Kyle Allen may not have started yet for the Houston Texans, but he is well aware of what makes the offense tick.
The new starting quarterback, who will be making his Texans debut against the Miami Dolphins Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at Hard Rock Stadium, met with reporters Nov. 25 and spoke about the identity of the offense.
“It’s great, and we’ve committed to [the run], too,” said Allen. “That’s why last game when we were struggling in the run game, it hurts the whole offense. We’re a run identity team.”
The Texans were unable to move the football on the ground in their 23-10 loss to Washington at NRG Stadium in Week 11. Rookie running back Dameon Pierce was stymied with 10 carries for eight yards. The offense’s only rushing touchdown came from quarterback Davis Mills on a 4-yard scramble. The since-benched signal caller had a team-high 10 yards on five carries. The Texans generated 21 yards on 16 carries for the afternoon.
Allen, who has not started a game in the NFL since 2020 with Washington when he went 1-3, is enthused about the Texans’ running back stable.
“It’s great,” Allen said. “Dameon has played awesome. Rex (Burkhead) is a seasoned vet in the league, he’s played great. Dare (Ogunbowale) has been awesome in the spurts he’s got, too. We’ll need to get him going on Sunday.”
The Dolphins could provide an opportunity as they give up 4.9 yards per carry, tied for the ninth-most in the NFL. Their 116.9 rushing yards surrendered per game (16th) and 256 rushing attempts against (seventh-fewest) suggest Miami chases their opposition out of the run early due to their own offense’s ability to generate explosive plays. If the Texans are able to establish the run early and play to their own identity, they could challenge whether Miami is actually stopping the run or forcing teams to abandon it.