The Houston Texans and Rex Burkhead had a great day vs. the Chargers.
In the Houston Texans’ upset victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, it was running back Rex Burkhead not only making his case to stay with the team for another season, but he had a career day with his abilities to run with the football.
Burkhead, who entered the NFL back in 2013, finished with his best game ever as a running back, as the first-year Texan totaled 149 yards rushing with two touchdowns, while also having the best career rush when he had a 36-yard run in the fourth quarter in what was a 41-29 victory by the Houston Texans.
Burkhead also on Sunday averaged 6.8 yards per carry on 22 carries. Before this game, Burkhead had 58 total yards rushing this entire season. So, applause and cheers should go to the direction of Burkhead, because for at least one week he made the Texans’ rushing game respectful.
This season the Texans’ rushing game has been poor with the likes of David Johnson, Mark Ingram II, Phillip Lindsay and others being so unproductive that two of them are no longer on the roster, and Johnson wasn’t missed at all this week as he was inactive on the COVID-19 list.
With his career-long run for 36 yards in the fourth quarter, #Texans RB Rex Burkhead set a new career high for rushing yards in a game.
— Houston Texans PR (@TexansPR) December 26, 2021
The ninth year running back has 149 yards on 22 carries (6.8 avg.) and two touchdowns on the day. #LACvsHOU
Houston Texans: Rex Burkhead scores a 25-yard touchdown run
Seeing Burkhead score a 25-yard touchdown in the first quarter set the pace for the game and showed how important a running game is to not only an offense, but especially with a rookie quarterback under center like Davis Mills, who also had an excellent game with a 21-of-24 passing day for 254 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Burkhead has had past success when he played for the New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals, but seeing the 31-year-old running back have one of the best days of any player in Week 16 is one of those moments the Houston Texans should been proud to have been a part of.
Burkhead now has 94 rushes for 356 yards this season and three touchdowns, along with a 3.8 yards per carry average in ’21.
With two games remaining in the NFL regular season, maybe Burkhead can keep this momentum going, giving the Houston Texans offense something to look forward to as they are now 4-11 overall with this win led by Burkhead in Week 16.