With a seventh-ranked offense that is averaging 395.7 yards/game and the top defense in the NFL, allowing just 252.8 yards/game, Houston should be better than its 2-4 record.
Turnovers and penalties have been costly to the Texans, who had two interceptions and two fumbles in Sunday's 38-13 loss to St. Louis. Unable to force any turnovers of their own in the past two weeks, Houston slipped to a minus-12 turnover differential on the year and has lost four straight games.
"Turnovers get you beat in this league and they're getting us beat on a consistent basis," head coach Gary Kubiak said. "They're also getting us in bad position in football games. Not just getting you beat, but getting you some really bad position. You look up yesterday, statistically at halftime and you would think there is no way you're down 17-3, but you are, or whatever it was, 17-6. But you're down and you're back in the same position that you've been in, so that's the tough thing."
The Texans have not had a turnover-free game since clinching the AFC South Division on December 16, 2012 against the Indianapolis Colts at Reliant Stadium. In 2013, the Texans have committed 15 turnovers through six games.
"Penalties and turnovers have been our Achilles' heel for a good month now," Kubiak said. "It' just, like I said, you just continue to look at, try to improve upon, try to talk about, try to practice, try to do everything you possibly can to get them corrected."
On Sunday the Texans had seven penalties for 95 yards which all came in the first half. In 2013, Houston has been penalized 46 times for a net of 459 yards.
"You've just got to emphasize in every possible way that you can on the practice field, in the meeting room," Kubiak said. "That's about all you can do. Just paying as much attention to it as you possibly can. Actually, that team we played yesterday had more penalties than us. That's hard to believe. It didn't feel that way for us as a team."
Kubiak, who called the big mistakes demoralizing and confusing, has had experience with similar situations in his coaching career.
"You just keep pushing," Kubiak said. "You look for that one play that might get you out of it or that one big game, that one big win that gets you out of it. As I've said continuously and I'll say again today, our team is playing hard. We're not just playing very efficient in a lot of areas. But our effort and our commitment and our practice and what we're doing has been very, very good, so we just have to stay committed to that and find a way to get some success."
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