Costly miscues & injuries aside, Houston Texans have plenty to build on in these critical areas
TEXANS TAKEAWAYS
11 September 2023
TEXANS TAKEAWAYS
A new era of Houston Texans football kicked off over the weekend with DeMeco Ryans and company falling short against the Baltimore Ravens on the road.
While the outcome wasn't what the team and fans wanted, there were some positives to take away from the contest. Despite an abundance of injuries to the Texans in the preseason, the team was able to keep things close, with the Ravens up 7-6 at halftime.
The start of the third quarter is when things started going sideways for Houston. At this point in the game, both of the Texans backup safeties were in the game with Jimmy Ward ruled out earlier in the week, and Jalen Pitre leaving the game with a bruised lung right before halftime.
The Ravens capitalized, getting their run game going and eventually winning the game 25-9. The Texans couldn't get anything going on offense, with the running game struggling and CJ Stroud taking big sacks in crucial situations.
Texans running back Dameon Pierce only had 13 touches over the course of the game, with Mike Boone getting work on third down, and Devin Singletary adding 7 rushes for 15 yards. This felt all too familiar with Pierce. He was limited to 12 touches in the season opener last season, with Rex Burkhead get way more opportunities.
While the Texans don't want to run Pierce into the ground, 13 total touches in Week 1 doesn't seem like enough. And not having one of your best weapons on the field on third down, feels like a mistake.
Finally, we discuss some encouraging flashes from Texans rookie pass rusher, Will Anderson.
Be sure to watch the video above as we share our top takeaways from the game, and examine the areas the Texans can improve on before facing the Colts at NRG this Sunday.
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Houston’s relentless defense confused and harassed Tennessee and carried the Cougars into their seventh Final Four and first since 2021, with L.J. Cryer scoring 17 points in a 69-50 victory on Sunday.
Emanuel Sharp scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime for top-seeded Houston (34-4) and was named the region's Most Outstanding Player.
Houston extended the nation's longest active winning streak to 17 games. The Cougars had been eliminated as a No. 1 seed in the Sweet 16 in each of the past two years, but this time coach Kelvin Sampson's team has a shot at the program's first national title.
The Cougars will face Cooper Flagg and five-time national champ Duke on Saturday in San Antonio — just a 3 1/2-hour drive from campus.
The Cougars have reached the national title game twice, losing in 1983 to North Carolina State and in 1984 to Georgetown in the Phi Slama Jama era.
Sharp made four 3-pointers and Joseph Tugler, who made the assist on Friday’s decisive basket against Purdue, had nine rebounds.
Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey scored 17 points apiece for the second-seeded Volunteers (30-8), who again fell short of the program's first Final Four appearance. Coach Rick Barnes' team was also eliminated in a regional final last year.
Houston won this one with a familiar formula.
The nation’s stingiest defense held the Vols to 15 first-half points, the fewest in an Elite Eight game since 1979. It also was the lowest first-half scoring total by any No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a March Madness game since seeding began in 1979.
When the Vols had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits in the second half, the nation’s top 3-point shooting team made three straight from beyond the arc to extend the margin to 17.
How bad was it for the Vols?
They made only 6 of 28 shots in the first 20 minutes and missed their first 14 3s before Zakai Ziegler finally ended the drought with 38 seconds left, cutting the deficit to 34-15 — far too big a deficit to come back from. Tourney teams that trailed by 19 or more points at halftime are now 0-244 all-time.
Even in the second half, Tennessee struggled. The defense that outplayed Kentucky so thoroughly in the previous round couldn’t get enough stops and while the offense improved, it wasn't good enough.
Tennessee’s top scorers, Chaz Lanier and Zeigler, were a combined 5 of 27 from the field. Zeigler had five points and five assists.
Georgetown had the previous lowest-scoring first half in March Madness with 16 points in a second-round victory over SMU in 1984. That Hoyas team went on to win the national title. The paltry first-half total was matched by Miami in a 2013 Sweet 16 loss to Marquette and by Michigan in a 2019 Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech.