GOING DEEP
How the Texans have experienced an offensive surge in recent weeks
Oct 21, 2020, 9:51 am
GOING DEEP
Overlooked between Romeo Crennel's failed two-point conversion and their atrocious defense, the Houston Texans have experienced an offensive surge over the last two games.
For the first time this season — and the first since Week 6 of 2019 — the Texans have scored 30 or more points in back-to-back games. The 36 points obtained during their loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday was Houston's highest point total since last October, when the Texans erupted for 52 in a win over the Atlanta Falcons.
The solution to unlocking the Texans' full potential on offense has been the result of offensive coordinator Tim Kelly trusting his quarterback. In a heroic effort against the Titans, Deshaun Watson had one of the finest performances of his young career. He completed 75.7 percent of his passes for 335 yards, to go along with four touchdowns in a losing effort.
Since the firing of Bill O'Brien on October 12, Watson has looked more comfortable running Houston's revamped offense. It appears that he has increased his audible calls over the two-week period, which has allowed him to showcase the versatility of Houston's offense.
The results have concluded in the Texans averaging 33.0 points while putting up 449.0 yards over the last two games. In the four games before Houston's recent surge, the Texans averaged 20.0 points and 327.0 total yards per game.
"If we could score 100 points — I would," Watson said following the loss on Sunday. "We always want to score touchdowns when we touch the ball. That's our idea, regardless of the situation of the game. My idea is to get points on the board every drive. And if we don't have that mentality, then we're doing something wrong."
This. This is good. Real good. 📺: CBS 📱: https://t.co/Nm64mQkAPf https://t.co/LUp8LgFua5— Houston Texans (@Houston Texans) 1603049831.0
Over the last two weeks, Watson has witnessed a near 30 point increase in his QBR (85.1). His return to elite status stems from Watson's improved chemistry with his reconstructed receiving corps since the loss of DeAndre Hopkins.
Brandin Cooks has seen an increase in his on-field production since the significant shake-up at the helm. After he failed to record a catch against the Vikings, Cooks has averaged 114.5 yards on 17 catches over the last two games. Against the Jaguars, he became the only receiver other than Will Fuller to register over 100 reception yards on the season. And Fuller notched a season-high 123 yards on six catches in the loss against the Titans.
Darren Fells — who is filling in for the injured Jordan Akins — has also seen an increase in his on-field performance. Over the last two games, the 6-foot-8 tight end as registered 142 yards on eight receptions, to go along with two touchdowns.
"It says that we have guys who can make plays and that our quarterback sees that he has weapons around he can utilize," interim head coach Romeo Crennel said. "He's taking advantage of what the defense gives him and throwing to the open guy. I think it's a good sign that the offense is making good progress. Hopefully, we can continue to build on that."
For the Texans to salvage their season, they will have to do so heavily relying upon their recent surge on offense — but only in the passing game.
Entering Week 7 of the season against the Packers, the Texans have possessed the worst defense in the NFL. They are currently ranked 31st for allowing the second-most total yards on defense (2,538), while given up a league-worst 1,065 yards on the ground.
"I wouldn't say we were different — we just had more opportunities to take the shot. We took advantage of getting third and short and capitalizing...we had the opportunity to take shots, and we did that. It wasn't anything different out there. We just continue to build on that." — Watson.
Coty M. Davis is a reporter for ESPN 97.5 Houston/SportsMap covering the Houston Texans. He is also the co-host of Locked On Texans, a part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Follow Coty on Twitter @CotyDavis_24.
Yu Darvish had his best outing since being sidelined for more than three months, and rookie Jackson Merrill and Jurickson Profar homered as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 3-1 on Monday night.
The Padres took a 2 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the top NL wild card and stayed 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Houston's lead in the AL West dropped to four games over idle Seattle.
Padres leadoff hitter Luis Arraez struck out for the first time since Aug. 10, snapping a streak of 141 plate appearances without whiffing. He went down swinging against rookie Spencer Arrighetti to end the second inning.
It tied Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn for the fifth-longest streak in the last 40 seasons. Gwynn, who played his entire career with the Padres, had the longest such streak, 170 plate appearances in 1995.
Arraez, the DH, later left the game with a knee injury. He was shaken up on a slide as he was tagged out at home plate in the fifth. Arraez initially stayed in the game and doubled in the seventh, but walked off the field gingerly after being replaced by pinch-runner Tyler Wade.
“He jammed his knee in the plate,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Reports are stable, sore. You could tell after he legged out the double.”
“What a gamer,” said Shildt, who added that Arraez told him before his at-bat in the seventh, “`I can hit.'”
Darvish (6-3) allowed three hits in six scoreless innings, his longest outing in three starts since a layoff of more than three months while he was on the injured list and restricted list. He struck out three and walked two.
“He was great. He was really fantastic," Shildt said. “Very efficient, controlled counts, fastball had a life to it. I thought he was vintage Yu. He was tremendous. Got us through six and we could have rode with him more, but he was at that number. He'd done his part.”
Darvish threw 79 pitches.
The tall right-hander said through an interpreter that he felt “pretty good. The two-seamer was working really well and I was able to rely on that heavily. The off-speed pitches were pretty effective as well.”
As far as starting a series with playoff implications, Darvish said: “You try to kind of not put too much pressure on yourself, but obviously, you're going against a really good team so you're super focused and trying to execute pitches.”
Darvish said he's getting closer to having no pitch restrictions.
“I would think so, as far as the number of pitches go,” he said.
Robert Suarez pitched a perfect ninth for his 33rd save.
Profar’s leadoff shot in the eighth, his 23rd homer, was his fourth straight hit. He fell a triple shy of the cycle.
Merrill continued to make his case for NL Rookie of the Year when he drove Arrighetti’s first pitch of the fourth an estimated 413 feet to straightaway center field. It was his 24th homer and tied Nate Colbert (1969) for second among Padres rookies. Hunter Renfroe hit 26 in 2017.
Colbert’s franchise record of 163 homers, which had stood since 1974, fell to Manny Macahdo last week.
Machado hit an RBI double in the first.
Jose Altuve doubled leading off the eighth for Houston and scored on Yordan Alvarez's single.
Arrighetti (7-13) allowed two runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked one.
UP NEXT
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (11-8, 3.59 ERA) and Padres RHP Michael King (12-9, 3.06) are scheduled to start Tuesday night.