The Houston Texans suffered an embarrassing 31-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium, their first game at home with fans. The game included a puzzling defensive effort and an absolutely uninspired offensive game script.
Astonishingly, after the game, Texans coach Bill O’Brien said, “We’ve got to find a running game, a consistent running game.”
For anyone who watched the game, this quote immediately creates cognitive dissonance. Houston, deploying one of the finest young quarterbacks in the National Football League in Deshaun Watson, committed to running the ball a shocking 26 times against Minnesota, nearly dead even with their 23 pass attempts.
The results: David Johnson and Duke Johnson combined for 87 yards on 21 carries. The offense looked hilariously predictable. The running game produced no scores on the afternoon. David Johnson fumbled (and recovered) on the goal line and cost the Texans’ crucial field position for a pivotal fourth down. How easy would fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line be as opposed to fourth-and-ballgame from the 5?
In fact, with the game on the line during Houston’s final drive, the coaching staff chose to dial up three consecutive running plays with David Johnson before giving Deshaun Watson a chance to win the game.
Not surprisingly, even the magician could overcome Sunday’s game-script. During an afternoon where the running game could shoulder a reasonably large share of blame for the loss, the coach and general manager insists on the team’s worst offensive facet. How is this possible?
Even the announcers joined in on the pile-on.
FOX team is destroying Bill O'Brien. pic.twitter.com/Zxxbdwf0cl
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) October 4, 2020
The Texans will have to do some serious soul searching this week. Once again, the running game was nonexistent and receivers not named Will Fuller severely struggled to make an impact. The team needs to question their absolutely bizarre commitment towards taking the ball out of Watson’s hands, the guy they signed to a contract extension worth $40 million a year, the second-highest paid quarterback in the league.
This team is not playing like one full of veterans and rostering a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback. O’Brien has work to do if he hopes to finish the season. Allowing the offense to better compliment it’s dynamic quarterback would be a nice start.