Battle Red Blog
It all started when the Texans were 0-3. They had lost three close games and the offense seemingly couldn’t do anything right. Ten games later and the Texans are sitting at 8-5. They have the best scoring defense in the NFL and the offense still hasn’t been great, but they have been good enough to win. They went from near dead to being more likely than not to make the playoffs. There is still work to do, but the oddsmaker might even make them the odds on favorite to win the AFC South for the third season in a row.
Like most Texans victories this season, there were extreme highs (mostly on the defensive end) and some pretty stark lows. We look at the numbers because eventually the aggregate tells us something about the Texans and football in general. As per usual, we will look at the great, the good, and the bad as we do in all Texans victories.
It is hard to boil down a game to one stat, but the turnover stat was the key to this game. Turning it over on fourth down in your own territory is almost like a turnover. If you count the two in the fourth quarter then it is almost as if the Texans got five turnovers. In that light, getting only 20 points almost seems like a miracle. Yet, if you watched the game and this offense then you understand. We will get to more on that later.
Patrick Mahomes was 14 for 33 with only 160 yards passing. He had zero touchdown passes and three interceptions. No, it was not always about him playing badly. No, it was not always about the Texans playing brilliantly. His receivers had some key drops along the way. The combination of these factors led to Mahomes having the worst game of his career. I would call it luck, but it isn’t luck. Josh Allen had his worst game against the Texans defense (likely the 2024 game). Trevor Lawrence likely has never played worse than he did against the Texans. Jared Goff definitely wants to forget his game against the Texans.
When multiple talented quarterbacks all look bad against your defense it isn’t luck. It’s something else. It is a defense that combines constant pressure with tight coverage and closing quickness to make throwing windows tighter than they appear. The Chiefs actually ran the ball well, but the Texans did just enough to force Mahomes to beat them. That kind of strategy is usually death for a defense. For the Texans it was the perfect recipe of...
