The Texans have struggled, and struggled mightily this season when they've made it into the red zone.
Houston's offense is last in the NFL in touchdowns scored when they make it inside an opponent's 20-yard line, averaging just 1.1 per game. The Texans are 31st in red zone scoring percentage at 39 percent, and 28th overall in getting into the red zone, as they average just 2.7 attempts per contest.
The troubles there are no secret to Bill O'Brien, and he's demanding an improvement.
"We've got to just do a better job of coaching it and get our players to execute it better," the head coach said Monday. "We're working hard on that right now and we're going to continue to work on it and try to get it improved."
On Saturday night in the win over Cincinnati, the lone touchdown scored was an Alfred Blue 24-yard run. Therefore, it was not a red zone touchdown, because it came from beyond the 20. The first two drives of the second half for Houston went 11 and 12 plays respectively, but stalled inside the Bengals' 10-yard line each time. Nick Novak kicked field goals and the Texans got 6 points on that pair of possessions, but O'Brien and company want 14 instead.
"The problem is, when you get in there, you have to score touchdowns," O'Brien said. "You can't kick field goals. Now, what's good about us is our defense is playing at such a high level. But again, at the end of the day, we've got to score touchdowns down there."
Those two field goal drives were the Texans only forays into the red zone in the victory.
The Texans defense, though, kept Cincinnati out of the red zone on the night. The Bengals only touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when Andy Dalton found Brandon LaFell for an 86-yard score.
O'Brien said he and the Texans will work on red zone plays each day in practice this week at the Houston Methodist Training Center.
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