- 9 minutes ago
The Texans could not convert in the red zone and were poor on third down, resulting in a 20-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Reliant Stadium.
Sean Pendergast and Clint Stoerner break down the loss on Texans Postgame.
Sean Pendergast and Clint Stoerner break down the loss on Texans Postgame.
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00:00It's Texans postgame, brought to you by Reliant, Coshada Casino Resort, Houston Methodist, and Heineken.
00:1112 seconds to go. Joe Burrow approaches the line of scrimmage, the 38-yard line, takes a knee, and it
00:17is over at Reliant Stadium for the third time in his four years as a head coach.
00:24D'Amico Ryan sees his team start 0-2. They fall to the Bengals today, 20-6, with a division
00:32matchup at Indy next week.
00:36All right, Mark Vandermeer on the call. Let's go. 7-1-3, 5-7-2, 4-6-10.
00:41Mark just laid it all out for you right there. The Texans in just a complete snoozefest of a game
00:47today.
00:4720-6, the final score. The Cincinnati Bengals come in to Reliant Stadium, and they just completely, well, for the
00:56most part, I say shut down the Texans offensively.
00:59C.J. Stroud threw for the emptiest 350-plus yards that you're ever going to see in a box score.
01:04But the Bengals had the run of the play today, and they win 20-6.
01:08The Texans, for the third time in D'Amico Ryan's four seasons, fall to 0-2 to start the season.
01:14So they're behind the eight ball. Once again, they were here last year, but 0-3 to start last year.
01:19I will lay out why this is a much, much more dire situation this year than last year's was.
01:26I'll do that in just a little bit, but we want you guys to dig in on it, and certainly
01:30I want Clint Sterner to dig on it.
01:31Welcome in, everybody. I'm Sean Pendergast alongside Clint Sterner here on Texans Postgame on Texans Radio,
01:37live from the Hyundai Texans studio, presented by Reliant.
01:39Sheldon Rankins is going to join us here in studio sometime in the next several minutes here.
01:45We'll get Sheldon Rankins on his way out today after just a horrible Sunday afternoon here at Reliant Stadium.
01:51The Bengals come in. They get a couple touchdowns from Jamar Chase,
01:54including one that is going to be on every highlight reel for the next several weeks.
01:58Just an amazing Jamar Chase kind of play, and they beat the Texans 20-6.
02:02Bengals 2-0 on the season. Texans now 0-2.
02:05And, Clint, we can dig into all the things that went wrong and all the things that are concerning to
02:09me,
02:10specifically this game.
02:11This game was lost in the third quarter when D'Amico Ryans, perhaps spooked by the fact that
02:18his offensive coordinator decided to call some sort of outside run on fourth and two inches earlier in the game,
02:26he needed two inches.
02:28You know, I know that. The computer told everybody in the stadium he needed two inches,
02:31and he runs some playoff tackle with David Montgomery that gets stuffed for a loss,
02:35and the Texans turn the ball over on downs.
02:38Maybe spooked by that, he thought that instead of going for it on fourth and one
02:41at the Bengals' 40-yard line, that kicking a 58-yard field goal was the right thing to do.
02:47Kaimi Fairbairn comes up short.
02:48A few plays later, the Bengals are in the end zone, and the game is 17-3.
02:52This game, there's a lot of reasons they lost this game,
02:54but if we're isolating when this game was done, when I wrote the words down,
02:59the Texans are cooked in the pender notes, that was the sequence right there.
03:04Just not at all trusting your offense to, not that trusting them to run the ball today
03:08would have been a wise thing to do, but just empirically,
03:11even if you find a different play, going for it on fourth and one there makes way more sense
03:15than trying a 58-yard field goal because of the downside that we saw.
03:18You miss it, and the opposing team starts with the ball at midfield,
03:21only took them a few plays after that to find Jamar Chase again.
03:25D'Amico Ryans, I haven't listened to the press conference yet.
03:27He likes to talk about when they lose how they just didn't make plays.
03:30He better take some of the blame for this one
03:32because this was a poorly coached team across the board today.
03:36Yeah, look, I mean, one thing going into today, Sean,
03:38that you knew about this team given the injuries on the offensive side of the ball
03:42was that in the moments that you described, fourth down situations,
03:50they were going to have to take a little additional risk
03:52and they were going to have to be successful.
