Mandatory Credit: Photo by Matt Patterson/AP/Shutterstock (13332340gd) Houston Texans quarterback Kyle Allen (3) looks to pass during an NFL preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, in Houston 49ers Texans Football, Houston, United States – 25 Aug 2022
Allen maintains confidence: “I’m a much better player than what I showed”
In the aftermath of a brutal first half that saw his team fall behind 30-0, Houston Texans quarterback Kyle Allen still has plenty of faith in himself.
The Houston Texans were looking for an offensive spark when they turned to Kyle Allen Sunday against Miami. It didn’t go the way he wanted.
Houston couldn’t open holes in the run game and struggled badly to protect their quarterback as the Dolphins raced to a 30-0 halftime lead. Midway through the third quarter, Miami pulled their starting quarterback and called off the dogs before Houston started to get any traction on offense.
Despite getting 15 points in the second half of a game decided before that half began, Allen knew his performance is not what he nor the team wanted or needed:
“Just not good enough for me. I just didn’t put our team in any type of position to win today. The interception early was just a bad ball; I can’t do that. That’s essentially a pick-six with them getting the ball on the 2-yard line, and then we’re down 17-0 at that point. I’ve got to be a lot better if we want to win games.”
Allen also understood those second-half scores were more about the mindset of fighting to the end than they were about being competitive within the game:
“You’re just trying to fight. You’re just trying to stay in the game. It’s nice to score, but it’s too little, too
late at that point. We’re down 30-0 – that’s more of a mentality than anything. You’re just trying to fight and execute and just keep playing.”
The Texans quarterback admitted it wasn’t a fun scene in the locker room at the half:
“I mean, people were frustrated, rightfully so. Down 30-0 at halftime, after all the work you put in during
the week, it’s not where you expect to be. It’s frustrating.”
Allen explained the struggled weren’t related to the game being too fast, just failure to execute:
“No, we just didn’t execute. We just weren’t executing. I think offense, we struggled early. And, like I
said, the interception put us in a really bad spot. We blinked, and it was 17-0. We just got to be able to start faster and play better early in the game.”
Despite struggling, Allen is still fully confident in himself:
“I’m confident. I’m confident – I know I’m a much better player than what I showed today. Every team
is still building, especially us. We have one win. We’re trying to just get a win every week. So, I mean, we’ve just got to keep pushing.”
Allen also downplayed the pressure that Miami put on him:
“I mean, I thought the pressure was fine. I thought there was times where I could have stepped up in there and got to my checkdowns quicker and got to my outlets quicker. I don’t think the pressure was that big of an issue. I think they played well in the back end, and then they got a lead quick, so they played soft the rest of the game. When they play soft, you have to take your dinks and dunks down the field until you score. That’s tough to do. We’ve just got to play better earlier.”