The Texans offense got off to a fast start in Monday night's matchup against the Baltimore Ravens. Tom Savage orchestrated a nine-play, 90-yard scoring drive on Houston's first possession of the game. Lamar Miller's four-yard touchdown run gave the Texans an early 7-0 lead and promising start at M&T Bank Stadium.
"We came out of the gate with some consistency, and we started fast," Savage said. "It was huge for us to start drives with positive plays. I'm not sure what happened after the first drive, but we never had that rhythm again."
The fast start faded as the Texans would not find the end zone again, finishing just 1-of-4 in the red zone in the 23-16 loss.
"It was hard to run the ball on these guys," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "We tried to stay balanced. Couldn't really run it. Had a goal to try and stay balanced but I think in the end, we moved the ball, we had a bunch of yards, but we had penalties. We got the ball down there on one drive there in the red area and had a holding call. We had other penalties there in the red area and then obviously, turnovers will kill you. We just have to do a better job."
Savage completed 22-of-37 for 252 yards and had two interceptions. DeAndre Hopkins accounted for nearly half of those passing yards, catching a team-high seven passes for 125 yards in the loss. However, the Texans rushed for just 66 yards, averaging just 2.6 yards per carry. In the second quarter, Savage and the offense moved the ball down to the Baltimore four-yard line after a 34-yard catch by Hopkins and a 14-yard catch-and-run by Alfred Blue during the drive. However with first-and-goal at the eight-yard line, the Texans offense settled for their first of three field goals of the game.
"We've got to block better, we've got to run the ball better, we've got to do a lot of things better," O'Brien said. "That's what we're going to try to do."
The Texans will travel to Tennessee to face the Titans in Week 13.
