Another week, another loss for the Houston Texans.
The struggling Texans found themselves in a ball game until the Seattle Seahawks pulled away in the 2nd half. The offense found yardage production for the majority of the game but was unable to turn the yards into points against the Seahawks defense.
The Texans defense held strong until the balanced Seattle offense took control and ultimately pulled away on the scoreboard. This was the first game in four weeks that the Houston defense did not produce a turnover against the opposition.
There were some good moments in this contest, surely some bad scenarios, and definitely some ugly situations that the Houston Texans had in their 33-13 loss at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks.
THE GOOD: Davis Mills’ performance
Houston Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills was placed in the starting quarterback role full-time to begin this matchup. The 3rd round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft surely took his opportunity and ran with it.
Mills had a career-high 49 passing attempts and he found himself completing 33 of them. With just under a 70% completion percentage the young gunslinger tossed the ball for 331 yards. The best part of his performance was his ability to manage the football.
Along with his 300 plus yards passing he was able to toss one touchdown while throwing zero interceptions.
This was by far a top-three performance from the 23-year-old quarterback on the season. With the Texans looking at the performances of their players to assess their future roles with the franchise, Mills is surely giving the coaches and management reasons to keep an eye on him.
THE BAD: The Houston Texans’ rushing attack
It is has been seven straight weeks including this Week 14 matchup against the Seahawks that the Texans have failed to rush for more than 100 yards. The game against Seattle wasn’t due to a lack of attempts. The Texans ran the ball with four players for a total of 25 attempts.
The issue is when veteran running back Rex Burkhead leads the way with only 40 yards rushing. Royce Freeman ran the ball for an underwhelming 15 yards on 11 attempts.
If the Texans want to establish any type of offensive consistency, it must start with a rushing attack. Even a team with an average quarterback can be dangerous with a steady dose of running plays that turn results.
THE UGLY: Houston’s third down defense
Texans fans and followers surely know that this team is one of the worst on 3rd downs. This past week against the Seahawks, Houston ended up going 3/13 on 3rd down conversions. Ultimately the play on third down for the Texans was a direct result in the outcome of the contest.
Houston currently ranks 25th in the league in third-down conversion rate. There may not be a stat that defines the struggles of the Texans offense than their lack of 3rd down conversions. They have the ability to gain yards, but this offense truly has a hard time in putting teams away in games and keeping drives alive.