The Houston Texans dropped a big game 41-7 to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium. In what could have been a consequential win over one of the top teams in the AFC, the Texans came out and played like the worst team in their division, not the cream of the AFC South. Here are three people who are at fault for the Texans’ loss.
1. bill o’brien
It is easy to blame O’Brien because he is the coach and the buck stops with him relative to game day operations. However, the Texans were coming off of a bye week. The only offensive starter that was scratched was receiver Will Fuller, who had been out since Week 8 anyway. Mustering seven points, the fewest ever with Deshaun Watson as the starter, shows the game plan and the execution wasn’t top notch.
2. deshaun watson
The Pro Bowl quarterback did not play his best game, completing 18-of-29 for 169 yards and an interception and losing a fumble. While Watson did take six sacks, the majority of which were due to coverage sacks, he didn’t take off and use his legs to make the Ravens defense pay. Assigning blame for Watson doesn’t mean he is a fraud as an MVP candidate or that the Texans will never win anything consequential with him. Rather, it is to say in a big game on the road against one of the top-3 teams in the conference, he didn’t play his best.
3. romeo crennel
The defensive coordinator was tasked with stopping the league’s highest scoring offense and neutralizing an MVP candidate in quarterback Lamar Jackson, and doing so without his All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt. However, it isn’t anything Crennel hasn’t faced before as a three-time Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator. The Texans offense broke to Jackson’s onslaught and had no further answers as he completed 17-of-24 for 222 yards, four touchdowns, and rushed nine times for 86 yards. The Texans offense would have had to generate the type of performance they did against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 5, a 53-32 win, to have kept pace with the Ravens because of how ineffective the defense was Sunday afternoon.
