Before the season started, Texans players and coaches stressed this was a team with a renewed focused on running the ball.
They wanted to be tough, bullylike up front, as evidenced in signing former Seattle Seahawks center Justin Britt and moving Tytus Howard from right tackle to left guard to strengthen the interior offensive line.
The Texans also signed veteran running backs Mark Ingram, Phillip Lindsay and Rex Burkhead to group with David Johnson. Second-year undrafted free agent Scottie Phillips also made the 53-man roster, though he's been a non-factor in the run game.
This team was so committed to running the ball, they moved an adequate and promising tackle in Howard out of position, then carried all five of these running backs on the roster.
This has been the result:
The Texans entered the Bills game with the second least efficient run game in the league, according to Football Outsiders' rush DVOA, ahead of only the Atlanta Falcons.
They are tied for the lowest yards per carry (3.2) and have the lowest percentage runs for first downs.
The Texans are right for wanting to run the ball effectively. It's understood this opens up what can be done in the passing game and different ways to put defenses in conflict.
Wanting to run the ball and being able to do it are two different things entirely.
Culley attributed the Texans' ineffective run game against Buffalo, where they ran for 48 yards on 18 carries to average 2.7 yards per clip, to penalties and turnovers.
The Texans had more penalty yards (100) than rushing yards and turned the ball over five times.
Culley deflected blame from the third-round rookie Davis Mills after the game, saying that even Joe Montana couldn't win under such conditions.
Mills only deserves but so much blame for posting the worst quarterback rating of the past three seasons.
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But the Texans planned on at least being able to better simply handing off to one of their five running backs.
Tight end Jordan Akins joined Clint Stoerner & "The Show" last week ahead of the Bills game and was asked where they need to better in run blocking.
"I say that initial contact off the line. We can get more drive off the ball," Akins said. "Everyone executing their plays and assignments, one messed up assignment can screw up the whole run game."
Culley said the penalties that hurt the Texans' down-and-distance in Buffalo was about lack of discipline and sound fundamentals.
As pointed out by Aaron Reiss from The Athletic, Houston averaged 9.7 yards to go on third down in Davis Mills' two starts.
The Texans are running the most of any team on early downs, early in games (42 percent per The Athletic's Mike Sando).
"No, that’s still who we are," Culley said when asked if it's time to reassess the team's stated identity. "Again, we were not able to sustain what we wanted to do in the run game because of penalties. It put us in second and long, it put us in third and long. Obviously in those kind of situations, you’re not going to run the football. We had some first-and-10s with some good runs that put us in 2nd-and-6, 2nd-and-7 that ended up going back to 1st-and-20 that puts us behind the chains.
"As long as we stay a head of the chains, we’ll be able to be the football team we need to be"
It's a bold strategy for the worst rushing offense in the league.
Brandon Scott manages digital content for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @brandonkscott.
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