Tag: running game

Dameon Pierce set a Texans high water mark with Week 9 outing

Pierce put up the second-best showing of any #Texans rookie running back in franchise history against the #Eagles

The running game has been a key part of any success found by the Houston Texans’ offense in 2022, and after a career-defining outing against the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9, rookie running back Dameon Pierce has shown no intention of slowing down. His 139 rushing yards were enough to rank as the third-best performance of any Texans running back in franchise history, just 17 yards off of the top mark of 156 set by Steve Slaton and Alfred Blue in 2008 and 2014 respectively.

If it weren’t for the lack of a touchdown in the effort, the game could’ve gone down as one of the best showings from a ball carrier in the team’s existence. Pierce was one of the only reasons that Houston was able to keep the matchup competitive heading into the fourth quarter, and as the offense functioned without their top two receivers, Pierce proved to be the go-to option on nearly every snap.

Quarterback Davis Mills and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton would be wise to leverage Pierce’s production to incorporate more play-action passes into their game plan to keep opposing defenses on their toes and keep their attack from becoming one-dimensional. While Pierce may be able to carry the load for the team early in his career, wear and tear on his body may become a consideration in the years to come as he looks to build on the success and promise of his outstanding rookie season.

Watch for the Texans to continue feeding their phenomenal first-year back as they seek to prove that old-school ground-and-pound football can still win games in the contemporary pass-happy NFL. Teams around the league are gearing their defenses toward stopping the pass, and head coach Lovie Smith will be pleased to exploit their weakness in every game that Houston plays.

Pierce has a huge chance to become a cornerstone of the Texans franchise with continued improvement to his already incredible skillset and should have every opportunity to prove that he can keep up the torrid pace he has set for himself to this point in the 2022 season.

Lovie Smith on Dameon Pierce’s effectiveness: ‘Maybe we need to give it to him more’

Smith relied heavily on Pierce against the #Eagles and seemed impressed by what he saw

The Houston Texans relied heavily on their outstanding rookie running back Dameon Pierce in Week 9 to move the ball on offense and found moderate success before succumbing to the Philadelphia Eagles’ overwhelming defense. Pierce has been one of the most reliable runners in the NFL this year, and head coach Lovie Smith told reporters on Friday that he remains impressed by what he has seen.

“It’s kind of the same song on a lot of what Dameon [Pierce] has been doing,” Smith explained. “Did he run hard last night? Second effort, the defensive player with him coming at, just a lot of the same things. How I’ve talked about him since his first preseason game, that’s what we see it seems like every time he gets the ball. What has changed a little bit, he carried the ball how many times last night? 27 or so? Maybe we need to give it to him more, because it seems like something positive is happening for the Houston Texans when he has the ball.”

While a Texans loss was a foregone conclusion to most analysts heading into this matchup, the competence that Houston showed in the ground game was a marked improvement over their game against the Tennessee Titans. With more efforts like the one they put together against the Eagles, Houston could put themselves in a position to play legitimately competitive football before the season’s end.

Pierce will be a key part of any win that the team manages to pull out through the rest of their 2022 schedule as the most viable offensive option currently on their roster. Given the Texans’ situation with their top two receivers, Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins, Smith and his crew of coaches will likely be handcuffed to the running game over the next few weeks as they figure out how to get quarterback Davis Mills his best targets back.

Davis Mills on getting the offense in gear when the running game isn’t working

The #Texans’ offense has lived and died by their running game, and when it falters things get ugly

The Houston Texans’ offense has lived and died by the contributions of rookie running back Dameon Pierce who has been the offense’s most impressive performer through eight weeks. With a primetime matchup against the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles on the schedule for tomorrow, quarterback Davis Mills addressed how he might ignite the team’s dormant passing game to take the load off of the young ball carrier to find more consistent success through the air.

“We even talked about it this week,” Mills explained. “I don’t want to share too much, but just finding ways to – if you can’t run the ball, take easy completions and kind of utilize, ‘Okay, hey, an efficient run on first down is four yards.’ If we can do that getting the ball out onto the edge. For the offense it’s the same thing. Just moving forward second-and-short, third-and-short and keeping the chains moving. Just finding ways to keep moving the ball down the field and scoring points. That’s what we’re focused on.”

