One reason the Houston Texans rushing offense can’t seem to get going in the past four weeks is because of the offensive holding calls the team draws.
Heading into Week 6, the Texans are second in the NFL with 11 holding penalties. Only the Minnesota Vikings have more with 12.
Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly believes Houston has been on the unfortunate side of a very thin boundary.
“Those penalties, they’re hard because there’s a fine line,” Kelly said. “You want them to continue to be aggressive and continue to block to the end of the whistle, but a lot of times those guys don’t have eyes in the back of their heads.”
On a first-and-10 from the Texans’ 38-yard line with 7:46 to go in the third quarter, running back Mark Ingram bounced a run outside for a 13-yard gain. Right guard Max Scharping was dinged with a holding call. Furthermore, the play call didn’t have Ingram going outside.
“So if the ball bounces outside like the one Mark had with Max, ball was designed to go inside, Mark saw something he ended up bouncing out to the right,” Kelly explained. “Max got exposed for just a second and was just a hair late. and we end up getting the penalty.”
Another instance was in the first quarter on Houston’s opening drive. With 12:10 to go in the first frame, receiver Chris Moore picked up a holding penalty blocking on the edge for running back Phillip Lindsay. The 11-yard play was called back.
“He’s blocking his man, Phil makes a cut, he gets extended for a second on the perimeter and he’s a second late holding onto it,” said Kelly. “We are continuing to stress the fundamentals of blocking as elementary as that sounds.”
Kelly says that when players feel they are getting extended, to quickly let go.
Said Kelly: “When you feel in your head that time clock, ‘Ok, I’m starting to get extended,’ just doing a good job of letting go and whatever we got at that point is what it is.”
Although Kelly feels he is dealing with an inordinate amount of holding calls, more than he can remember since joining the Texans as an offensive assistant in 2014, he nevertheless has confidence the players will correct it.
“They are working hard to alleviate that issue and we have every bit of confidence they will be able to do so,” Kelly said.
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