NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The sight of Devin ‘Motor’ Singletary dashing upfield time after time became a familiar pattern flashing in front of the eyes of Texans quarterback Case Keenum.
As Singletary piled up a career-high 170 total yards of scrimmage on handoffs and passes from Keenum, the veteran quarterback watched as his teammate put on a show Sunday during a dramatic 19-16 overtime victory over the Tennessee Titans.
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“Man, he made some incredible moves,” Keenum said. “I don’t know if anybody else has a view of what I do, while I probably should be carrying on my fake, but I tend to peek back and watch. He had little subtleties of movements that he sets up blocks and can make guys move around their blockers and then squirt through these little holes.
“Man, it’s impressive to watch. He is an impressive guy and an awesome human being. I love Motor man. He’s so crucial to this team and he’s coming alive at an incredible time of the year. So, I’m excited by that.”
None of Singletary’s plays eclipsed his 41-yard catch-and-run during overtime. When Keenum scrambled out of the pocket, Singletary and the quarterback were in sync on what to do next. Singletary instinctively reacted and changed his route to run into space and Keenum got him the football where he could run away from pursuit.
Four plays later, after Singletary’s 39-yard touchdown run was nullified by wide receiver John Metchie III being flagged for holding, kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn put the game away on a 54-yard game-winning field goal.
“Case, that’s my guy, ‘Case Money,’” Singletary said. “We were both in our zone making plays. We got an off-track play. We work on it a lot and we was able to put it on display today.”
The effort and execution on the play was clutch. Without that kind of timing, the drive could have stalled out and the Texans, in playoff contention with three teams with 8-6 records in the AFC South division, including the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts and Texans, could have wound up with a tie.
“It was a little scramble drill,” Keenum said. " We were working kind of left to right there and just was able to escape up in the pocket and Devin was my checkdown on the play basically, and he was able to break out of that and make a really good move with nobody on that side of the field. And I got him a ball where he can run, and he did a great job getting us in field goal range.”
Singletary rushed for 121 yards on 26 carries, averaging 4.7 yards per run and catching four passes for 49 yards. This marked his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season and his second-most rushing yards of his career behind his 150-yard game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“It was a lot of fun,” Singletary said. “That’s what I was preaching all week, you know what I’m saying? Just handle business, but don’t forget to have fun. Remember why we play this game, and we had a lot of fun today.
#Texans running back Devin 'Motor' Singletary on clutch overtime win @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/KNPKGRKAN1
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 17, 2023
Running behind the blocks of left tackle Laremy Tunsil, left guard Juice Scruggs, center Michael Deiter, right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Charlie Heck, Singletary was scooting across the ground at Nissan Stadium to earn a divisional win in a close contest.
The Texans kept pounding the football as offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik was determined to stick with the running game in a flow.
“Yeah, it was just the guys up front was getting a lot of movement,” Singletary said. “So we were like, ‘Man, let’s keep at it.’ Let’s keep going. It’s working, so let’s keep doing it. And we came out on top.”
In every phase of the game, Singletary excelled. He’s now up to 711 rushing yards and three touchdown runs with 23 receptions for 166 yards.
“That’s this offense,” he said. “It’s going to take everybody. As a running back, you’ve got to be able to catch the ball, you’ve got to be able to pass protect, you’ve got to be able to run the ball. We were able to put that on display today.”
The Texans followed a bruising strategy of downhill runs. It wasn’t anything fancy, nor did it need to be. It was a smash-mouth mentality led by a smaller, powerful back. The absence of star Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was exploited.
“Yeah, that was our plan, try to run the ball,” Ryans said. “We know they’re tough up front and it wasn’t going to be easy, but we had to stay after it. Motor did a really nice job. The o-line did a really nice job of staying after the blocks and finishing. Motor, he had the hot hand and we continued to ride with him, and he showed up big.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com