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Week 3 Game Recap: Houston Texans 12, Tennessee Titans 31
What you need to know
| Houston Texans |
The Texans, coming off an unexpected week off due to Hurricane Ike, were inconsistent. They wasted three excellent scoring opportunities to score touchdowns after driving inside the ten yard line. The Texans were only able to come away with three total points from those drives, turning the ball over on down the other two times. Matt Schaub missed on his first six passes and was only four of 14 in the first half. The passing game did not show signs of starting to click until the second quarter after the Texans were able to break off a few successful runs.
Steve Slaton was the workhorse for the Texans, breaking off two long runs in the first half to help open thing up for the passing game. The rushing game was not as effective in the second half with the Texans being forced to rely on the pass after falling behind 21 to 12 at the half.
With Matt Schaub unable to connect with his number one receiver, Andre Johnson, it was up to Own Daniels to give the passing game a consistent receiver. Daniels was able to provide the spark needed to move the offense through the air in the first half by getting open and turning short passes into long gains.
| Tennessee Titans |
Tennessee was able to hold on for the win thanks to a defense that tightened up when it was needed the most. The defense stopped the Texans from scoring touchdowns three times from inside the ten yard line, two of those times coming on fourth and short yardage situations.
Kerry Collins was not able to get into a good groove as he was rarely able to complete more than a couple of passes in a row. The offensive line did give him plenty of time to throw and locate his open receivers.
With Justin Gage out with a groin injury Justin McCareins was able to step into the role of number one receiver and performed admirably. McCareins was Collins' go to receiver on deep routes and the tight ends worked the short yardage areas of the field as the Titans built a nine point first half lead.
The Titans running backs shared the workload, with LenDale White and Chris Johnson getting 16 carries each. However, White was the main back in the first half regardless of the game situation. Johnson spelled him occasionally in the first half, but saw the majority of his action in the second half as Tennessee was running out the clock.
What you ought to know
| QB Matt Schaub, Pass: 17 - 37 - 188 - 0 TD / 3 INT, Rush: 3 - 12 - 0 |
Matt Schaub was not able to guide the offense through the air for the majority of the first half. He missed on his first six attempts, and most of those passes were not catchable. His first interception was caused by his throwing the ball short to a receiver that was covered. His second interception was the result of a poor decision to force the ball to a double covered Andre Johnson while throwing off of his back foot. That pass was returned for the final score of the game. Schaub passes were generally not on target, which caused his receivers to have to reach and attempt to make tough catches. He was under pressure by the Titans front four most of the game and the Texans were able to counter that by having him throw the ball on designed roll out passes.
| RB Steve Slaton, Rush: 18 - 116 - 1, Rec: 4 - 8 - 0 (5 targets) |
Steve Slaton made his first NFL start and showed that he may be taking over the top running back position in Houston in the near future. He displayed breakaway speed on two runs in the first half, a 50 yard carry where he broke free of a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and a 25 yard carry when he burst through the line. He had an excellent first half, finishing with 104 yards and one touchdown. Slaton is a decisive runner who, if given a small hole to run through, will explode through it and get to the second level. However, he was not helped out by an offensive line that did not give him many holes to run through and he had to break tackles in order to gain positive yards.
| RB Chris Taylor, Rush: 6 - 15 - 0 |
Taylor only saw carries when Slaton needed a breather.
| RB Vonta Leach, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Leach performed as the lead blocker for Steve Slaton did manage to catch one of the two passes thrown his way.
| RB Ahman Green |
Green did not play due to an ankle injury.
| WR Kevin Walter, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0, Rec: 4 - 15 - 0 (10 targets) |
Walter turned his ten targets into four receptions on the strength of short pass routes that were designed to pick up enough yards to make the second or third down play more manageable. He did drop some passes that were catchable.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 2 - 29 - 0 (11 targets) |
Andre Johnson was plagued by an inaccurate quarterback. Matt Schaub tried to get the ball to him seven times in the first half, but they were only able to complete one of the passes. Johnson did drop three catchable balls, one of which was knocked out of his hands while in the end zone. With most of the passes coming his way uncatchable he was not able to get into any type of rhythm with Schaub.
| WR Andre Davis, Rec: 2 - 60 - 0 (3 targets) |
Andre Davis, the Texans kick returner, was only to connect once with Matt Schaub, but that reception was on a deep pass that gave the Texans great field position on the Titan 31 yard line and led to the first points of the game.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 4 - 71 - 0 (6 targets) |
The most reliable receiver for the Texans was Owen Daniels. He was able to haul in four of his six targets. His two longest receptions were on designed plays where Schaub would roll out to his right and hit Daniels on a designed screen. Daniels would be wide open and then turn up field and gain a lot of yards after the catch.
