here, but all of their losses have come in one score games. None of their victories have come in one score games. I’m not big into clutch performance as a thing. I suppose it exists, but it impossible to quantify and it isn’t particularly portable necessarily.
We break down the numbers because they might give us a clue over time what the team is lacking. It is easy to say, “just score more than the other team,” but it is more instructive to say they need to work on a specific facet of the game. I could say I need to run the ball better or convert more on third down. I can’t say, “I need to score more points.” So, let’s see what we see from Sunday afternoon.
Total Yards: Texans 72/268, Broncos 61/271
Rushing Yards: Texans 28/77, Broncos 23/100
Passing Yards: Texans 44/191, Broncos 38/171
Sacks: Texans 1, Broncos 4
Third Down Conversion: Texans 3/17, Broncos 6/15
Turnovers: Texans 0, Broncos 2
Penalties: Texans 4/29, Broncos 4/41
Time of Possession: Texans 34:36. Broncos 25:24
Someone please explain to me how you can look at these numbers and arrive at a Texans loss? You were +2 on the turnover ratio. You had fewer penalty yards than your opponent. You possessed the ball longer than your opponent. I am truly befuddled. I watched most of it and I am still trying to figure it out. Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly.
I mean, the offense did give the defense three whole points to work with after half time. Why couldn’t they pitch a shut out? In all seriousness, this is the NFL. You don’t shut out teams very often and you don’t shut out good football teams ever. They are going to make plays. Yes, sometimes they are a result of defensive mistakes, but sometimes they are just good plays that professionals make. So, this game is not on the defense. When you hold a team to under 20 points you should win the game. Period. Full stop. End of discussion.
If the offense scored 20 points and exactly 20 points...
