Is the Texans offense a one half team?

[Goatcheese]

The Texans offense can only play for one half. For the last two years we've heard this repeated a lot around here so I wanted to go and take a look at the numbers.

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

So the answer appears to be a rather loud and annoyed "YES!"

The next question I asked was "Is that normal?"

So I looked at the top 10 offenses this season to see how they measured up in this category:

All scores are based on box scores. Special teams/defensive scores may increase these numbers(but that would only help my argument).

#1 offense Chargers
10 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#2 offense Eagles
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#4 offense Colts
9 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#5 Offense Giants
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#6 offense Saints
17 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#7 offense Cowboys
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#8 offense Patriots
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#9 offense Packers
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#10 offense Raiders
16 Halves with 10 or fewer points

I was somewhat surprised since I have often wondered why the Texans can't put two solid halves together like the "good" offenses. It turns out that it isn't abnormal in the least. No team scored eleven or more points in every half, and the best was the Colts with just nine halves with ten or less. Four of the nine teams were better, three equal and two worse.

It's an area where we would all like to see improvement, but it isn't a sign of a bad team/offense.

[Texanmike02]

Originally Posted by Goatcheese

The Texans offense can only play for one half. For the last two years we've heard this repeated a lot around here so I wanted to go and take a look at the numbers.

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

So the answer appears to be a rather loud and annoyed "YES!"

The next question I asked was "Is that normal?"

So I looked at the top 10 offenses this season to see how they measured up in this category:

All scores are based on box scores. Special teams/defensive scores may increase these numbers(but that would only help my argument).

#1 offense Chargers
10 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#2 offense Eagles
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#4 offense Colts
9 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#5 Offense Giants
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#6 offense Saints
17 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#7 offense Cowboys
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#8 offense Patriots
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#9 offense Packers
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#10 offense Raiders
16 Halves with 10 or fewer points

I was somewhat surprised since I have often wondered why the Texans can't put two solid halves together like the "good" offenses. It turns out that it isn't abnormal in the least. No team scored eleven or more points in every half, and the best was the Colts with just nine halves with ten or less. Four of the nine teams were better, three equal and two worse.

It's an area where we would all like to see improvement, but it isn't a sign of a bad team/offense.

Stats are for losers.

Mike

[Texanmike02]

OK. Just kidding.

Very good job actually. This is an example of people being able to use statistics to analyze a situation instead of using a situation to generate statistics. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Mike

[sometexansfan]

Very interesting, of course when you have a defense as bad as ours, there's no room for bad halves unfortunately.

[Malloy]

Definately interesting at a glance, but as you yourself mention, there are so many other factors playing in that it 'may' dilute any actual conclusion.

Good indicator though!

[Wolf]

I was wondering about this perception or was it because we had a one quarter defense

[Surreal McCoy]

Originally Posted by Goatcheese

The Texans offense can only play for one half. For the last two years we've heard this repeated a lot around here so I wanted to go and take a look at the numbers.

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

So the answer appears to be a rather loud and annoyed "YES!"

The next question I asked was "Is that normal?"

So I looked at the top 10 offenses this season to see how they measured up in this category:

All scores are based on box scores. Special teams/defensive scores may increase these numbers(but that would only help my argument).

#1 offense Chargers
10 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#2 offense Eagles
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#3 offense Texans
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#4 offense Colts
9 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#5 Offense Giants
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#6 offense Saints
17 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#7 offense Cowboys
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#8 offense Patriots
12 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#9 offense Packers
15 Halves with 10 or fewer points

#10 offense Raiders
16 Halves with 10 or fewer points

I was somewhat surprised since I have often wondered why the Texans can't put two solid halves together like the "good" offenses. It turns out that it isn't abnormal in the least. No team scored eleven or more points in every half, and the best was the Colts with just nine halves with ten or less. Four of the nine teams were better, three equal and two worse.

It's an area where we would all like to see improvement, but it isn't a sign of a bad team/offense.

lol Great post. All the haters scream "YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE WHOLE GAME STUPIDAK!!!!", yet conveniently only count the first half when it comes to scoring. heheh Really, you couldn't make it up...

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Malloy

Definately interesting at a glance, but as you yourself mention, there are so many other factors playing in that it 'may' dilute any actual conclusion.

Good indicator though!

Originally Posted by Wolf

I was wondering about this perception or was it because we had a one quarter defense

We're only looking at points.

My argument, is that we have trouble staying on the field. I'd like to know how many 3 & outs we've had as a team, compared to others. I'd like to know how many have we had in one particular half than the other teams.

