The Houston Texans’ loss on Sunday was ugly to watch, and an embarrassing performance from the team’s offense is sure to be a hot topic of discussion this week as the coaching staff tries to pick up the pieces. It is said that one can learn a line from a victory and a book from defeat in the NFL, but Lovie Smith and his crew are set up for a whole encyclopedia after the way their squad played against the Tennessee Titans.
For his part, Smith didn’t downplay the way his guys got absolutely manhandled by their division rivals. He was honest with the media after the game, telling reporters that his offensive line was dominated in all four quarters.
“It starts up front,” Smith said. “When you get dominated up front on both sides of the football, part of the game plan, I mean, it’s hard to get any game plan going. Offensively for us, if they’re in our backfield every time, you can’t run, you can’t pass the football. So every question you can ask me, it’s going to come back to that. We’re dominated up front, can’t run our pass in those situations. And defensively, when it’s easy, we have a starting quarterback out, when you can turn and hand the ball off and you can’t tackle, it’s going to be a game like that.”
At 1-5-1 the Texans’ season is effectively over. They have nothing to play for except draft position, and no prospects of serious improvement with their current crop of talent. Few teams have experienced the depths of football hades quite the way Houston has in recent seasons, and this loss is further proof that their climb back to relevance will be a slow one.
They play the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night this week and will try to hold on for dear life in an effort to at least show signs of life against one of the league’s top teams.