The Houston Texans’ rushing offense is as bad as their run defense. Through 12 games, the Texans have generated 1,013 rushing yards, the fewest in the NFL.
Though Houston is just eighth-worst in the league with 3.9 yards per carry, they also have the fewest rush attempts all season with 262.
Teams prefer to establish the run, but with how effective quarterback Deshaun Watson has been, abandoning the run may seem more efficacious.
“I think obviously when you have that ability to throw the ball like Deshaun does, the lack of a run game if you will, and my not doing a good enough job calling it, is kind of bailed out by the fact that he’s able to go out there to make plays with his arm and the wideouts are able to make plays with the ball in their hands,” offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said. “It’s a good thing we have Deshaun. Obviously, clearly, he’s a great player and he’s playing at a really high level right now. Excited to keep that going.”
Kelly puts the blame of failing to establish the run on himself, citing that he must find ways to establish a play-calling rhythm and give the offense more balance.
“I’ve got to do a better job of making sure I can get those guys up front and getting those runners into a rhythm, while still allowing Deshaun to be Deshaun,” Kelly said.
Currently, Watson is the hot ticket with an 8.8 yards per pass attempt and a 12.8 yards per completion, both of which lead the NFL. Watson’s 110.0 passer rating is the third-highest in the league behind Aaron Rodgers (118.5) and Patrick Mahomes (113.8).
“We’re going to do whatever we can to try and score as many points as possible,” said Kelly. “Right now, Deshaun’s got a hot hand. He’s playing well. But we’re going to need to run the ball to win these next four games.”
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