The Houston Texans have been embarrassingly bad in their first-half effort against the Washington Commanders in Week 11. They are currently getting shut out, and face a 20-point deficit. Rookie running back Dameon Pierce has had a hard time gaining yardage on the ground, and with quarterback Davis Mills continuing to struggle, their offense has been painful to watch through two quarters.
On the other side of the ball, the Texans’ defense has also put up a poor performance. After initially limiting Washington to three-and-outs early, the game was blown open on a Curtis Samuel rushing touchdown late in the first quarter and two second-quarter field goals that opened the door for the Commanders to take full control.
Here are our key takeaways from the first half:
Davis Mills is on the fast track to get benched
After denying any interest in benching quarterback Davis Mills this week in press conferences, head coach Lovie Smith might not have an option after this week following the totally incompetent showing his signal-caller put up in the first half. At one point midway through the second quarter, the Texans had negative total net yardage on offense.
Needless to say, if Mills doesn’t show signs of life early in the second half, Smith may be wise to go ahead and give backup Kyle Allen his shot to prove that he can deliver the Texans’ offense better-than-negative results.
Texans defense looks soft, pass rush absent on stat sheet
Houston’s defense might not have been as bad as their offense, but the unit isn’t doing enough to keep the Texans close. They started on their back foot following Davis Mills’ pick-six on the team’s first offensive drive, so their situation isn’t entirely their fault, but their effort hasn’t been enough to keep the game particularly close at the half.
One bright spot in the performance was when linebacker Christian Kirksey secured his 700th career tackle, but outside of that, the defense hasn’t been much to watch. They found early success in stopping Washington on a few quick drives, but without a turnover, it doesn’t seem that they will be able to give Houston what it needs to actually pull out a win.
Dameon Pierce held to just two yards on six carries in first half
Rookie sensation Dameon Pierce has been a rock for the Texans’ offense this year but was totally bottled up by the Commanders in Week 11. He has been a total non-factor to this point in the game as Houston’s game plan seems to favor throwing the ball while they’re behind on the scoreboard.
Clearly, this rate of production is an untenable development for a team in search of their second win of the season. If Lovie Smith’s coaching staff doesn’t start giving their running back more looks, it seems that they will have decided to go ahead and pack it in to play for draft position through the rest of the matchup.
