Texans Tidbits–What we Learned From Week 8
By Josh McSwain
Returning home was a blessing for the Texans as they moved to 5-0 at home with a win over the Lions on Sunday. Here is what we learned from the game:
1. Houston has a new found home field dominance
Some of the toughest places to play are known to be Kansas City, Seattle and New England. But so far this season Houston, KC, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Seattle are the five teams left that are unbeaten at home–and the latter four are all 3-0 while the Texans are 5-0. At home the Texans defense is only allowing 16.4 points per game at home while allowing over 28 on the road.
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2. The running game can come through when it needs to
For the first three quarters, the Texans got almost no running game going. But in the fourth it managed to salt the game away. Overall the numbers were nothing to write home about with 31 carries for 105 yards.
On the final drive the Texans almost exclusively ran the ball and gained 56 yards on the final drive that set up a Nick Novak field goal.
3. Brock Osweiler still makes bad throws
At the end of the first half, the Texans were driving while up 14-0. Then, he forced a ball to DeAndre Hopkins that was intercepted by Jonathan Bademosi. The Lions turned that into a field goal, which helped get the Lions back into the game instead of blowing the game open before the half.
While I say that Osweiler deserves the blame for much of Hopkins’ struggle this season, Hopkins also does not seem to be making the same plays last year. They are just not on the same page and the Texans won’t be a great team until the two of them do.