03:54They were going to have to win some of those moments in this game
03:57in order to steal points, in order to steal some clock,
04:00in order to steal opportunities because with no Nico Collins, no Jaden Higgins,
04:05you knew no Ed Ingram, you knew you were going to be shorthanded
04:10and points were going to come at a premium
04:12and opportunities weren't going to, you know,
04:15they were going to be few and far between.
04:16And so in those moments when you get down there, you've got to be really, really good.
04:20And to be honest with you, you've got to win those moments.
04:23And to your point, one of them, you run what looked like almost an off-tackle run,
04:28which is to me with this group of offensive linemen,
04:31a questionable decision from a play-calling perspective.
04:34And then you turn around and in the moment where you've got to keep a drive alive
04:40and go get points, you choose to take a long field goal and it comes up short.
04:45Not only do you not get the points, not only does it drive stall,
04:49but you give the ball back to Joe Burrow with a short field.
04:52So I think just the way that this team right now is injured
04:56and the way that they're having to operate offensively,
04:59those moments are significantly bigger than they would be
05:04if you had a full complement of players right now.
05:07And so, yeah, those were crippling moments in this game
05:10and you knew coming in you just had to have them.
05:13Yeah, and it feels like, you know, for all the talk last week about,
05:18wow, you know, they found a running game last week.
05:20They ran for, you know, 130 yards.
05:22Granted, none of it was really pretty and none of it was really explosive.
05:25You know, David Montgomery had the touchdown run,
05:28the longer of his two touchdown runs last week.
05:30That was nice.
05:31But, and Woody Marks had a decent day running the football last week.
05:35They couldn't do anything.
05:35Their leading rusher today by a mile was C.J. Stroud.
05:38He had 29 yards rushing.
05:40The rest of the team had 31 yards rushing.
05:42And 13 of those came on an end around with Jalen Knoll.
05:45David Montgomery, 6 carries, 10 yards.
05:48Woody Marks, 8 carries, 8 yards.
05:50And this is, granted, an improved Cincinnati team who, you know,
05:54in terms of rebuilding their defense,
05:56decided to most shore up the part that was defending the run today
06:00on that defensive line, bringing in Jonathan Allen,
06:02trading for Dexter Lawrence, who was a beast today.
06:04That acquisition looks really good right now.
06:06Now, this team feels like it's back at square one
06:08when it comes to the offensive line and the running game after today.
06:12Well, look, I think there's, this game,
06:14if you just look at this game from a 30,000-foot view,
06:16in my opinion, today is about two things.
06:18It's about how this team was built in the offseason
06:21and what the expectations were.
06:23Play great defense and run the football, right?
06:26Today was a day, again, before the ball was ever kicked off,
06:29you knew you had to play great defense
06:30and you were going to have to run the football really well.
06:33And I would argue that both fell short.
06:35Now, is it fair to expect the defense to hold a team like the Bengals
06:40to 10 points or 13 points to give the offense a chance?
06:43Is it fair to go out there and say,
06:45hey, this offense should be able to run the ball for 150 yards
06:48or 200 yards against Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen
06:51in that Bengals front?
06:52I'm not here to tell you what's fair.
06:54I'm just here to tell you that all offseason,
06:56this team was built in a way we're going to run the football.
06:58We're going to get better up front.
06:59From the money that was spent to the draft picks
07:02that were slotted or taken,
07:05it was all made to be more physical and run the football.
07:07And you just laid out what the running backs were able to do today.
07:11The best part of this game was a speed sweep
07:14and the quarterback scrambles in the run game.
07:17In a game when Nico Collins and, again, Higgins is out,
07:21you've got to be able to lean on that run game to some degree.
07:24And you couldn't do it at all today.
07:26No.
07:26And I would argue when you look on the other side of the football,
07:30this was supposed to be a generationally great defense,
07:33so I don't think it's unfair to say.
07:36Sometimes you've got to be able to go,
07:37especially when the offense is banged up,
07:39you've got to be able to go in there and hold them down.
07:41Minnesota's defense held Chicago to three points today
07:43or six points today.
07:44One of those types of performances is what you've got to have.
07:49Again, fair or not, that's the reality of what we saw today.
07:52This team's supposed to be able to play historically great defense,
07:56and they're built to run the football.
07:58And I would say that both of them fell short.
08:01The running game absolutely fell short.
08:02The defense was better than it was last week,
08:04but that was not a high bar to clear.
