Ahead of Saturday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, Houston coach Lovie Smith said he believes linebacker Christian Harris, with nine-game NFL experience, could help the Texans avoid their usual fate of being trampled by running back Derrick Henry .
As it turns out, the Alabama rookie made a big move in the passing game to help Houston break a nine-game losing streak with a 19-14 win over Tennessee.
While the Texans sat five points clear, Harris took Tennessee quarterback Malik Willis’ pass to wide receiver Treylon Burks and returned the football 20 yards to the Tennessee 38-yard line at 1:33 to play.
“I was just trying to undercut myself and make a game,” Harris said“and that was really all.”
The Titans got the football back with 70 seconds left and the game ended with another Houston rookie, safety Jalen Pitre, intercepting a Texans 43 throw in the end zone.
Henry became the only player in NFL history to enter the game with at least 200 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in four straight games against an opponent – the Texans.
And on Saturday it was a similar story: On his fourth carry, the former Alabama All-American ran 48 yards for a touchdown to score the first points of the game, with an 8:48 in the first quarter. Henry had 70 rushing yards at this point in the game.
“Derrick Henry is the best running back in football” said Smith. “I mean, this guy is as good as it gets. He’s tough and a lot of those missed tackles, a normal back would go down. But the guys kept fighting and when we had to pull ourselves together and play the run a lot better, the tackling was better – gang tackling. It takes more than one to bring him down.”
Henry finished for 126 yards on 23 rush attempts. But he didn’t cross the goal line again, and the Texans limited him to less than 3 yards per carry after that touchdown run.
“There was really only more gap sound”, Harris said. “…attacked the second half much better than the first and that was kind of the plan. …
“It meant a lot to me and the defense but realistically we were just trying to come here and do our job and that’s what we did.”
Playing 1:44 and Tennessee leading 14:10, Henry lost a fumble on a first-and-10 carry from Houston’s 44-yard line.
“Trying to Break a Tackle”, said Henry. “I’m trying to fight for extra yards. Gotta watch the ball. We practice that. It’s up to me No apology. The organization asks me to carry the ball and I strain my shoulders to do what I can for this team and make games. That’s three games in a row, I fumbled the ball. No excuses, I gotta be more careful with the ball. That’s what you’re supposed to do as a running back, and I haven’t done that in the last three weeks. I need to get better. I have to get back to work. I feel terrible about it. I’ll feel terrible until we play again.”
Henry’s fumble was forced and restored by linebacker Jake Hansen, as was Harris and Pitre a rookie.
“We’re definitely making progress week in, week out” Harris said of Houston’s young players. “We see that, and that was just the main focus. We don’t think too far ahead. Whatever is in front of you, take care of it. You can see the progress.”
Harris also made six tackles in the game, and in addition to interceptions, he broke up another pass.
While the Texans ended their losing streak with a 2-12-1, Tennessee suffered their fifth straight loss, falling to 7-8, now sharing first place in the AFC South with Jacksonville but in a head-to-head race behind the Jaguars. head tiebreaker. The Titans lost to Jacksonville 36-22 on December 11 and will play the Jaguars again on January 8 in the regular-season finals.
Before that, Tennessee meets the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
“Five in a row, very hard” said Henry. “You’re trying to find the right words, but at the same time I think you have to be positive. We still have one chance ahead of us. We have a short week. We have to play Dallas. We must have short memories. But for me it will definitely sting because I feel like we were able to go down and score and I didn’t care about the ball.
FOR MORE OF AL.COMGO TO OUR NFL Coverage NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.