Before Saturday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, Houston coach Lovie Smith said he thought linebacker Christian Harris, with nine games of NFL experience, could help the Texans avoid their usual fate of being trampled underfoot by running back Derrick Henry.
As it turned out, the rookie from Alabama made a big play in the passing game to help Houston break a nine-game losing streak with a 19-14 victory over Tennessee.
With the Texans sitting on a five-point lead, Harris picked off Tennessee quarterback Malik Willis’ pass to wide receiver Treylon Burks and returned the football 20 yards to the Tennessee 38-yard line with 1:33 to play.
“I just tried to undercut and make a play,” Harris said, “and that’s really all it was.”
The Titans got the football back with 70 seconds left, and the game ended on an interception by another Houston rookie, safety Jalen Pitre, in the end zone on a throw from the Texans 43.
Henry entered the game as the only player in NFL history with at least 200 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in four consecutive games against one opponent – the Texans.
And it looked like more of the same on Saturday: On his fourth carry, the former Alabama All-American ran 48 yards for a touchdown for the game’s first points with 8:48 left in the first quarter. Henry had 70 rushing yards at that point in the game.
“Derrick Henry’s the best running back in football,” Smith said. “I mean, this guy’s as good as there is. He’s tough, and a lot of those missed tackles, a normal back would go down. But the guys kept fighting, and when we needed to clamp down and play the run a lot better, the tackling was better – gang-tackling. It takes more than one to get him down.”
Henry finished with 126 yards on 23 rushing attempts. But he didn’t cross the goal line again, and the Texans limited him to fewer than 3 yards per carry after this touchdown run.
“It was really just staying more gap-sound,” Harris said. “… Attacked the second half a lot better than we did 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.”
With 13:44 left to play and Tennessee leading 14-10, Henry lost a fumble on a first-and-10 carry from the Houston 44-yard line.
“Trying to break a tackle,” Henry said. “Trying to fight for extra yards. Got to take care of the ball. We practice that. That’s on me. No excuse. The organization puts a lot on me to carry the ball, and I put a lot on my shoulders to do what I can for this team and make plays. That’s three games in a row, I’ve fumbled the ball. No excuse, I need to be better taking care of the ball. That’s what you’re supposed to do as a running back, and these last three weeks I have not done that. I got to get better. I got to get back to work. I feel terrible about it. I’ll feel terrible until we play again.”
Henry’s fumble was forced and recovered by linebacker Jake Hansen, like Harris and Pitre a rookie.
“We’re definitely progressing week-by-week,” Harris said of Houston’s young players. “We’re seeing that, and that’s just kind of been the main focus. We’re not thinking too far ahead down the line. What’s in front of you right now, take care of that. You can see the progress.”
Harris also made six tackles in the game, and in addition to the interception, he broke up another pass.
While the Texans ended their losing streak to move to 2-12-1, Tennessee suffered its fifth consecutive loss to fall to 7-8, now tied for first place in the AFC South with Jacksonville but trailing the Jaguars on the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Titans lost to Jacksonville 36-22 on Dec. 11 and play the Jaguars again in the regular-season finale on Jan. 8.
Before that, Tennessee faces the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.
“Five in a row, very tough,” Henry said. “You try to find the words to say, but I think at the same time, you got to be positive. We still have an opportunity in front of us. We got a short week. We got to play Dallas. We got to have a short memory. But for me, it’s definitely going to sting because I feel like we were in position to go down and score, and I didn’t take care of the ball.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
