Digging Into The Stats: The Houston Texans Offense
By Hayden Winks
Nov 16, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett (15) talks with Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer (6) after the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Texans at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Texans beat the Browns 23-7. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Scoring:
- The Texans were 14th in scoring with 23.25 points scored per game.
- Last year, the Texans finished 12th in point differential with 65 more points scored than there opponents, but had the easiest strength of schedule in the entire league.
- The offense scored on 33% of all drives last year (18th in NFL).
Passing:
- In an attempt to not turn the ball over and try to grind out wins in low scoring games, Bill O’Brien basically took the ball out of the quarterbacks hands. The Texans attempted the third fewest passes and finished in 28th in completed passes.
- As a result of low volume, the quarterbacks combined to be in the bottom half in yards and touchdowns. Yards and touchdowns will increase when Bill O’Brien trusts his starting quarterback and when the receiving core gets stronger (more on that later).
- The quarterbacks also were not efficient last season. They combined to finish in 22nd in competition percentage. They also finished below average in Quarterback Rating, yards per attempt, and yards per completion.
- Last year, Ryan Mallett was horribly inefficient as he only completed 55% of his throws. Even worse, he averaged 5.3 yards per attempt, which would have been second to last in the league. His Quarterback Rating would have been the worst in the NFL if he continued to play as he did for the entire year.
- Brian Hoyer‘s number last year are a great indicator of what he should be able to accomplish with the Texans in 2015. Just like Mallett, he completed only 55% of his throws and had a 1:1 TD to INT ratio. The difference was Brian Hoyer was able to throw for more yards per attempt and adds a little run game to his arsenal. His Quarterback rating was better than Mallett’s but Ryan Mallett’s stats can’t be trusted due to such a small sample size.