Another week, another chance to pick up a win and avoid the 0-3 start for the third time in seven seasons, right, Houston Texansfans?
The Texans look to move to 1-3 and avoid a 0-4 start for the first time since 2020 with a win over the Dallas Cowboys. Even as a favorite in the AFC entering October, only the 1992 San Diego Chargers were able to go from winless to the postseason in league history.
Everything that could have gone wrong at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 did for DeMeco Ryans and Co. QuarterbackC.J. Stroud threw for 167 yards and threw a touchdown pass, but the run game stalled for a second straight week behind uncreative play-calling from second-year coordinator Nick Caley.
The Texans' defense struggled
to slow down Daniel Jones in the first quarter, but eventually found a rhythm to shake him. Will Anderson Jr. recorded two strip sacks that were recovered by the offense, including one on Indianapolis' opening drive.
In the fourth quarter, Anderson took his game to new levels, strip-sacking Jones a second time to give the offense a chance to take the lead. Stroud delivered, converting multiple throws to get Houston in the red zone, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Woody Marks.
All the defense had to do was force a stop and it would have led to a win. Instead, poor clock management from Ryans and a couple of throws from Jones set up the game-winning field goal from Spencer Shrader.
"It’s a 0-3 start as a team. Wherever we are it all starts with me. So right now, it’s not good enough from our perspective," Ryans said. "I liked the way our week went. Our process went well this week. Our guys connected; our guys brought the joyful intensity that I was asking them to bring throughout the week. Today on game day, we came up short today. I’ve got to get back to the drawing board, and I’ve got to do a better job.”
With Week 4 here, let's look at how Houston and Dallas' personnel stack up against one another entering the regular season. Looking at the major metrics, here is where the Texans ranked entering the Lone Star State rival entering October.
Stats courtesy of Team Rankings, The Football Database, ESPN and PickWatch.
Scoring Offense
Texans: 18.0 PPG (24th)
Cowboys: 29.3 PPG (7th)
Rushing Offense
Texans: 84.7 YPG (30th)
Cowboys: 94.3 YPG (24th)
Passing Offense
Texans: 241.3 YPG (10th)
Cowboys: 236.0 YPG (12th)
Total Offense
Texans: 326.0 YPG (14th)
Cowboys: 330.3 YPG (12th)
3rd Down Conversions
Texans: 50.0% (21st)
Cowboys: 57.14% (2nd)
Red zone scoring
Texans: 50.0% (21st)
Cowboys: 75.0% (7th)
Sacks allowed
Texans: 10 (T-2nd)
Cowboys: 3 (T-30th)
Penalties
Texans: 94.5 penalty YPG (30th)
Cowboys: 70.0 penalty YPG (24th)
Turnovers
Texans: 2 (T-24th)
Cowboys: 2 (T-24th)
Scoring Defense
Texans: 25.0 PPG (19th)
Colts: 27.7 PPG (27th)
Passing Defense
Texans: 238.7 YPG (26th)
Cowboys: 207.3 YPG (19th)
Rushing Defense
Texans: 86.7 YPG (4th)
Cowboys: 179.7 YPG (31st)
Total Defense
Texans: 325.3 YPG (21st)
Cowboys: 387.0 YPG (30th)
Opponents 3rd down conversions
Texans: 38.5% (12th)
Cowboys: 58.8% (32nd)
Opponets Red zone scoring
Texans: 42.9% (7th)
Cowboys: 69.2% (21st)
Sacks
Texans: 10 (3rd)
Cowboys: 2 (30th)
Takeaways
Texans: 3 (T-15th)
Cowboys: 1 (T-21st)
Turnover Margin
Texans: +1 (T-13th)
Bengals: 0 (T-16th)
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Statistical Breakdown: How Texans and Cowboys stack up before Week 4
