The Houston Texans won the turnover battle against the Miami Dolphins in the 17-9 loss in Week 9 at Hard Rock Stadium.
The problem was the Texans had to generate five takeaways to outpace the Dolphins, who managed to collect four of the Texans’ turnovers.
Houston did not win the penalty battle against the Dolphins as they committed eight penalties for 60 yards compared to Miami’s two for 13.
The two aspects of the Texans’ season that has led to their 1-8 record are turnovers and penalties, and coach David Culley insisted on Nov. 8, the day after the loss, that they will work harder to fix turnovers and penalties.
“We practice against turnovers,” said Culley. “We practice against penalties. We practice against those things. We are going to continue to do that. Unfortunately, we got to do a better job of doing that because it didn’t happen. It happened to someone that it’s never happened to before. Unfortunately for us that guy handles the ball 99% of the time on offense, and when he is not doing the right thing with the ball, it’s tough on us to be successful.”
Quarterback Tyrod Taylor made his return after being on injured reserve following Week 2 with a hamstring injury. The former Pro Bowler went 24-of-43 for 240 yards and three interceptions.
Culley wasn’t giving Taylor a pass for being out for the past six weeks.
Said Culley: “We can sit here and give him an excuse that he hasn’t played in six weeks, but he’s been around, he’s practiced, he’s a veteran. We knew the situation going in. He knew the situation going in. He just didn’t play very well, uncharacteristically of him, he just didn’t play well. I know he hasn’t had in his career in any game where he’s thrown three interceptions or had that kind of football game.”
The Texans get back to work against the Tennessee Titans Nov. 21 at Nissan Stadium. Taylor will remain the starter.