HOUSTON – The Houston Texans are 0-2 after back-to-back losses to two of the best teams in the NFL. The team is now heading into a tough road game in Pittsburgh as underdogs in week 3.
The Texans again struggled to stop the Ravens, now being outscored 74-23 in their past two games against Baltimore.
Recommended Videos
Here are three things the Texans need to fix if the team wants to win its week 3 game vs. Pittsburgh:
Run defense
The Ravens ran up 230 rushing yards Sunday and broke several big runs. Last week, the Texans gave up 166 yards to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Texans lost D.J. Reader and Angelo Blackson to free agency, and are using players like Brandon Dunn to fill the middle. The Ravens were able to get past the first level easily, and the Texans resorted to a ton of tackles from linebackers (25 combined from Zach Cunningham and Benardrick McKinney). The Steelers have a solid rushing offense with James Conner, so this will yet again be a key.
Wide Receivers need to get back on track
Through two games Deshaun Watson has thrown only two total touchdown passes. Watson had eight multi-touchdown pass games in 2019, but the chemistry with the wide receivers isn’t there after the DeAndre Hopkins trade. By the way, Hopkins just set the NFL record for catches (22) through the first two games with a new team. Hopkins has been arguably the best player for the 2-0 Cardinals. The Texans receivers may be in trouble, depending on what happens with Will Fuller’s hamstring. Fuller had 0 targets Sunday after a big game in the first week against Kansas City. Brandin Cooks looked much better in Week 2, catching a deep pass and ended up with 95 yards.
Offensive line struggles
For the second straight week, Deshaun Watson got beat up, taking 4 sacks for the second straight week. Watson is on pace to get sacked 64 times in 2020. Watson took 62 sacks in 2018 and 44 in 2019. The Texans just signed Watson to a massive extension and don’t need to get their star quarterback injured. Other than Laremy Tunsil, the rest of the offensive line has struggled. Nick Martin is the Texans' long-term center, and Max Scharping and Tytus Howard were early-round picks. None of the three have been as solid as the Texans need them to be in pass blocking.