The Houston Texans may have taken a loss in Week 13, but at least they showed some fight. Their 1-10-1 record is the league’s worst heading into the season’s final stretch of games, but indications are that their emphasis on incremental improvement are starting to pay off.
Quarterback Kyle Allen noted the team’s resurgent run game as a positive from the Texans’ loss on Sunday, and praised rookie running back Dameon Pierce for the work he put in on the ground. While it may not have been enough to help Houston secure their second victory of the season, the quarterback seemed to be satisfied by the way the Texans ran the ball.
“It was great,” Allen explained of Pierce’s effort. “The first guy is never going to take him down. It’s good first down run game. He’s getting better on the check-downs and finding those spots and catching the ball and running. He is reliable. He is going to bring it every week.”
Pierce was Houston’s top producer until he hit a rough patch a few weeks ago and saw his production stymied by opposing defenses’ emphasis on containing him when the Texans ran the ball. His bounce-back performance against the Cleveland Browns was a good sign for his status as the team’s lead back moving forward and could be the start of another prolific run to close out the season.
If the Texans can find a way to get both the running and passing games clicking at the same time, it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to surprise one of their upcoming opponents. Given the way their defense played against Cleveland, Houston is in a far better position to succeed than they were in the middle part of their schedule when they saw their record drop to an unrecoverable position.
