Texans in need of bounce back performance against Patriots

By Tyler tyre, Times Sports Editor
Posted 10/9/21

"When you have those kinds of things happen to you, you lose football games. You don’t get beat, you lose football games and that’s what we did. This football team we are about to play has a history of not doing that.”

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Texans in need of bounce back performance against Patriots

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The Texans are in free fall.

After an encouraging season opening win, the Texans have had worse performances every week, first in a 10 point loss to the Browns, then a 15 point loss to the Panthers and finally in a 40 point shutout against the Bills.

Everything came crashing down against Buffalo. The Texans (1-3) could only muster 109 yards of total offense in the game, averaging just 2.6 yards per play.

Texans head coach David Culley wanted to open up the playbook for rookie quarterback Davis Mills, but Mills struggled mightily with more pressure, as he threw four interceptions to just 11 completions, ending the day with just 87 yards passing.

The Texans defense wasn’t much better, allowing 256 yards through the air and 199 on the ground, but the team did force an interception and three fumbles.

The biggest catalyst of the past three losses has been the mistakes the team has made according to head coach David Culley.

“The enemy was us against the Bills,” Culley said. “There were about 24 points in the ballgame that we gave up, basically because of things that we didn’t do correctly, the things that we need to do better. Basically, when we go back and we look at the video, we’ve got to get those things corrected. We know that when we play good football and complementary football, we’ll be ok.”

Adding to Mills rough day, he was sacked three times and had a 23.4 QB rating, Culley is confident he will be able to bounce back quickly.

“I don’t worry about him (Davis Mills) that way because of the kind of person he is and the maturity he has. It wasn’t a good day, he knew it wasn’t a good day. He also understands as our quarterback, the first thing you have to do is be able to protect the football. He didn’t do that yesterday. He’s just got to get better and understand that that is part of the growing pains.”

Despite Culley taking blame for the team’s performance, the players said it was more on them and not the coaching staff. And the good news for the Texans is there is time to turn things around, as the AFC South leading Titans are only 2-2 and the Texans somehow sit in second place in the division.

“We’re still early in the season and our division isn’t doing well as a whole, so we’ve still got a chance,” said running back David Johnson. “The biggest thing is just winning your division and then going from there. I feel like it’s still early, we have a lot of hope, everyone’s still positive. The biggest things is just watching film and trying to correct it.”

It will need to be a quick correction as Houston will face the New England Patriots on noon Sunday at NRG Stadium.

The Patriots come off tough 19-17 loss to the Buccaneers and like the Texans sit at 1-3 on the season. But everyone in the Texans locker room knows the Patriots and Bill Belichick are not to be underestimated.

“Whatever the Patriots are doing offensively, whatever they are doing defensively, they don’t make mistakes. You have to beat that football team,” Culley said. “That’s one of the things that I felt like us moving forward, obviously we were not mistake free last week. When you have those kinds of things happen to you, you lose football games. You don’t get beat, you lose football games and that’s what we did. This football team we are about to play has a history of not doing that.”

The Texans know it will be a tough matchup, but also know they need a win to get back on track and make a push to get in the playoff hunt.

“I still think we have playoff aspirations, I feel like we still have that chance,” Johnson said. “We’re tied for second in the division and it’s still early. We’ve only played four games. We still have a chance to make the playoffs and make a run.”

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