Texans go to 4-5 with 31-21 loss to Eagles
Nov 2, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (14) scrambles out of the pocket during the fourth quarter as Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham (55) applies pressure at NRG Stadium. The Eagles defeated the Texans 31-21. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The Texans hopes of any sort of post season appearance pretty much died as they lost another to end the first half of their season 4-5 and now have a long break with their bye week. The Texans lost 31-21, despite having several chances to turn the game around penalties and poor throws cost the Texans a win. You can point fingers to all aspects of the Texans play from run defense, pass coverage and just about anything to do with offense. It was that bad. The score shows a game that was close, in reality it could have been. If the offense didn’t give up dumb false starts and Fitzpatrick didn’t allow dumb sacks.
We know Bill O’Brien is going to say “we have a lot of mistakes to correct, better coaching and execution.” The truth is, this is the 2014 Texans. A team lead by a spirited, intelligent quarterback whose play is at best sub-par. Flashes of brilliance but the offense has to work twice as hard due to opposing teams not fearing his arm. Once the Eagles bottled up Foster, they began teeing off on the offensive line sacking Fitzpatrick 4 times and holding Foster, who was injured late in the game to just 56 yards on the ground. The next best rusher was Fitzpatrick with 49 yards. The Texans quarterback had 7 yards less total rushing yards then one of the best running backs in the league. It was hard to watch.
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Stats wise, Fitzpatrick put up 203 yards on 13/27 passing with 2 touch downs and 1 interception. The tight ends once again were a non-factor in this game. Non-factor as in not a single pass went their way.
DeAndre Hopkins played very well, 6 receptions, 115 yards and 1 touch down. The next best receiver? Arian Foster with 2 catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.
It wasn’t like the Texans offense lacked opportunity. Defensively the Texans had 3 interceptions and recovered a lucky fumble that started as a Fitzpatrick interception. The big number to look at? 6. That’s 6 punts by Shane Lecher. Hard win when your defense hands you the ball 3 times and you fail to score, your punter is kicking 6 times. Yes, it was in the end as I said a painful game to watch. The Texans coaching staff needs to accept that despite his obvious ability to understand the offense, execution is a the problem. Fitzpatrick does not have the arm or instinctual reactions to be the starter. That means it’s time to see what, if anything Mallet has to offer. To bring Savage up and see if they have anything more then a nice guy with Savage. We’ll break this game down more during the coming week plus information on the many injured Texans. Foster, Joseph, Jackson, just to name a few.
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