The Texans Red Zone offense has been far less successful this year as opposed to last year. According to the official NFL statistics, the Texans are 5/16 in Red Zone percentage. That puts them 29th in the NFL through 3 weeks. They were 5th in the league last year. Obviously they had a pro bowl fullback that was considered an elite blocker and they had a healthy Arian Foster who had 16 rushing touchdowns to lead the league.
Specifically, the 3rd down situations in the red zone were addressed by coach Kubiak and then again addressed in the Houston Chronicle.
The numbers given by Kubiak were, "I think out of 10 third downs we’ve had in the red zone this year, seven of them have been over eight yards." - That's not accurate.
The numbers given in the paper were as follows: "The Texans have had eight third-down plays in the red zone. Seven of them have been third-and-9 or longer." Also inaccurate.
I'm not here to call out the head coach, who didn't know the numbers off the top of his head and I'm really not here to call out the local paper either, rather I just wanted to present the accurate figures.
Looking back over the games these are numbers I have for the Texans 3rd down plays in the red zone.
IND
1Q 3-1-IND 11 (6:01) D.Ward left guard to IND 7 for 4 yards (K.Conner).
1Q 3-7-IND 7 (4:39) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass incomplete short left to K.Walter.
2Q 3-13-IND 20 (1:45) (Shotgun) B.Tate right guard to IND 11 for 9 yards (K.Conner).
4Q 3-9-IND 9 (14:27) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short middle intended for S.Slaton INTERCEPTED by G.Brackett at IND 10.
MIA
1Q 3-5-MIA 5 (10:11) M.Schaub pass incomplete short left.
1Q 3-4-MIA 6 (5:24) A.Foster right tackle to MIA 4 for 2 yards (J.Taylor; Y.Bell).
2Q 3-12-MIA 13 (:33) (Shotgun) M.Schaub sacked at MIA 18 for -5 yards (C.Wake).
4Q 3-2-MIA 3 (1:14) B.Tate right guard to MIA 2 for 1 yard (J.Taylor).
NO
1Q 3-7-NO 8 (4:03) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short right to A.Johnson to NO 4 for 4 yards (S.Shanle; L.Torrence). Pass 4, YAC 0
2Q 3-9-NO 9 (6:26) M.Schaub pass incomplete short right to A.Johnson.
2Q 3-5-NO 9 (4:00) M.Schaub pass incomplete short right to O.Daniels.
3Q 3-3-NO 18 (5:18) M.Schaub pass incomplete deep middle to A.Johnson (L.Torrence).
That's one successful third down conversion in the red zone, so far this season. It's also just one play that has utilized Arian Foster. The overall numbers for Schaub on 3rd down in the red zone are 1-7, 4 yards, INT and was sacked once. I'll mention that the 4th quarter, 3rd and 2 run vs. the Dolphins was a run late in the game as the Texans were running the clock out. They ran Tate again on 4th down and he got the yard that allowed them to take a knee on the game's final play.
Wex on Twitter SportsTalk 790 on Twitter
Wex on Facebook SportsTalk 790 on FaceBook






