Lions at Texans: 3 things we learned
The AFC South leading Houston Texans held on to beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Here are three takeaways from that contest.
The Houston Texans enter their off week with a perfect 5-0 record at home. That’s because they managed to squeeze out a 20-13 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Bill O’Brien’s team raised its record to 5-3 and kept hot quarterback Matthew Stafford under wraps. Houston allowed just 289 yards of total offense while the Lions’ signal-caller threw for just 240 yards and a score.
But what did we really learn about both of these team this weekend?
1. Lamar Miller remains the key to Houston’s offense
The workhorse runner continues to pile up the touches. On Sunday, the one-time Miami Dolphins running back totaled 17 carries for 56 yards and a score. He also caught a pair of passes for a modest seven yards. Miller is getting the work that many felt he could handle. And the beneficiary is truly Brock Osweiler, who still has a lot of learning to do. But Miller has been highly reliable and busy, totaling a combined 175 touches for 761 yards and three scores in eight outings.
2. Jadeveon Clowney steadily improving
Perhaps the third time is really the charm. You have to like what you’ve seen from the first overall pick in the 2014 draft, whose career was hampered by injury and inconsistency early on. In Sunday’s win over Detroit, he notched just three tackles but did have one sack of Matthew Stafford. That brings him to three sacks for the season. But it was a fourth-quarter play in which he chased running back Theo Riddick down after a 23-yard gain that was hard to ignore. Clowney’s improvement is very noticeable and with his potential, he’s primed for good things.
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3. Detroit’s inability to run proved costly
On Sunday, the Lions scored just 13 points and their offense was horribly unbalanced. The club ran 56 offensive plays and gained only 289 total yards. That plan included three times as many passing plays (42) as rushing attempts. Theo Riddick managed to run for 56 yards but totaled on 11 carries. It’s been a big year for Matthew Stafford but the offense could use a little more help from the ground attack, which has endured its share of injuries.