Texans likely to be without best offensive player for Sunday’s game against Chiefs
The Chiefs’ opponent this week hasn’t won a game since early October but nearly pulled off the NFL’s biggest upset this season on Sunday.
The Houston Texans blew a late lead at Dallas and lost 27-23 to the Cowboys, who are 10-3 and still alive in the NFC East race.
Houston led by three and had the ball on the Cowboys’ 4-yard line late in the game but couldn’t punch it in. Dallas stopped the Texans, then moved 98 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
“We just didn’t execute,” Texans coach Lovie Smith told reporters after the game. “We just didn’t execute the way we needed to.”
Here is a quick look at the Texans ahead of Sunday’s game, which kicks off at noon and will air on KCTV (Ch. 5).
The series history
The Chiefs have a 10-3 record and are atop the AFC West. Houston is 1-11-1 and has lost eight consecutive games. KC leads the all-time series 8-5, and has won six of eight since Andy Reid was hired as coach.
The offense
Houston was without its top offensive player on the potential game-winning drive that was stuffed by Dallas.
Rookie running back Dameon Pierce left the game early in the fourth quarter because of an injury.
KRPC-TV in Houston reported Pierce has a “mild high ankle sprain” that likely will keep him out one or two games.
Pierce leads the Texans with 1,104 yards from scrimmage (939 rushing, 165 receiving). He was replaced Sunday by Rex Burkhead, who is averaging 3.1 yards per carry in 26 attempts.
The Texans used an unconventional two-quarterback system with Davis Mills and Jeff Driskel both seeing action.
There’s a chance the Texans go that route against the Chiefs, although Smith didn’t show his hand Monday.
“I thought it was effective yesterday,” Smith told reporters. “Two different flavors, and that’s always tough for a defense to prepare with what we were doing with them. As far as what we’re going to do this week going forward, we start evaluating, see what we need to do against another good division leading Kansas City football team. We’ll see how that goes, but both quarterbacks were productive yesterday. Davis Mills, second time in that starting role. I thought he played well, made some good throws. ... We’ll need that type of play to have a chance against Kansas City.”
Houston is 30th in offense, averaging 16.2 points per game. The Texans’ quarterbacks have combined to throw 14 touchdowns with 16 interceptions. Houston’s rushing attack is 28th in the NFL.
The defense
The Texans’ pass defense is middle of the pack (14th overall), but Houston has been dreadful against the rush. They’re 32nd, giving up 165.8 yards per game on the ground.
Even though the Texans’ scoring defense is ranked 26th (allowing 24.2 points per game), their red-zone defense has been pretty good. They have allowed touchdowns on 52.3% of opponent trips to the red zone. That’s seventh-best in the NFL, per Team Rankings.
Defensive lineman Jerry Hughes leads the Texans with eight sacks.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 11:51 AM.
