The Houston Texans finally got the kind of disruptive defensive performance DeMeco Ryans has been pushing for, and it still wasn’t enough to save them.
Houston forced three turnovers in Indianapolis, including a strip-sack from Will Anderson Jr. on the Colts’ opening possession, another forced fumble by Anderson and an interception from Reed Blankenship. The Texans also finished the game without turning it over themselves.
That usually points to a win. Instead, they walked out with a 19-17 loss, dropped to 0-3 and were left staring at the same issue that keeps following them around: the offense never held up its end.
Anderson set the tone right away. His first strip-sack of Daniel Jones led to Kamari Lassiter recovering the loose ball, giving Houston its first takeaway of the season.
Anderson later forced another fumble, and Blankenship’s interception helped shut down another Colts chance. Jones finished with three fumbles, losing two, and also threw the pick.
The Texans defense did plenty more than just create turnovers. Houston logged four sacks, held Jonathan Taylor to 68 yards on 23 carries and limited Indianapolis to 300 net yards. The Colts found the end zone only once and had to settle for four Spencer Shrader field goals.
That should have been enough.
Instead, Houston turned those three takeaways into just seven points. The offense managed only 223 net yards, 17 first downs and 70 rushing yards.
C.J. Stroud went 16 of 27 for 167 yards and a touchdown while taking three sacks.
David Montgomery led the ground game with 33 yards on 11 carries.
Stroud protected the ball and helped fuel a late fourth-quarter comeback, but the Texans spent too much of the afternoon going nowhere. They were shut out in the first and third quarters, went 4 of 11 on third down and failed on their only fourth-down attempt. Indianapolis controlled the clock for 35:13 to Houston’s 24:47.
The defense kept handing the offense chances. The offense kept giving them right back.
Anderson’s day deserves special attention because it was the kind of impact performance that changes games. He finished with two forced fumbles and shared a sack with Danielle Hunter, doing exactly what a cornerstone defender is supposed to do.
He didn’t just pressure Jones. He flipped possessions.
Houston has built this defense to be a difference-maker, and Sunday showed it can absolutely do that. The problem is everything around it.
The Texans are losing because they aren’t playing complementary football. When your defense forces three turnovers, records four sacks and allows only one touchdown, that has to turn into a win.
It didn’t.
There is some history here that Houston can point to, since the Texans also started 0-3 last season before recovering to make the playoffs. But that can’t become the story every year. Right now, the bigger truth is simpler: the same offensive problems keep showing up, from unreliable blocking to an inconsistent running game to long stretches without any real production.
Houston is now 0-1 in the AFC South, and all three losses have come against AFC opponents.
The Texans host the Dallas Cowboys at noon Central on Sunday, Oct. 4, at Reliant Stadium. Dallas enters at 1-2, while Houston is still looking for its first win.
The defense has done enough to give this team a chance. Now the offense has to stop wasting them.
In Other News...
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Texans 0-3 Start Has Turned Into A Bigger Blame Fight
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Caserio is under scrutiny for the state of the offensive line, Ryans for the coaching decisions and broader organizational authority that come with his job, and Caley for how the offense has looked under his direction. The criticism is not evenly spread, but the frustration is real enough to raise the question of how much of this start is a roster problem, how much is a coaching problem, and where the Texans should look first if they want to stop the slide. [Read more 🡒]
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Mario Edwards Jr.s season-ending ACL injury thins out the defensive tackle rotation and leaves Houston with less margin for error at a spot that was already not overflowing with options. When McDonald is cleared to return, the Texans may have a tougher decision on their hands than simply easing him back in, because the snaps could be there sooner and in greater volume than anyone anticipated. [Read more 🡒]