| TE Joel Dreessen (1 targets) |
Dreessen was not able to come up with the only ball thrown his way as he saw action in two tight end sets during the first half.
| PK Kris Brown 2 - 2 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 6 points |
Brown was perfect on both of his field goal attempts. His missed extra point was the result of a bad snap.
| HOU Rush Defense |
The Texans were able to keep the Titans' backs in check for the majority of the game. They were hurt by two Kerry Collins bootlegs in the first quarter where he was able to gain 30 yards. Titans' backs were the most effective by going up the middle, but were not able to break off any real long gains.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The pass defense got off to a good start, intercepting Kerry Collins on the first Titans' play from scrimmage. Unfortunately they were not able to keep it up. The front four of the line was not able to get pressure on Collins and the backs and receivers were able to gain extra yards due to poor tackling by the Texans defensive backs.
| QB Kerry Collins, Pass: 14 - 26 - 189 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 30 - 0 |
Kerry Collins did not finish with great statistics, but he did enough to lead his team to victory. He made good decisions throwing the ball. He only made one mistake, and that was on the first play from scrimmage when he threw behind the intended receiver resulting in an interception. Collins was effective due to his offensive line giving him plenty of time in the pocket to locate his receivers. Collins helped himself on the ground by gaining 30 yards on designed roll out plays where he took off down the field when he saw an opening.
| RB Chris Johnson, Rush: 16 - 74 - 0, Rec: 2 - 5 - 0 (4 targets) |
Chris Johnson did not see much playing time in the first half as the Titans chose to use LenDale White to wear down the Texans defense. Johnson was used as a change of pace and as a receiver out of the backfield. In the second half when they were trying to run down the clock and maintain possession Johnson was the primary ball carrier as the team decided to go with the fresher back.
| RB LenDale White, Rush: 16 - 49 - 2 |
White was called upon early and often as the Titans used him to wear down the Texans run defense. He was used a majority of the time in the first half, but did come out in passing situations. White showed patience in waiting for his hole to develop instead of plunging straight ahead into the line. His two touchdown runs were on short yardage plays where he found his assigned hole early and ran through it with authority.
| RB Ahmard Hall, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0 |
Hall's only carry came on a key third and one play where he gained the yardage needed for a first down.
| WR Justin McCareins, Rec: 4 - 90 - 0 (7 targets) |
McCareins got off to a poor start. He was the target on the first pass of the game, which was intercepted when Kerry Collins threw behind him. On his next target he caught the ball but promptly fumbled it away. Things did improve from there as he was able to provide Collins with a reliable downfield target.
| WR Brandon Jones, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (3 targets) |
Brandon Jones started in the place of Justin Gage, but did not see any passes thrown his way after the first quarter. He made the most of his limited action by catching two passes on the initial touchdown drive.
| WR Chris Davis, Rec: 1 - 21 - 0 (2 targets) |
Davis was only able to come down with one of the two balls thrown his way.
| WR Justin Gage |
Gage did not play due to a groin injury.
| TE Bo Scaife, Rec: 3 - 26 - 1 (5 targets) |
Bo Scaife served as the primary tight end, and was the only receiver that scored. His scoring reception was on play where he was left alone in the flat and he was able to turn a short reception into a score.
| TE Alge Crumpler, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (4 targets) |
Crumpler was used in two tight end sets and was able to catch two passes for key first downs, the first reception coming on a second and 12 play that kept a touchdown drive alive.
| PK Rob Bironas 1 - 1 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 7 points |
Bironas was perfect on his only field goal attempt and on all three of his extra points.
| TEN Rush Defense |
The rushing defense gave up a total of 146 yards, however 75 of those yards came on two excellent runs by Steve Slaton. The defense did appear to tire some toward the end of each half, but was able to keep the Texan backs in check when it counted at the end of the game by stopping Slaton just shy of the first down marker on a forth and one during the fourth quarter.
| TEN Pass Defense |
The pass rush was able to get pressure on Matt Schaub and force him into rushing his throws and making poor decisions. Even though the defense was only able to record three sacks, they were able to force him into plays that he did not want to make. The final nail in the coffin was a 99 yard interception return for a touch down in the fourth quarter on a poorly thrown pass into double coverage.