HOUSTON — Houston Texans running back Dameon Pierce led all rushers in total carries on Sunday in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Just the sound of that would make Texans fans happy until they checked the box score and saw that he had 11 attempts for just 38 yards.
That is not enough carries for one of the best running backs in the NFL last season, who was the only consistent weapon the Texans had on offense.
Buy Texans TicketsHouston lost to Baltimore by a score of 25-9, with Pierce only receiving 35 snaps for the game, which was only eight more than backup running back Mike Boone.
“I think we can run it more,” said Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans during his press conference. “We’ll try to run it more. I think we can be more effective at it, we can block it better, and you’ll see that.”
With the Indianapolis Colts headed to NRG Stadium on Sunday for the Texans home opener, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik knows that to be successful and get Houston their first home win in over 19 games. Their last at NRG was on December 26, 2021, against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“To me, everything is a starting point [and] comes back to me,” said Slowik about the lack of production in the running game. “I wanted to stick with the run longer, and I got away from it at the end. ‘D.P.’ [Dameon Pierce] should touch the ball more than he did. I don’t think anyone in here has any question about that; I mean, we all want to see Dameon run. So that’s definitely something we want to do. Sometimes it was a play call issue on my part. Sometimes it was an issue as far as just executing self-inflicted wound stuff. So, again, we’ll be cleaner on that this week.”
Slowik’s offense is predicated on getting the run game going so he can incorporate passing plays down the field by using play-action and allowing rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud to use his arm to get the ball into the wide receiver’s hands, which was something missing from the offensive production in the second half when the Texans were outscored 18-3 by the Ravens. Houston ranked 31st in rushing efficiency and last in the NFL in designed runs after Week 1.
Houston Texans RB Dameon Pierce gave two reasons why the offense had to abandon the run on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. #WeAreTexans #Sarge @TheTexansWire pic.twitter.com/m3vZSGyPz2
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) September 15, 2023
Pierce, 23, finished his rookie campaign with 939 yards rushing on 220 carries in 13 games, missing the final four games due to an ankle injury. He worked all off-season to ensure he came into training camp in shape and ready to handle more of the offensive load in the Slowik-led system.
Although he wanted more touches in the game, Pierce realized that certain factors played a role in his limited production.
“Playing from behind and playing from behind the sticks [yard markers], Pierce said, were the two main reasons Houston had to abandon the running game last week. “You can’t run the ball. That is not a recipe to run the ball.”
“Last week, we were not as crisp, getting down in the play clock and snapping the ball with two seconds. We got a few penalties for not being set or illegal procedure. We just need to make things a lot simpler for C.J. this week and an offense as a whole.”
