Texans Fall 27-9 as the Offense Sputters Again
By Josh McSwain
The road has not been kind to the Texans offense this season. Playing at New England, Minnesota and Denver in their three road games; Houston has scored just one touchdown.
Brock Osweiler looked erratic once again, and actually had the second fewest yards in NFL history for someone with more than 40 attempts. He was exceeded by only Jesse Palmer, who threw for just 110 with over 40 attempts for the Giants in 2002.
The news only got worse for the Texans as Lamar Miller was nicked up in the first half and did not play much in the second half. He finished with 11 carries for 61 yards. To make matters worse, Derek Newton was carted off the field in the second half with what was reported as injuries to both knees, which could potentially knock him out for an extended period of time.
The Broncos, as they usually do, sleepwalked through the first quarter. They couldn’t get anything going on offense and the Texans were able to get two field goals to take a 6-0 lead. But then in the second quarter, the home team got it going.
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In the second quarter the Broncos got touchdowns from C.J. Anderson on a seven yard run and DeMaryius Thomas on a four yard pass from Trevor Siemian to take a 14-6 lead into the break.
The Texans got a field goal on the opening drive of the third quarter to pull within 1
4-9, and were driving the ball deep in Broncos territory. But a fumble by Alfred Blue is where the game turned. It looked like the Texans were about to go in and potentially take the lead but the Broncos took it the other way and scored a touchdown to make it 21-9.
Another fumble, this one by Osweiler on a bizarre play, sealed the Texans fate. It looked like his arm was starting to go forward but the call on the field was a fumble and after review the call stood. Denver got a field goal from 22 yards to go up 24-9. They would tack on another field goal to make it 27-9, how the game would end.
DeAndre Hopkins made minimal impact once again, catching just five passes for 36 yards. Meanwhile, C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker gashed the Texans run defense for 190 yards on the ground. The lingering issues for the Texans haunt them once again as the Colts and Titans now sit just a game back in the division.