Houston Texans: Decision making and miscues lead to loss against Browns

The Houston Texans offense was a big issue in their loss to the Browns in Week 10.

In their Week 10 game the Houston Texans never really got into any sort of rhythm in their 10-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns. More than that, the coaches had too many miscues in their play calling and decision making on a couple fourth down plays.

This wasn’t the most exciting game, as the Houston Texans at the end of the first half had totaled just 96 yards on offense, and the play calling of Tim Kelly wasn’t that great either as runs through the middle of the offensive line were going to fail more than they were going to be a success.

Houston’s offensive line wasn’t great, and it was such a unique day that Laremy Tunsil gave up a half-sack to Myles Garrett and he had a false start penalty. That is a rare happening on both fronts for Tunsil this season, but it happens. The interior line hampered the success the Texans could have had in their rushing game, as Duke Johnson deserved better.

One of the decisions by interim head coach Romeo Crennel in the first half was the Houston Texans were down three points and in field goal range. Rather than try for the points and tie the score, they were hit in the backfield on one of those interior runs to turnover the football.

In the fourth quarter the Texans went for a field goal of 46 yards in the “swirling wind” and that kick was no good by Kaʻimi Fairbairn, still leaving the Texans down three points. In that situation the Texans were on a bit of a roll, and only needed two yards to keep the drive going. The Texans didn’t have enough confidence in Deshaun Watson and the offense in that situation to go for the first down. That was a costly decision by the Texans coaching staff and they should have went for it on fourth-and-2.

This game just wasn’t full of much excitement for the Texans. Maybe it was to poor weather conditions, or maybe the Browns are just the better overall team, but again, it wasn’t the Texans’ day for a win, as this was the first win by Cleveland over Houston since 2007.

Houston Texans News: Numbers for both the Texans and Browns

The numbers for the Houston Texans weren’t great either in the 10-7 loss as in the first half the Texans had a grand total of 96 yards, and for the game the final numbers included Deshaun Watson going 20-of-30 for 163 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Watson also had eight rushes for 36 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Duke Johnson in the starting role at running back for the injured David Johnson had 14 carries for 54 yards, averaging 3.9 yards per carry.

Randall Cobb was the receiving leader for the Texans with three receptions for 41 yards on five targets, though he had a his drop that was costly near the goal line. Brandin Cooks finished with six receptions on eight targets for 39 yards, and Will Fuller had five receptions for 38 yards on eight targets.

Houston’s lone touchdown catch was from Pharaoh Brown, as the tight end caught the pass in the fourth quarter. He totaled two receptions for 21 yards for the game.

For the game, the Houston Texans offense totaled 243 yards, while the Browns offense had a total of 356 yards, with Cleveland rushing for 231 yards.

The Browns were led in passing by Baker Mayfield at 12-of-20 for 132 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. The player of the game on offense for Cleveland was Nick Chubb with 19 carries for 126 yards and one touchdown, including 6.6 yards per carry average. He had a chance for a second TD score, but opted to have the Browns run the clock down instead in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Kareem Hunt also had a 100 yard day rushing for the Browns with 19 carries for 104 yards.

This was another tough loss for the Houston Texans, and now they are 2-7 overall with the New England Patriots next for their Week 11 game.