Lovie Smith wants to see better decisions, execution from Texans’ offense

The Houston Texans head coach specifically addressed third down and RPOs.

Meeting the media Monday, Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith didn’t mince words when it came to some of his assessments of the offense, particularly his quarterback, Davis Mills.

The Texans were only 3 of 12 on third down against the Bears in Week 3. Addressing his team’s third-down struggles, Smith said:

“This game, one was late. Third-and-1, two-minute situation, we’re trying to complete a pass there. On the goal line, there was a third-and-1 that was a big one. We let one of the linebackers run through an A gap. That shouldn’t happen. The other two were run-pass options, and we should have just taken the run. Those are the things that can be cleaned up, though, from my point. You want to get in those situations. If you have to get to third down, you want it to be a third-and-1.“

Third and 1 was something that really bothered the Texans head coach:

“We had four third-and-1s… As long as you take the third-and-1s and you convert on those, everything else will work itself out. You live for the day when you get to third down, and it’s a third-and-1 situation. We need to do a better job. My biggest complaint first, the turnovers, and there it’s just converting third-and-1’s.”

As far as Mills’ decisions on those RPO plays?

“We didn’t handle those decisions the right way. I’ll say that.”

Smith gave an honest assessment of the Texans’ final play, a Mills pass that was intercepted by Bears LB Roquan Smith that set up the game-winning field goal:

“You know the outcome on the decision. First off, the ball was tipped. If any quarterback is throwing the ball and the ball gets tipped, who’s fault really is it? We didn’t execute the way we need to. In that last play, whenever you get a chance to analyze it, there’s normally a few guys that are open on most plays. It shouldn’t come down to that. We can say that one play, you cannot have a takeaway in that situation. I’m not saying that but look at all the other opportunities we had before that. I’m going to go back to the third-and-1 on the goal line, 2-yard line, and taking a sack. That play was just as important too. We’ve got to be able to clean these ones up.”