Houston Texans: 5 Takeaways from Week 7 loss to Colts

5. Lack of third down production

The Houston Texans only lost by seven points, but they hurt themselves by only having a 33-percent efficiency on third down, going 4-of-12, while the Indianapolis Colts were 8-of-16 for 50-percent efficiency.

Even on fourth down, the Texans tried to convert a first down three times, converting once, also a 33-percent efficiency. The fourth down efficiency isn’t that bothersome, but the ability to convert on third down has to be better, not only for the production of the offense, but the defense needs a break once in a while, too.

Of the 12 third down attempts, there were two three-and-outs and four times where only one first down was made. Twice the Texans had negative yards on a drive, and eight times they had six or fewer plays on a drive, and Houston had 11 drives on offense.

Also in the third quarter, the Texans had possession of the ball for just 3:00, with a total of 27:08 for the entire game. Granted, the lack of third down production wasn’t very good at all, but it wasn’t the lone reason for the loss, though it was a nice chunk of the reason.

This shows the offense had issues in big moments on Sunday, but they need to learn from this experience. They have to start showing up more when facing the Colts, because historically the Colts have the number of the Texans no matter who they have leading their offense.