The Houston Texans prevailed 22-19 over the Buffalo Bills in overtime of the AFC wild-card, and one of the keys to success was relating to running the football.
According to coach Bill O’Brien, as the Texans get deeper into the playoffs, they have to be able to run the football better.
“I think you do have to be able to run the football,” O’Brien told reporters Monday. “That doesn’t mean you have to run it 50 times. I think you have to be balanced, but you’ve got be able to run the football. We did at times. There were certain things that we did really well in the running game. There were other times where we have to do a better job of coaching and executing.”
Running back Carlos Hyde carried 16 times for 48 yards, and Duke Johnson had three carries for 38 yards. Quarterback Deshaun Watson supplemented the run game with his 14 carries for 55 yards and a touchdown, including a 20-yard gallop that put Houston’s first points on the board 16-8 with a little over a minute to go in the third quarter.
Though O’Brien is a believer in the Texans’ run game, he knows that their offense has to also take advantage of what the defense is giving them, or adjust to what they are taking away.
“If you think you can run the ball based on what they’re going to do, based on what you have in the game, then you’re going to do it, but other than that it’s just basically let’s do what’s best for the team,” said O’Brien. “In the end, I think running the ball, for us right now, is a big part of what we do.”
On the flip side, the Texans defense has to be able to stop the run. Against the Bills, they allowed 172 yards on 30 carries with quarterback Josh Allen gaining 92 of them on his nine rushes.
Said O’Brien: “I think it always comes down to what you believe the defense is going to do and what is the best plan of attack. But I do think that in order to win during this time of the year, you have to be able to stop the run, which we did it at times the other day, but at other times we didn’t do.”
The Kansas City Chiefs produced 4.3 yards per carry, the 13th-lowest in the NFL, and churned 98.1 rushing yards per game, the 10th-fewest in the league. It may be easier for the Texans to stop the Chiefs’ run game, but it will be a hard game if they cannot.