“When you don’t score any points in the game you evaluate everything,” Culley said. “We are going to evaluate everything including (quarterback)."
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It may have been the worst way possible that the Texans started Sunday’s game.
Coming off a loss to the Jets, the team was looking for some momentum early, but they ended up doing the opposite of that.
Houston got the ball first but on the first play from scrimmage, Tyrod Taylor threw an interception, setting up a long day for Houston.
The Texans offense never got going, fumbling on their next drive and gaining just 48 yards of offense in the first half en route to a 31-0 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The loss dropped the Texans record to 2-10.
The Texans did not even pass midfield in the first half, punting or turning it over each of their first seven drives and only gaining three first downs in the first half.
“We’re not good enough,” said Texans head coach David Culley. “We’re not coaching well enough, we’re not playing well enough. We made a few changes to some things we had been doing but it didn’t get done today. We are going to keep evaluating and figure out the best way to do what we need to do and do it the right way.”
The Colts immediately made the Texans pay after the interception, going 29 yards on six plays and scoring on a 1-yard run from Jonathan Taylor.
Despite being put in bad field position situations the rest of the half, the Texans defense fared well, holding Indianapolis without a point for most of the remainder of the first half, but eventually the Colts broke through again. Going on an 11-play, 54-yard drive late in the second quarter where Carson Wentz threw a 3-yard touchdown to Ashton Dulin. Putting the Colts up two scores at halftime.
“We have to figure out a way to score points, stay on the field and keep our defense off the field,” said center Justin Britt. “The defense played really hard and fought for most of the game against a really good running team. But if we leave them on the field then we aren’t doing them any justice. We just have to look at the film, figure out what happened and try to get better day after day. The goal is to go 1-0 so we have to do what we can to get ready for next week.”
The Colts continued to dominate in the third, taking their opening possession 75 yards on nine plays before Taylor scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run.
The day went from bad to worse for the Texans when Tyrod Taylor was forced out with an injury to his left hand and Davis Mills had to come on in his place, but the Texans found signs of life with Mills under center.
The team gained three first downs on Mills first drive, tying what they had the entire first half, but still failed to come away with any points.
Taylor was evaluated for a wrist injury and it was determined he was available to play, but the Texans stuck with Mills the rest of the way.
“The one thing he has to do which he didn’t do today is, first play of the game (Taylor) threw an interception, and you have to take care of the ball,” Culley said. “Then we had a fumble on our next play on offense. The job for our quarterback is to get us in the endzone and (Taylor) didn’t do that today.”
Culley wouldn’t say if Taylor would be the starter next week.
“When you don’t score any points in the game you evaluate everything,” Culley said. “We are going to evaluate everything including (quarterback)."
The Colts extended their lead in the fourth quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Michael Badgley.
For the second time this season, a team sent in their backup quarterback to finish things off against the Texans, as Sam Ehlinger came in during the fourth quarter for the Colts. The Colts capped the game off with a 3-yard touchdown run from Deon Jackson.
It’s the second time this season that the Texans were shutout, they also failed to score against the Bills.
The lone bright spot from the game for the Texans was linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill finished the game with 19 tackles, breaking a team single game record.
“It’s a honor, I can’t even lie,” Grugier-Hill said. “I think my whole career I’ve been pigeonholed a little bit as a special teams guy and this franchise has given me a chance to prove to everyone be a real starter and player in this league. We still didn’t win so you can’t celebrate the individual accomplishments to much but it’s definitely an honor.”
The Texans will be back at NRG at noon Sunday to take on the Seahawks.
“We have to execute better,” Mills said. “We had some opportunities today where we messed up things and we have to get that corrected. We just have to put together a full game and go out there and make plays.”