The Houston Texans had trouble getting in the red zone, and it contributed to their 35-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium.
Houston scored a touchdown on two of their four red zone trips, and converted two of their three goal-to-go situations. As a result, they lost the game by two touchdowns, one of which would have had to have included a successful two-point conversion.
According to quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Texans’ struggles running the football in such a condensed space were part of the problem.
“They’re just trying to stop the run, and then whenever we run past, it’s a lot of extra defenders, so you got to find space and buy yourself some time to find guys and get open,” Watson said. “It’s tough to score down in the red zone. It’s not easy to do that. That’s one of the toughest spots, percentage-wise, once you get down there, it’s tough. So, a lot of times teams want to score backed off from the red zone, from the goal line. That’s it. You got to be able to run the ball in.”
Houston was successful in getting the ball in running back David Johnson’s hands near the goal line on pass plays. On a second-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 9:02 to go in the third quarter, Watson threw a scoring pass to Johnson to help Houston chip into the Packers’ lead, 21-7.
However, facing a third-and-3 from Green Bay’s 8-yard line with 14:16 left in the game, Watson took a sack that forced Houston to send kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn out for a 38-yard field goal.
With 9:59 left in the game, Fairbairn hit a 29-yard field goal after running back Duke Johnson was unable to convert a third-and-goal pass from the 8-yard line.
Having touchdowns instead of field goals could have helped the Texans, who enter the bye week 1-6 and searching for answers.