His comments to reporters are indicative of the desperation that Houston is facing given their 1-5-1 record that has marked them as the worst team in the AFC. The Texans have struggled against even the most mediocre opponents on their schedule, and without a turnaround in short order, they may well end this season with just the one win to show for their efforts.
They stood pat at the trade deadline on Tuesday amid speculation of a potential fire sale that could’ve netted them valuable draft capital for their 2023 rebuild, which is a sign that they’re somehow content with the roster they’ve assembled despite the less-than-stellar results they’ve achieved.
While this season was always going to be a struggle after the situation with their former franchise quarterback, the Texans have managed to exceed every expectation of just how ugly it might get for them. It would take a herculean effort to serve the Eagles their first loss of the season, but if they can, it may be a feather in the cap of a Houston team that needs any momentum they can find for the middle part of their schedule.
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O.J. Howard on Texans’ offensive identity: ‘We want to be physical’

Howard said that the #Texans’ offense thrives when the running game is able to carry the offense

The Houston Texans’ offense has been sluggish all year, but not for lack of effort to fix their sundry issues in both the rushing and passing games. The unquestionable leader of the offense has been an unlikely star, rookie running back Dameon Pierce, who has been the team’s top contributor since week 1.

Tight end O.J. Howard commented on the team’s struggle to move the ball on Monday after their brutal Week 8 loss at the hands of the Tennessee Titans. Establishing the run, Howard said, was the team’s primary focus, and will lead to more openings in the passing game in the coming weeks.

“I think it starts with the running game,” Howard explained of the offense’s identity. “We want to be physical. We’re a running football team. We’ve got great running backs. I think when you can get that going it allows the passing game to open up. When you can’t get it going, that’s what hurts the passing game. I think when we establish our dominance in the run game, everything goes and it allows us to open up and we can probably run more three tight end sets and get the pass going a little more. It starts with the running game at first.”

While his words won’t go far without some game planning to back them up, Howard’s assertion that the team lives and dies by the production they get from their running backs is well-founded. Certainly, when the Texans’ offense becomes one-dimensional their success is tied to the abilities of quarterback Davis Mills, who has been serviceable as a bridge starter but will likely be relegated to a backup role after this season.

A challenging matchup against the NFL’s only undefeated team looms on the horizon for Houston, and with Thursday fast approaching, the Texans will need to figure out some kind of wrinkle that will free up the running game in primetime. If they can’t, expect a blowout against the Philadelphia Eagles.

McVay gives lengthy response to question about revamping Rams’ running game

McVay gave a thorough explanation of what it would take for the #Rams to get their running game back on track in the coming weeks

With a rotating cast of offensive linemen, the Los Angeles Rams have had their share of struggles in recent weeks. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has faced constant pressure on his passing attempts, and some talking heads have suggested that the team turn to their ground game to take some of the heat off him.

But they haven’t shown much ability to run the ball either. Running back Cam Akers only gained 33 yards on 13 carries against the Cowboys, and it seems that his lack of production forces the hand of Los Angeles’ play-caller to push the ball through the air.

Head coach Sean McVay addressed the team’s inability to establish the run in his Monday post-mortem of the Rams’ loss to Dallas in Week 5. He gave a lengthy response to a question about why the running game has failed the team in 2022 and told reporters that there was no easy explanation.

“I think the full answer would take a really long period of time,” He said, “but ultimately, it’s about versatility, consistency in terms of our operation, everybody doing what they’re supposed to do. I know you look at the game through a very great lens in terms of the nuanced understanding. Sometimes it’s missing a block, a combination, sometimes it’s maybe getting a play off that we don’t like versus that look that we can help with as coaches, and then sometimes it’s the back missing it. There is so many layers to the run game.

“It depends on the types of concepts and things that we’re trying to activate, but we’ve been at our best when there’s an identity but enough versatility to be able to alleviate the stress off of some of your core concepts, and it takes all 11 (players). It has been a challenge because we’ve never had the same guys up front. We’ve had backs that haven’t really practiced, we’re trying to get a bunch of different things going, all of which is an excuse that just is what I think is for weak-minded people. I’m not going to make them, but we just got to continue to keep swinging and keep plugging along and figure it out because nobody cares and we’ve got to fix it.”

