The Houston Texans have turned things around after opening
the season 0-3
Justin Reid
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South basement.There¡¯s still plenty of work to do though as their offense has
struggled to move the ball and protect quarterback Deshaun Watson.Houston beat
the Buffalo Bills 20-13 on Sunday, but needed an interception return for a
touchdown in the fourth quarter to do it as they managed just one touchdown on
offense for the second straight week.The Texans had a chance to put the game
away on offense before the big defensive play but couldn¡¯t get it done. They
trailed by three with about two minutes remaining on Sunday when they reached
the 1-yard line on a 41-yard penalty for pass interference in the end zone. But
they lost 7 yards on three plays, capped by an incomplete pass intended for Ryan
Griffin that Matt Milano knocked down and had to settle for a tying field
goal.It was a particularly tough day for Watson, who entered the game dealing
with a chest injury and was hit 19 times and committed a season-high three
turnovers in the win.He knows that he must get better with a meeting with the
Jaguars coming up on Sunday, but also pointed out that there are going to be
some growing pains since he¡¯s still very early in his career.¡°There¡¯s always
room to improve,¡± he said. ¡°And this is only the 12th game of my career so I¡¯m
always experiencing and learning, and I¡¯m going to continue learning for however
long I play this game. Every game is a new experience, and for me to go out
there (Sunday), I learned something new. I¡¯m going to learn from it and move
on.¡±The Texans made some moves to improve their offensive line in the offseason,
but the group has continued to struggle. Watson has been sacked 25 times, which
is the second-most in the NFL, and he¡¯s taken 66 other hits.Despite this the
second-year player wouldn¡¯t criticize his line and said the problem is because
of many different factors.¡°As a whole we¡¯ve just got to do better,¡± he said. ¡°Me
getting the ball out, those guys doing their job, making sure the play-calling
is right, just all on the same page. You can¡¯t point fingers and pin it all on
one group of guys. It¡¯s a team sport. We¡¯re all in it together, and we¡¯ve got to
come back, watch the film, correct it and move on.¡±Coach Bill O¡¯Brien didn¡¯t
provide any specifics on what Houston can do to improve its offense, but
insisted that it¡¯s his responsibility to fix it.¡°We¡¯ve got to get these guys to
be more consistent in how they play,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s coaching. That¡¯s really
what we have to get done.¡±The Titans and Jaguars have lost two games in a row
after starting out their seasons strong to leave them and the Texans tied with
3-3 records.After how terribly Houston¡¯s season started the fact that the Texans
could take the division lead with a win over Jacksonville is rather
encouraging.¡°I feel good for these guys,¡± O¡¯Brien said. ¡°We know we have to
improve in areas,
obviously
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winning the last three games the way we¡¯ve won them shows a lot about that
locker room and what they¡¯re all about. If we can improve and get better in a
lot of different areas, maybe we can do something.¡±¡°To come back from where we
were is a testament to those guys, but there¡¯s a long way to go,¡± O¡¯Brien
continued. HOUSTON (AP) ¡ª The Texans became the first team since 1925 to win
seven straight after starting 0-3 with a victory over Washington on Sunday.They
go for a franchise record for consecutive wins when they host AFC South rival
Tennessee next Monday night. Despite their streak, they know that they have
plenty more work to do to get to where they want to be."We've done a great job
of digging ourselves out of a hole, but we don't want to be known for a record
that was set in 1925," coach Bill O'Brien said. "My point is we haven't done
anything. We've got a very, very difficult opponent coming in here on Monday
night that beat us earlier in the season. We've got to get back to work because
in the end, what have you done?" Houston's 23-21 win over the Redskins on Sunday
was its second straight win by two points after the team beat the Denver Broncos
19-17 on Nov. 4 before its bye week. The Texans did some good things in Sunday's
win, but also committed three turnovers to underscore O'Brien's point they need
to continue to improve if they hope to continue winning.O'Brien likes to remind
his team of the competitive balance in the NFL and how close many of Houston's
games have been this season."It's been a slim margin," he said. "I think guys
have improved in their individual play, I think that we make more plays now in
critical moments than we made earlier in the season, I think we're coaching
better, but I think ¡ our guys understand (that) if we don't continue to work,
put the time in, understand the detail of each play, the situation that we're
in, then we're going to be back where we were."Houston has been able to pile up
so many wins in part because so many players have made big plays. Sure, stars
like J.J. Watt, Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and Jadeveon Clowney have had
their share of important plays over the last seven games. But the Texans have
also gotten key contributions from their lesser knowns.On Sunday that player was
third-round pick Justin Reid, who returned an interception 101 yards for a
touchdown. It was the second-longest interception return for a touchdown in
Texans history and longest since a 102-yarder in 2004. The play also tied for
the second-longest interception return for a touchdown by a rookie in NFL
history, trailing a 103-yarder by Pete Barnum in 1926.Watson loves that so many
different players have been contributing during the streak."It's
top-notch
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and make a play. It's what got us to seven wins in a row, so it's pretty
incredible."Reid's long return was the talk of the stadium on Monday."I haven't
been around too many pick-6s for 101 yards or whatever it was, but they're
exciting plays," O'Brien said. "You can tell right away that it's going to go
because you can see it kind of open up and it's coming toward you. That's a
pretty cool feeling if you're the coach of that team."Along with looking for
ways to limit their mistakes and improve this week, the Texans will try to give
receiver Demaryius Thomas a bigger role. Sunday was the veteran's second game
with Houston after being traded from Denver on Oct. 30. Thomas had three
receptions for 61 yards in his debut, but didn't have a catch on two targets
Sunday."He did some good things," O'Brien said. "He ran some good routes. The
ball just didn't go his way. We'll continue to work with him. I think he's a
great teammate, he understands, he just wants to win, but I think we need to
work at really getting him more involved in the offense. No doubt about
it."While O'Brien spent most of Monday talking about needed improvement, he did
acknowledge that cleaning up little things is way easier when you're
winning."When you're winning, you're able to stand up in front of your team, put
the film on and say: ¡®Look, this is good, but this still is not very good, and
if it doesn't get better, it's not going to be very good on Monday night,'"
O'Brien said. "So, I think that that's a big thing, and they'll look at the tape
¡ and they'll say: ¡®Yep, we do need to improve on that. We can't do that
again.'"