Heading into their Week 7 game versus the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football, the Houston Texans needed to do two things in order to walk off of Lumen Field with a win.
First, Houston's defense needed to show up the same way they have all season, forcing turnovers and making it difficult for Seattle to find the end zone. And second, Houston's offense had to do their part as well, playing clean football while also putting points on the board against a solid Seahawks defense and the 12th Man, potentially giving their defense the chance to play with the lead.
Now while the 27-19 result would say otherwise, the Texans weren't all that far off from hitting these pregame objectives. Consider, the Texans won the turnover battle by 3, limited Seattle's offense to just 4.7 yards per play and 2-for-14 on 3rd down conversions, blocked a field goal, and allowed just one Seahawks drive that went for more than 45 yards.
Yet at the end of the day, it just wasn't enough to depart the Pacific Northwestern with what would've been an incredibly crucial win in an attempt to stay within striking distance of the AFC South-leading Indianapolis Colts. But if there's one silver lining for Texans fans, it's this... this is a game that Houston actually should've won.
History says Texans loss to Seahawks is an anomaly
According to John Breech of CBS Sports, the Texans managed to earn a dubious distinction on Monday night that no team has in 25 years.
"They (the Seahawks) turned the ball over four times, they were held to less than 200 yards passing (198) and they were horrible on third down with a conversion rate of just 14.3%. It was a sloppy win to say the least," writes Breech. "When teams are that bad in those three categories, they almost never win. Since the start of the 2001 season, there had been 39 different instances where a team had four or more turnovers with less than 200 yards passing and a third-down conversion rate of less than 15% and those teams had combined to go 0-39. That's how improbable Seattle's win was."
In just over 100 words, Breech managed to explain with far greater detail and accuracy than what I will say here in just 11 words: The Texans losing a game like this one is practically unprecedented.
"Oh man, what a weird game," Sam Darnold said after the win, reiterating what most of us who were watching from home were already thinking. "Obviously I think the first half was really solid for us as an offense, then the second half, it was just a different story. I think we just got to hold onto the football. We can't turn the ball over like that. I can't turn the ball over like that. Again, our defense and special teams stepping up was huge."
Had Houston's offense not been as inept as Seattle's was for most of the night, we may be hitting on a different set of topics right now. But that just wasn't the case, and it's been the achilles heel of this team not just this season, but last season as well.