The urgency with which he responded to the question was palpable. Nobody knows how a one-dimensional offense can tank a team’s chances of contention better than McVay, and finding solutions to the team’s ground attack woes will be a top priority for him in this week’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
Against a favorable opponent who just fired their head coach, the Rams will have an opportunity to get their season back on track and build needed momentum heading into the meat of their 2022 schedule. If Akers and the rest of Los Angeles’ running backs can put together a promising performance, this game could be a pivotal point in the Rams’ season and set them up for more competitive outings in the coming weeks.

Sean McVay looking to establish the run against Cowboys in Week 5

After an inefficient passing game doomed the #Rams last week, McVay hopes to get the ground game working against the #Cowboys

The Los Angeles Rams will look to get their season back on track against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5 and may have a degree of difficulty in finding a way to win if they can’t find creative ways to move the ball on offense. In recent matchups, the team has largely been reliant on quarterback Matthew Stafford to drive the team to the end zone, but with several injuries to their offensive line affecting his protection, they will look to the ground attack to score points.

Dallas has had a hard time stopping their opponents’ running games, though head coach Sean McVay seemed unsure that the Cowboys aren’t better than they’ve shown on paper. In his comments to the media on Friday, he told reporters that Dallas’ defense poses a great threat to every phase of his offensive strategy and that he hopes a diverse game plan will keep them on their toes.

“I think the stats at this point probably are a little bit overrated,” McVay explained. “I see a really good defense that’s good in all phases. I’m not sure what they’re ranked defensively, but I see a team that’s outstanding defensively. So yeah, we always want to be able to establish the run. Anytime that we’ve been in upper echelon offense or any really upper echelon offense, I think has the ability to do either or. I think for you to be a complete offense, you have to be able to do that and I want to be able to start seeing us establish that more consistently, for sure.”

After all of the Rams’ success last season, McVay has been wary of trying to fix a strategy that isn’t broken. Now, with his team sitting at a 2-2 record and on the cusp of going below .500, he will look to adjust before the 2022 campaign gets out of hand. Injuries to the offensive line have made a remarkable impact on Matthew Stafford, and if he is kept under duress as he was against the San Francisco 49ers last week, McVay will have no choice but to try his luck on the ground and hope for the best.

Bobby Wagner on Cowboys running game: ‘They mix it really well’

The #Rams linebacker let reporters know that he respects the #Cowboys’ running game ahead of the highly anticipated Week 5 matchup.

Bobby Wagner is no stranger to defending against high-octane rushing attacks and will need to play one of his best games of the season for the Los Angeles Rams this week as the unit looks to contain running backs, Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. The team is in dire need of a win after losing their second of four matchups last week, and if they can’t contain the Dallas Cowboys on the ground, they could fall below .500 heading into the meat of their schedule.

The veteran linebacker told reporters on Wednesday that he respects what Dallas can do when they run the ball, and knows what he will be up against when Elliott and Pollard get their carries.

“I think it’s a good balance,” Wagner said of the Cowboys rushing attack. “I think when Zeke comes down full throttle, always falls forward. I think Pollard does a good job on edge. They use him in different positions, they do on jet sweeps and things of that nature so you have to be conscious of the styles of runs each guy has.

“They mix it really well. You get an outside run, a couple outside runs, and then they’ll sneak Zeke in there and he goes down the middle. So it’s something you have to be conscious of something you got to understand. The offense does start with those guys. You get those guys going, then it opens up everything else for the passing game.”

With Dak Prescott’s return to the field looming as a possibility in Week 5, it would seem that the discourse surrounding this matchup in recent days has neglected to account for what the Cowboys can do without him. Elliott is still an every-play threat when the team puts the ball in his hands, and as the Rams’ middle linebacker, Wagner will be tasked with stopping him on every down.

Seahawks rookie RB Ken Walker III just needs to get over the hump

Seattle Seahawks rookie RB Ken Walker III hasn’t been a huge factor yet, but coach Pete Carroll knows he just needs more gameday experience.

The Seattle Seahawks continue to put a concerted effort into improving the run game and got off to a hot start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. As expected, Rashaad Penny got the lion’s share of the carries and fans are still waiting to see what rookie Ken Walker III can bring to the table.

Walker struggled at times in his second NFL appearance and logged only three carries on the day.

