The Texans are coming out of their bye with a problem that has been staring them in the face all season: penalties, penalties, and more penalties.
Houston has been one of the league’s most flag-heavy teams, sitting in the top five in average penalties per game. The Texans are also among 10 NFL teams that have surrendered more than 500 yards because of penalties, and they’re one of eight teams with 70 or more total flags against them. That kind of sloppiness has helped drag them to three games under .500 entering Week 9.
DeMeco Ryans knows the fix has to start now, and he’s making it clear the responsibility isn’t sitting with just one side of the building. The coach put the burden on both staff and players as Houston gets ready for Sunday’s trip to face the Los Angeles Chargers.
“For penalties, we all have to clean it up from a coaching perspective, a player perspective, and we'll emphasize that more in practice and see how it translates to the game,” Ryans said on Monday.
The biggest issue Ryans singled out was offensive holding, which has repeatedly wiped out productive plays for Houston. The Texans rank third-most in offensive holding calls per game heading into Week 7, and they’re one of five teams in the league losing more than 20 yards per game because of those flags.
That has hit the offense where it hurts most. Ryans pointed to big runs being erased, including plays involving Aireontae Ersery, as well as work from the tight ends and other players on the edge.
“For all of us with the penalties, specifically holding penalties, we’ve got to know when to let go on the edges,” Ryans said on Monday. “That’s been called a lot more this year, and we’ve got to know when to let go.
Understanding that’s a point of emphasis for our officials. So we’ve got to do a better job playing cleaner.”
“Some of our biggest runs-- not only [Aireontae Ersery], but our tight ends and guys on the edge specifically-- have been called back because of the holding penalties. And that leads to the questions on the running game.
We’ve had 20-plus yard gains. It’s just been, you know, nullified by penalties.”
“So, can we clean that up? Can we play smarter knowing when to let up on the edge? And I think that’ll definitely help our numbers in the run game.”
The good news for Houston is that the Chargers have their own penalty issues. Los Angeles is one of seven teams averaging more than eight penalties per game, and the Chargers also rank in the top eight in average pre-snap penalties per game.
If the Texans can finally clean up their own mistakes, this is the kind of matchup where that discipline could matter.
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