Let’s this be said about the rushing game of the Houston Texans for the 2021 NFL season, they’ve all had much better days at various points of their NFL careers. This season that hasn’t been the case because the numbers put up by the Texans when rushing the football have been some of the worst numbers in franchise history.
Long gone are the days of Arian Foster, Lamar Miller and Carlos Hyde having 1,000-yard seasons on the ground for the Texans, because in ’21 the team will be lucky for their running backs combined to have 1,000 yards rushing.
The Texans’ leading rusher for ’21 thus far this season is Mark Ingram II and he was traded a few weeks ago to the New Orleans Saints. When Ingram left the team after seven games, he’d collected 294 yards on 92 carries with one rushing score.
Next is David Johnson, who has been the biggest disappointment of any running back on the roster at any point this season. Johnson has played in 11 games and has just 56 carries for 176 yards and zero touchdowns. The trade for him sure hasn’t worked out in Houston, and is officially the worst trade in franchise history.
The next running back on the list is another former Texans player, that being Phillip Lindsay, whom the Texans released last month. Lindsay is now with the Miami Dolphins, but in his short time in Houston the running back totaled 50 carries for 130 yards and one touchdown in 10 games.
There is also Rex Burkhead who as the fullback of the Texans has 37 rushes for 96 yards and one touchdown. The last running back on this list has played in three games for the Texans, but is currently injured, and that’s Scottie Phillips. In his time on the field this season Phillips collected 13 yards on six carries.
Texans: Taylor has more rushing yards than some backs on roster
Now at quarterback for Houston, Tyrod Taylor in five games has the third most rushing yards on the team, collecting 136 yards on 16 carries with three rushing touchdowns. He leads the Texans in yards per carry with 8.5 ypc. Compare that to Johnson who is averaging 3.1 yards per carry, which is still lower than Ingram who isn’t with Houston anymore as he had 3.2 yards with the team this season.
Going into Week 13 of the NFL season the Texans rank last in yards per game as a team with 78.3 yards per game. In their past three games Houston is averaging 84 yards per game rushing.
These numbers aren’t very good at all, and they must improve moving forward, and until that happens the Texans will continue to be one of the worst teams in the NFL which is currently where Houston stands.