Houston Texans didn’t look like a playoff contender in loss to Ravens

The Houston Texans suffered their worst loss with Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback in Week 11, but there is plenty of blame to go around.

It is tough to fathom how poorly the Houston Texans played in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens, a 41-7 loss, especially coming off a bye week. Granted, the coverage by the Ravens’ defensive secondary was very good, but the Texans had very little run game, they looked sloppy on offense, the defense continued to suffer injuries and Bill O’Brien was outcoached by John Harbaugh.

Those aren’t excuses, but facts, and how many players can a secondary lose or see injured in a season before it is time to be worried? Sure, there are some players likely to return from injury or have recently joined the team like Bradley Roby and Vernon Hargreaves, but Sunday was one of those games everyone involved with the Texans — fans included — needs to dispose of and never look back at it.

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Houston’s overall play consisted of being held scoreless for the first three quarters, having 232 yards as a team, having two turnovers, allowing seven sacks, having a 20-percent conversion rate on third down and only having possession of the football for 23:41.

Stats like the ones above are embarrassing to any team, but especially to a team like the Texans who have six wins, two of the best players you can find on offense in Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins and who are now tied for first place in the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts with records of 6-4.

Patrick D. Starr of Sports Illustrated quoted Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil following the loss to the Ravens, as he summed things up well:

"“Very disappointed,” Tunsil said of the Texans’ loss. “You don’t want to lose a game like that. Very important game but we got Thursday night game against Colts, we got to look forward to that. Watch film fix our mistakes, and it’s a quick turnaround. We got to worry about the Colts.”"

Granted, the Ravens could be the very best team in the NFL right now, and their defense isn’t to be overlooked or underrated, and how about Lamar Jackson as their starting quarterback? All of that aside, it isn’t that the Texans lost, but it is how they looked in the blowout loss to a fellow AFC team.

Going by what we watched yesterday, there is no way the Texans should be considered a Super Bowl contender or a Top 10 team in the league. That said, the Texans are more talented and are a better team than what they showed on Sunday afternoon.

The way the Texans played on Sunday also is more than the non-pass interference calls as well — in all honesty though, what is a PI call anymore? The Texans were outplayed, outhustled and less prepared than the Ravens were, and the tape won’t lie either.

Houston has a short week for Week 12 because they have a Thursday Night Football game against the Indianapolis Colts next on the schedule, and it is an important one, because even with injuries and a bruised ego after the Ravens loss, they can’t afford to be swept by Indianapolis.

The Texans need to make darn sure they are ready to face the Colts, because a second loss to the Colts, followed with a game against the New England Patriots in Week 13 — that is a tough road ahead, and play like we all watched in Week 11 can’t continue to happen.