08:06They were not good at all last week.
08:07They were better this week.
08:08They haven't forced any turnovers yet.
08:10That's the big thing.
08:11But that's the thing, though, Sean, that, yes, they were better.
08:13But if you watch this football game, if I came to you right now
08:15and said, hey, what really – I know they scored some points,
08:19scored enough to win, but what really slowed Cincinnati down?
08:22You'd tell me the penalties were the big problem.
08:24You wouldn't say that, boy, this Texas –
08:26Put themselves down.
08:27Right.
08:27Yeah.
08:27And then if you look at the game and kind of how it unfolded,
08:30the offense was so inept that the whole second half for Cincinnati
08:34was more about, hey, man, can I get this play clock to two
08:37before I snap the football?
08:38Yeah, yeah.
08:38It wasn't about being aggressive and going and scoring points.
08:41And so, yes, the end result and the box score would say, yeah,
08:43they were better.
08:44But if we're honest with everybody when you watch that game,
08:48it's hard to say that, yeah, that was that generationally great defense.
08:53Oh, no way.
08:54No, no.
08:54You're 100% right.
08:55And I think, look, part of being that generationally great defense
08:59is forcing turnovers, especially when your team needs them.
09:02It felt like every time last year that you had an offense that was average
09:05to below average for most of the season, this defense found ways to make plays
09:09when you needed them most to turn other teams over.
09:11We're two games in, and they haven't forced a single turnover yet.
09:14So, 100%.
09:15When you have a defense that's not forcing turnovers,
09:17especially on a team like this that seems to need those things,
09:19the ceiling on what your grade is going to be is like a B minus.
09:22And they were below that today.
09:23I'm with you on that.
09:25I guess I'm looking at this similar to how last week, you know,
09:29and all we had was one game to go off of, but we came in here last week,
09:32and I think the general feeling in this studio,
09:35and I think out among Texan fans that we interacted with and talked to was,
09:38hey, they lost to that game to the Bills.
09:40But I think there was a general feeling of optimism about the team overall
09:44because the way the offense played, they put up 31 points.
09:47They had some really long drives in that game to score their touchdowns.
09:50There were no short fields in that game.
09:52And the defense will be fine.
09:54Yeah, it was one bad game, and it was against Josh Allen.
09:56He's the MVP.
09:58I feel similarly about the defense.
10:00Like, I'm not out on the defense.
10:01You're right.
10:02They haven't performed to the level that we've come to expect from them
10:04and certainly not performed to the level of all the cover stories
10:07in Sports Illustrated and the Athletic and everything else
10:10that everybody was stroking them with throughout the offseason,
10:15especially right before the season started.
10:17So I'm with you on that 100%.
10:19You know, of the things I'm concerned about looking forward,
10:22it's a real odd place to be in because I'm still not concerned about the defense
10:26as long as they stay healthy.
10:29The running game all of a sudden in the offensive line is something
10:32that is concerning after this game.
10:34It was so bad that that's concerning.
10:36The odd thing is the one thing that everybody was saying in the offseason,
10:40the bar for this element of the team was just basically be average with C.J. Stroud.
10:45And I think two games in, C.J. Stroud is very far down the list of issues
10:49with an 0-2 team right now.
10:50Oh, there's no doubt about it.
10:51I mean, if you just look at your quarterback play in general,
10:56whatever's called, you go out there and execute it at a high level.
10:59He has been absolutely tremendous.
11:01Right?
11:01And it's weird to say because they put up six points today.
11:04Well, I mean, look, if you can't run the football and it becomes, you know,
11:10a penalty fest at times because, I mean, the Bengals go out there
11:14and they get off to a big lead in the penalty category.
11:17And then you look up and you tell me, well,
11:19it looks like the Texans have caught them in the penalty category.
11:21So, you know, penalties killed them.
11:23The inability to run the football killed them.
11:24And, by the way, also, I mean, I don't typically lean into this at all.
11:30I mean, I don't subscribe to this at all.
11:31But this game is totally different if you've got one of Higgins
11:34or Nico Collins, either or.
11:37Obviously, Nico, he's one of the best receivers in the league.
11:39Yeah.
11:39But it's completely different if you have one or the other.
11:42I just believe that this team scores some points.
11:44And, again, you know, with that being said,
11:47the missed field goal and the stop on fourth down,
11:49which was the run game, you know, that's out of CJ's hands.
