Breakfast: Consistency is key
Following Monday night's 27-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, there was a consistent theme in the locker room post-game.
Consistency was the consistent theme.
"Our whole team has to be more consistent," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "If we can figure that out pretty quickly, then we have something going. We're too up and down right now and that's why we're 4-3."
After Week 2, the Texans have not been able to win back-to-back games and have lost all three on the road by a margin of two or more scores.
In their Week 7 loss in Denver, the Texans defense held the Broncos to three-and-out on six of twelve offensive possessions, including Denver's first three drives of the game. But, they also allowed scores on five of the remaining six drives. After allowing just 15 net passing yards in the first quarter, Houston allowed 102 net yards passing and 96 net yards rushing by halftime.
"I think after a while, they did a good job of blocking the edge," O'Brien said of Houston's defense. "They had a couple of toss crack plays that were really good, schemed up for some of the fronts that we have. I thought at times we did a better job. I saw [OLB] Whitney [Mercilus] made a few plays and 'J.D.' [DE Jadeveon Clowney] made a few plays. It just has to be more consistent.""That's the thing, we were too inconsistent," Whitney Mercilus said. 'We got to be more consistent for 60 minutes of football. We can't just play a half or a quarter. We have to go through the entire game and not let up."
The offense had similar issues on its side of the ball. Driving down the field, back-to-back possessions ended abruptly with turnover committed. The ground game thrived with 140 yards rushing between Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue, but the Texans had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns at the end of three promising drives.
"Offensively, we have to continue to play more consistently," Brown said. " I thought we did a decent job running the ball, but we have to be better at converting third downs. We've got to be better at finishing drives with touchdowns and not settling for three."
With one more game until the Week 9 bye week, the Texans hope to fix what ails them: stopping the run, faster starts, protecting the ball, and more.
"It was a struggle all night offensively," O'Brien said. "I thought we did some decent things with our running game and tried to take some shots downfield but weren't able to hit those plays. Turnovers… We were moving the ball there. Defensively, they fought. I thought that we need to do a better job at stopping the run. We knew Denver was going to run the ball. They're a good running team. I give Denver credit. They did a good job tonight. We need to just regroup here and get ready for Detroit."
The (4-3) Texans head home to host the (4-3) Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Following Monday night's 27-9 loss to the Denver Broncos, there was an underlying theme in the locker room and in the press conferences.
The need for consistency.
"Our whole team has to be more consistent," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "If we can figure that out pretty quickly, then we have something going. We're too up and down right now and that's why we're 4-3."
After Week 2, the Texans have not been able to win back-to-back games and have lost all three on the road by a margin of two or more scores.
In their Week 7 loss in Denver, the Texans defense held the Broncos to three-and-out on six of twelve offensive possessions, including Denver's first three drives of the game. But, they also allowed scores on five of the remaining six drives. After allowing just 15 net passing yards in the first quarter, Houston allowed 102 net yards passing and 96 net yards rushing by halftime.
"I think after a while, they did a good job of blocking the edge," O'Brien said of Houston's defense. "They had a couple of toss crack plays that were really good, schemed up for some of the fronts that we have. I thought at times we did a better job. I saw [OLB] Whitney [Mercilus] made a few plays and 'J.D.' [DE Jadeveon Clowney] made a few plays. It just has to be more consistent."
"That's the thing, we were too inconsistent," Whitney Mercilus said. 'We got to be more consistent for 60 minutes of football. We can't just play a half or a quarter. We have to go through the entire game and not let up."
The offense had similar issues on its side of the ball. Driving down the field, back-to-back possessions in the third and fourth quarter ended abruptly with turnovers. The ground game thrived with 140 yards rushing between Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue, but the Texans had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns at the end of three promising drives.
"Offensively, we have to continue to play more consistently," Brown said. " I thought we did a decent job running the ball, but we have to be better at converting third downs. We've got to be better at finishing drives with touchdowns and not settling for three."
With one more game until the Week 9 bye week, the Texans hope to fix what ails them: stopping the run, faster starts, protecting the ball, and more.
"It was a struggle all night offensively," O'Brien said. "I thought we did some decent things with our running game and tried to take some shots downfield but weren't able to hit those plays. Turnovers, we were moving the ball there. Defensively, they fought. I thought that we need to do a better job at stopping the run. We knew Denver was going to run the ball. They're a good running team. I give Denver credit. They did a good job tonight. We need to just regroup here and get ready for Detroit."
The (4-3) Texans head home to host the (4-3) Detroit Lions on Sunday.
The Texans took on the Broncos in Denver on Monday Night Football.
