Despite their 1-4-1 record, the Houston Texans have shown a lot of fight this season. It isn’t for lack of effort that they haven’t managed to find much success in the win column.
Their offense has seen its share of ups and downs through six games and seems to be on the cusp of something special with a bit more improvement. Rookie running back Dameon Pierce has been a revelation for the team since Week 1 and led all first-year backs in rushing yards ahead of Sunday’s matchup.
Quarterback Davis Mills commented on Pierce’s production after the Texans’ loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, telling reporters that the dirty work being put in by the running back is starting to open things up for him in the air attack.
“When you’re able to run the ball and the defense doesn’t know what you’re going to do on any given play, it definitely helps,” Mills said. “There were situations last year when all we were able to do is pass the football with our running attack, but this year we’ve been really efficient moving it. DP [Dameon Pierce] really stepped up as well as our offensive line playing extremely hard. And yeah, it does help out just overall to the offense allowing us to do a lot more.”
Although plenty of work remains for the Texans as they look to rebuild in 2022 and 2023, the pieces are starting to fall into place for them on both sides of the ball. Their final record this season may not be indicative of the strides made over the course of their grueling schedule, but in the first year of the Lovie Smith regime, they could be doing much worse.
Pierce looks to be a key part of their strategy looking ahead to Week 8, and after another rock-solid showing on Sunday, he should be primed for another clutch performance against the Titans.