The Houston Texans faced a third-and-16 from their own 29-yard line with 6:33 to go in the second quarter.
While the situation was an obvious one from which to call a pass, the Texans called a draw play to running back David Johnson, who picked up seven yards.
Coach David Culley told reporters on Monday the day after the 24-9 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football why the Texans decided to call a run in an obvious passing situation.
“It’s tough to get long yardage, and again, I’m going back to Davis [Mills],” Culley said. “We didn’t want him getting into a situation where he felt like he needed to make a play because it’s third-and-15.”
According to Culley, the Texans called the run to keep their third-round rookie quarterback from making a bad decision.
“I know with young quarterbacks a lot of times you think you third-and-15, I’ve got to throw the ball down the field to be able to get a first down,” said Culley. “You don’t necessarily have to do that. Basically, you throw the ball for five yards and you run, and if we don’t get the 1st down, we punt it.
“In that situation, we didn’t want to put him in a situation where he felt like he needed to try and make a play on his own. We felt like at that point the way we were playing, we were playing field position and we felt like we could get a good play and change field position with the punt.”
Culley acknowledged during the presser that the Texans need to do a better job of not trying to protect Mills. The former Stanford product completed 19 passes on 28 attempts for 168 yards and a touchdown while taking four sacks. Houston’s offense generated 193 yards of total offense.
