After the ' heartbreaker Sunday against the , a reporter asked coach DeMeco Ryans how the team could make sure the lo s one which dropped Houston to third in the AFC South and out of a playoff spot doesn't spiral.He kept the me sage simple."There's no magic that' Caleb Smith Jersey s just going to happen," Ryans said. "Nobody is going to show up and help. It's just about our guys stepping up and executing in the moment. That's the me sage to our guys."It's a fair me sage. There's no reason to panic. The postseason remains a strong po sibility for the resurgent Texans (6-5), who still have a 61% chance of making the playoffs, according to the New York Times playoff simulator. Their remaining opponents, including the division-rival Titans twice, have a 31-35 combined record (.469 winning percentage). But the Jaguars game exposed their flaws.ADVERTISEMENT The biggest one? The run game. The Texans' rushing attack had produced in the previous two weeks, with a suming RB1 responsibilities with starter sidelined with an ankle injury registering a league-high 262 rushing yards in that span. But Jacksonville held Singletary and Pierce, who returned, to just 32 yards on 2.9 rushing yards per carry. Houston had just 91 rushing yards for the game overall, its worst mark since Week 9.The results aligned with a larger trend for Houston this season: its inability to find rushing succe s against above-average run defenses, which becomes paramount late in the season.In the five games the Texans had at least 100 rushing yards, each of them came against defenses that ranked in the bottom third of the league in terms of stopping the run 188 vs. Cincinnati (29th), 139 vs. Pittsburgh (22nd), 120 vs. New Orleans (23rd), 111 vs. Arizona (30th) and 110 vs. Carolina (24th). Houston averaged just 69.6 rushing yards per game in its other six Jose Fernandez Jersey contests, five of which came against teams ranking in the top half of Giancarlo Stanton Jersey the league for run defense Baltimore (11th), Atlanta (16th), Tampa Bay (9th) and Jacksonville (4th), whom it has played twice.Rookie quarterback greatne s has transcended the run-game i sues at times, but the Texans are 2-4 when they rush for fewer than 100 yards. They're 4-1 when they've surpa sed the mark.Losing standout offensive lineman he'll reportedly mi s the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered Sunday could make running the ball more difficult down the stretch. The Texans will face above-average run defenses in three of their final six games: against the Browns (12th) and Titans twice (15th).Coverage has also been an area of inconsistency for the Texans.They gave up four pa s plays of 40-plus yards in the lo s to the Jaguars, which led to 17 points. It marked just the second time this season that a team has had four plays go for at least 40 yards (rushes or receptions), joining the Dolphins who had five in their 70-20 rout of the Broncos in Week 3, according to Sportsradar. So that doesn't reflect well on Houston.Trevor Lawrence leads Jaguars to road win over Texans in Week 12 The Texans are tied for third in pa sing touchdowns allowed (11), but they rank 27th in pa sing yards allowed, 23rd in pa ser rating allowed when targeted and 26th in pa s defense Lewis Brinson Jersey DVOA, according to FTN data.While most of their remaining opponents don't appear threatening in the pa sing game, Houston could get a challenge against Denver, which has caught fire with Ru sell Wilson and tied for a league-high five-game winning streak. Since Week 7, the start of the Broncos' streak, they're third in completion rate (71.6%) and fourth in pa ser rating (109.5), according to Next Gen Stats.It's a game that could have large postseason implications too, with Denver (6-5) also in the AFC wild-card picture, a spot behind Houston in the ninth spot."For us, when it comes to pa s rush and creating more pre sure, it starts first with our coverage," Ryans said Monday. "Our rush and coverage is tied together. Feel like we can be better in coverage, giving our pa s rush more time to get there. So we can execute better in all phases."We have to fix us," he added. "We have to play better. We have Curtis Granderson Jersey to execute better. It really doesn't matter who the opponent is if we don't clean up our house first."Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tenne sean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tenne see. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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