The Raider game specifically, if we could have stayed on the field as an offense, & not just throw the ball away on third downs... the raiders wouldn't have been close in the first half alone.

The Giants game is another one that bothered me. The defense was truly awful that first half, but they came out in the 3rd Qtr & put a beating on the Giants, causing 2 turnovers & a 3 & out in their first three possessions. We only got 7 points out of that, because the offense couldn't move the ball.... couldn't get into field goal range. The only score, was because our defense put the offense on the 17.

I agree, we need a defense that can do that more often. Heck, a special teams that could get us favorable field position more often would be nice as well....... something else we were missing in 2010.

[Surreal McCoy]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

We're only looking at points.

My argument, is that we have trouble staying on the field. I'd like to know how many 3 & outs we've had as a team, compared to others. I'd like to know how many have we had in one particular half than the other teams.

During the Ravens game they showed a graphic that stated we were 2nd behind JAX with fewest 3 and outs in the league. I don't think it changed too much from that point.

[HTown2ATX]

Originally Posted by Surreal McCoy

lol Great post. All the haters scream "YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE WHOLE GAME STUPIDAK!!!!", yet conveniently only count the first half when it comes to scoring. heheh Really, you couldn't make it up...

^.....gonna need a plunger for this one..... :flush:

[Dishman]

Originally Posted by Surreal McCoy

lol Great post. All the haters scream "YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE WHOLE GAME STUPIDAK!!!!", yet conveniently only count the first half when it comes to scoring. heheh Really, you couldn't make it up...

I take it you believe everything will be fixed and we are play-off bound with a real defense? Is this right?

[HOU-TEX]

Thanks for the time and effort, Goatcheese. Interesting. +Rep

[TexanBacker93]

Nice research.

One thing I've thought about with our "1 half" of offense is that it might be because the defense is giving up long, time wasting drives that leaves the offense with little time to generate anything. A lack of scoring isn't always a result of a bad offense, but a case of not having the opportunity.

I've wanted to look at the number of 3 and outs our offense had compared to others around the league and compared to how many our defense forces. I'm willing to bet our defense forced the fewest this season.

[Surreal McCoy]

Originally Posted by Dishman

I take it you believe everything will be fixed and we are play-off bound with a real defense? Is this right?

No. I believe the problems are deeper than that and the root cause is at the scouting/personnel level. Kubiak has been in charge of offensive personnel and Smith in charge of defensive (as per Lance Z, Justice and Jabba) so you can draw your own conclusions from there.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Surreal McCoy

During the Ravens game they showed a graphic that stated we were 2nd behind JAX with fewest 3 and outs in the league. I don't think it changed too much from that point.

That's got to be defensively.

[infantrycak]

Haven't found a 3 and out stat but the Texans were 2nd in the league on 1st downs per game and 9th in the league on 3rd down conversion %. They were also 3rd on yards per game while being 15th in plays from scrimmage. We were 28th in the league in number of punts. Those numbers do not point to the Texans having lots of 3 and outs.

[Surreal McCoy]

Originally Posted by thunderkyss

That's got to be defensively.

If it was defensively I wouldn't have bothered responding as that's not what you were asking.

[TheCD]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

Haven't found a 3 and out stat but the Texans were 2nd in the league on 1st downs per game and 9th in the league on 3rd down conversion %. They were also 3rd on yards per game while being 15th in plays from scrimmage. We were 28th in the league in number of punts. Those numbers do not point to the Texans having lots of 3 and outs.

I think that inversely answers the 3-and-out question.

My questions are where does our offense lie in terms of points per game...and, more importantly, why does our offense seem to play well only when its ass is on fire.

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by TheCD

I think that inversely answers the 3-and-out question.

My questions are where does our offense lie in terms of points per game...and, more importantly, why does our offense seem to play well only when its ass is on fire.

We were 9th overall in points scored with 24.4 per game.

Our defense on the other hand, was 29th in points allowed with 26.7 per game. (This includes special teams scores against and INTs/fumbles returned for TD)

[eriadoc]

You counted the last two years, right? My problem with the Texans this year, as opposed to last, is how many first halves they blew. Last year, you never knew which half they'd show up, but they were often playing from ahead, which allowed the defense to play a lot looser. Last year, they would play from behind sometimes (early in the year vs. ARI), they would almost squander some leads (SF, MIA), and they blew some teams out. This year, it was a LOT of playing from behind after wasting the entire first half of a game. The defense sucked, but the offense did them no favors at all.