11:53Both killed drives for him.
11:55So, yeah, the point, the scoreboard obviously is hard to look at
11:58and go, boy, your quarterback's playing well.
12:00I agree.
12:00But if you peel, you know, if we peel it back,
12:04peel back the top layer, he's, CJ is, you can win with that.
12:08Yep.
12:08Yep.
12:09There were no turnovers in this game.
12:11I don't think either team forced a turnover in this game.
12:13So, you know, theoretically, the turnover, you know,
12:16the turnover battle was even.
12:17But I, in my mind, those first, the drives by the Texans,
12:22the one that ended with the fourth and one where they went for it
12:29and got stuffed.
12:29And then early in the game, when we haven't even mentioned Kai Kroger yet,
12:32botching a snap.
12:34Yep.
12:34Those are turnovers to me.
12:35Yep.
12:35Those are turnovers.
12:36To me, I know by the definition of the statistic,
12:39a turnover is a fumble lost or an interception.
12:41I get that.
12:42But to me, de facto turnovers are when you don't get a look at scoring on a drive
12:49because of your ineptitude, because either you made a mistake on a field goal
12:53like Kai Kroger did in dropping a snap, and granted the snap was a little low,
12:56but your job in the NFL as a holder is to take a snap that is settable
13:03and set that snap.
13:04He didn't do that.
13:05He fumbled it, and the Texans didn't even get a look at three points.
13:08That's a turnover to me.
13:09When you get down in opponent territory and you're going forward on fourth down,
13:13on fourth and two inches, and you call a play that feels like it's
13:17designed for Dexter Lawrence to blow it up, and he did, that's a turnover to me.
13:22Those are poor decisions or poor execution and must have it fourth downs
13:28where you don't get it and your team doesn't get a look at scoring a touchdown
13:32or a field goal in those situations.
13:33So I know the Texans technically didn't lose the turnover battle
13:36because neither team turned the ball over by the definition of a turnover,
13:39but in terms of making plays when you needed to make them,
13:42had to have them in the other team's territory,
13:44and then just making awful mistakes, whether it's Kai Kroger fumbling,
13:47calling a snap, whether it's Nick Caley calling an inexplicable runoff tackle
13:51when you need two inches.
13:52I mean, that's what a QB sneak is for, two inches.
13:55You know he's not afraid to run a QB sneak.
13:57He ran it last week with C.J. Stroud.
13:59And then D'Amico Ryan's just making an unconscionable decision
14:03when you have fourth and one at the 40 to choose a 58-yard field goal.
14:10That's a laughable decision.
14:11In fact, there's people tweeting me saying it's a cowardly decision.
14:14I don't know if I want to go there, but it's certainly from a playing
14:18the percentages standpoint, it's malpractice to beyond a David Cully degree.
14:23Well, that's hard to wrap my head around, but you are correct.
14:27I'm with you.
14:28Here's the thing that magnifies it a bit for me is, as I keep saying,
14:36you knew these things coming into the game.
14:38This wasn't, hey, man, we're everybody all hands on deck.
14:40Everybody's healthy.
14:41Let's go rock and roll.
14:42And, oh, boom, all of a sudden this situation presented itself.
14:45You knew coming into this game you were going to have to steal points.
14:48You knew coming into this game that you were going to have to make some risky
14:51decisions in order to chew more clock and keep the ball out of Burrow
14:54and Chase and Higgins' hands kind of deal.
14:57And so coming into it, it was one of those,
15:00these probably should have been thought through
15:02and probably should have been made a little bit more priority
15:05than they typically do given the injuries on the offensive side of the football.
15:09And it just makes the decisions even a little bit more head-scratching for me.
15:16All right, 713-572-4610.
15:19We'll have D'Amico Ryan's press conference.
15:20We expect to have Sheldon Rankins join us at some point here
15:23in the Hyundai Texans studio and chat with us here on the postgame show.
15:27And then from there, it's you guys.
15:28So if you want to get in, grab a phone line and come in.
15:31Let's commiserate together, man.
15:32We're all in this together.
15:33For the third time in four seasons of the D'Amico Ryan's era,
15:37the Texans are paddling upstream two weeks into the season.
15:400-2 start for the third time in four years.
15:43Let's talk about it.
15:44713-572-4610.
15:46This is Texans Postgame on Texans Radio.
15:48813-572-4610.
15:48813-572-4610.
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