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Texans coach DeMeco Ryans explains conservative play-calling on final drive

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(This story was updated to add new information.)

If the Houston Texans would have gone for the jugular, perhaps they’d be sitting at 6-1.

If the Texans tried to attack through the air instead of settling for their ground game behind Joe Mixon, perhaps they would have finished with more than three points in the second half on Sunday’s outing against the Green Bay Packers.

That wasn’t the case. The Texans never picked up the steam, thus leading to a comeback drive from Jordan Love and a game-winning field goal from Brandon McManus to secure a 24-22 victory at Lambeau Field.

Houston never kicked it into high gear, thus heading home with its second loss on the season.

“I just try to execute every play that I can, that I get called. I don’t know the philosophy in there,” Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said.

While Stroud only completed 10 pass attempts for a career-low 86 yards, he seemed to come to life on the final drive. Facing a third-and-10, he found Xavier Hutchinson for a gain of 11 and a fresh set of downs.

Houston knew the Packers were going to use their timeouts to stop the clock. If they were aggressive, they could have been up by five with just under two minutes remaining.

Instead, the Texans called two running plays to Joe Mixon for a loss of five yards. Stroud then tried to connect with receiver Tank Dell, but the pass would have been well short of the first down even if the second-year target held onto the ball.

What’s worse is the incompletion stopped the clock and allowed Green Bay to hold its final timeout until the offense took the field. That later played a pivotal role in helping McManus have time to set up the game-winning kick.

“What it seemed like is we were trying to just run out the clock and then try to kick the field goal before we ended up having to throw the ball on the third down and give them the ball back with like 1:40 left,” Stroud said of the final three plays. “I think that it was a good plan, just got to execute better.”

Ryans disagreed with the sentiment that the Texans’ initial plan was to settle for a field goal from Fairbairn and mentioned that every drive comes with the intent of scoring a touchdown.

“They did a good job stopping us,” Ryans said. “Didn’t get in. Obviously, we didn’t pass the ball well all day, so wasn’t good all the way around.”

Fairbairn gave Houston a quick lead off a 35-yard chip shot. Seven plays and a timeout with three seconds remaining later, it was McManus’ turn to secure the win.

“They finished it the right way,” Ryans said. “Made the plays when they needed to make it, and they finished the game the right way.”
The Texans return to NRG Stadium for the first time since Week 5 to take on the Indianpolis Colts.