The Houston Texans made a statement in Week 1 with 160 rushing yards in their 37-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at NRG Stadium. Running back Mark Ingram led the team with 26 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown.
However, the Texans have been unable to crack 100 yards rushing as a team in their last two games, both losses. In Week 3’s 24-9 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football, Houston’s leading rusher was Ingram again, but with six carries for 21 yards.
Coach David Culley won’t say the Texans played intimidating defenses in the Cleveland Browns in Week 2 and the Panthers in Week 3. Instead, Culley says the team just has to get better.
Said Culley: “When we looked at the video, basically we were the enemy and not them. In other words, we did not execute some things that we had been executing previously. We got to make some calls that we didn’t get made during that ballgame that put us in some situations that put us behind the chains. We hadn’t been doing that.”
The Texans have 10 days off as they get ready to take on the Buffalo Bills Sunday, Oct. 3 at Highmark Stadium. Buffalo will present their own challenges to the Texans’ ground game, and Houston’s coaches had better figure out what the problem actually is.
“Basically, we just got to go back and correct those mistakes, and I feel like we’ll be back on track because we made a few more this game than we had in the previous two,” said Culley.
The Texans are starting 1-2 for the first time since 2017, a season that ended with a 4-12 finish and last place in the AFC South.