Another game. Another close miss. Not much to say at this point in this particular piece, but I’ll have more to say later in the week. In this edition we always look at the in-game numbers to determine which are best associated with wins and losses. We can predict the usual suspects like turnovers, but this one might be a game where that’s not the case. More on that later.
As has been the case over the last four seasons, when the Texans fall short, it’s almost always on the offensive side of the football. Sure, there were mistakes made on the other end and we can look at those individually, but again you have a football team being held to 20 points or less and again your offense just wasn’t good enough to do it. However, let’s look at the numbers.
The Basic Statistics
Total Yards: Texans 51/223, Colts 71/300
Rushing Yards: Texans 21/70, Colts 30/89
Passing Yards: Texans 30/153, Colts 41/211
Sacks: Texans 4, Colts 3
First Downs: Texans 17, Colts 19
Third-down conversions: Texans 4/11, Colts 7/15
Fourth-down conversion: Texans 0/1, Colts 2/2
Turnovers: Texans 0, Colts 3
Time of Possession: Texans 24:47, Colts 35:13
It takes a special kind of effort to win the turnover battle of the three and lose the football game. DeMeco Ryans Texans have done that on several occasions and it’s something that doesn’t happen often. The last notable time was Monday night’s tilt with the Detroit Lions. So, while the defense gave up some big chunk plays, I wouldn’t mess with them that hard.
The Good
Will Anderson is good at football. It’s really simple. He recorded 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and had one fumble recovery. That was enough to lead the team to victory. He did that two weeks ago. He has shown up to play in each of the last two weeks and made plays. That’s all you can ask of a man when you’re paying him top dollar on the market. You have to make plays and he makes plays. In fact, the defense played better in each of their three games. They allowed fewer touchdowns than the last two and held Jonathan Taylor to under 100 yards rushing. These are usually things that lead to success. It didn’t happen this time and that’s why we have the bad and ugly categories.
The Bad
It was one of those moments where I had to decide between bad coaching and bad players. I will join the coaching this time around. It’s not good enough. Gaining 220+ yards isn’t good enough against the worst defense in the NFL. Yes, you don’t have Nico Collins. Yeah, you don’t have Ed Ingram. Yes, the other side is also paid to play football and they will make the occasional play. You can’t continue to simply not turn your back on the football and expect that to be enough to win. You have to move the football. You have to put points on the board. Great offensive coordinators make chicken salad out of chicken crap. Good offensive coordinators can coax enough plays out of their team when the opposing team punches you in the mouth. This group does not. That was Nick Caley’s.
The Ugly
When you say you’re a tough running football team you have to get the players needed to be a tough running football team. If you can’t be a tough running team, you’ll get the players necessary to move the ball through the air. It really is that simple. This group is idle. That’s with Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans. A coaches job is to put his players in the best position to win football games. The general manager’s job is to give them the players needed to do it. You’ve made a fruit basket turnover on the offensive line in three years. You are literally no closer to getting it right than when you started. As I said at the beginning, I have a lot more to say on this problem this week.
Focus on Stroud
The official line will say he went 16 for 27 with 167 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t throw any picks and he didn’t chase the ball. So, it’s not like it’s a crisp performance. He would probably give himself either a B- or a C+ and that would be perfectly reasonable. I honestly can’t tell if any of the last two weeks have really helped or hurt his chances. This is likely an incomplete due to the inefficiency of this offense. It all depends on who you want to blame. If you blame the bad guys, it’s hard to justify giving him the bag because the bag will prevent you from paying someone else. However, if it is harsh teaching then that criticism does not apply. We will examine this question later in the week.