“Well, first off, we’ve got to break Kenny in,” coach Pete Carroll said after the loss. “He is still trying to get comfortable. He was a little jittery today because he is so excited and he is so competitive. He just needs the time out there. He just hasn’t played very much.

“We’re just going to keep forcing him to get really relaxed and comfortable out there.”

Walker was sidelined during the season opener as he continued to recover from the hernia surgery he underwent in August. Once he is truly 100%, expectations will be high for the rookies.

“He is going to make a lot of things happen,” Carroll continued. “He showed plenty of good stuff today. We could all see that. But, he went the wrong way on a play, and he had some other things he could be cleaner on. It’s just getting him over the hump.

“He is going to be a big factor.”

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3 Cowboys keys to a victory against the Chiefs

The Dallas Cowboys will need to establish the run, pressure Patrick Mahomes, and cash in on their red zone opportunities against the Chiefs. | From @StarConscience

Road games are tough to win in the NFL, especially against good teams. The Kansas City Chiefs have won three in a row and will host the Dallas Cowboys in Week 11. The Cowboys have performed well on the road in 2021, going 3-1 so far. However, going up against Patrick Mahomes presents a unique challenge for the Cowboys’ defense.

Dallas will need to be sharp and focused seeing as Arrowhead Stadium is one of the toughest environments in the NFL for any team to steal a win. If they are to get their eighth victory of the season, the Cowboys need to do these three things well.

Oklahoma vs. Texas features a battle on the ground in this Red River Showdown

One of the best rushing defenses faces one of the best rushing offenses. Much of how this game goes will be determined by those two units.

The last few years in the Red River Rivalry have featured shootouts led by quarterbacks who could put up a lot of points for their respective sides. They’ve combined for 77 points per game over the last six contests. And while this week’s matchup features two high-scoring offenses, much of how the outcome of this game will be determined by what happens on the ground.

At least for the Sooners.

The Sooners come into this contest as the seventh-ranked rush defense in the nation allowing 79.4 yards per game on just 2.59 yards per carry. The Texas Longhorns boast the fifth-ranked rushing offense led by star running back Bijan Robinson.

Texas is averaging 265.8 rushing yards a game at 5.80 yards per carry. They’ve scored 17 touchdowns on the ground, which is tied for sixth in the country.

While the Oklahoma Sooners have been good on the ground, they haven’t faced a team with a running back quite like the Longhorns and Robinson.

Yes, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are 14th in the country in rushing yards per game, but much of that is predicated by their quarterback Adrian Martinez. The Sooners haven’t seen a traditional rushing offense as dynamic as the Longhorns.

Tulane ranks 78th in rushing at 149.6 yards per game and average just 4.18 yards per attempt. West Virginia had a solid day against Virginia Tech, but they’re the 109th-ranked rushing attack, averaging 112 rushing yards a game. And of course, there’s Western Carolina who is 56th in the FCS in rushing yards per game.

While the Sooners have something to do with where those teams rank, they haven’t been playing the Colorado Buffalos of the 90s or the Cornhuskers of the 70s or 80s.

Oklahoma’s been good against the teams they’ve faced, but the Texas Longhorns are a completely different animal. With Robinson, they have one of the best running backs in college football. Robinson’s averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Then there are backup running backs Roschon Johnson and Keilan Robinson, both averaging more than seven yards per carry. Throw in quarterback Casey Thompson, who is a threat on the ground averaging six yards per carry and you have a dangerous group of runners for the Oklahoma Sooners to contend with.

The Sooners have some really strong run defenders in Nik Bonitto, Isaiah Coe, Perrion Winfrey, and Josh Ellison. If they can get Danny Stutsman back that will help too.

Oklahoma doesn’t have to shut the Longhorns running game down, because let’s be honest, that’s a monumental task The Sooners have to prevent it from dictating the flow of the game. If they can keep the Texas running game from hitting big plays (easier said than done), it can help keep Casey Thompson in uncomfortable throwing situations. Look for Texas to grind away with the running game and then use play-action to find plays down the field.

This looks like it will be another close, back and forth game for the Oklahoma Sooners. Every possession will count and the Oklahoma offense will have its say in the outcome. But much of how this game turns out will be determined by how well the Sooners’ defense can contain Bijan Robinson and the Longhorns running game.