Stonewalled repeatedly throughout the season, the Texans' attempt to establish a running game was largely a massive exercise in frustration.
The Texans kept at it, though, despite ranking last in the NFL in rushing offense with 1,358 rushing yards and an average of 3.4 per run.
A year ago, the Texans finished 31st in rushing offense while quarterback Deshaun Watson led the NFL in passing yards.
Rex Burkhead leads the Texans with 403 rushing yards and three touchdowns, tied with backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor for rushing scores, and is averaging 3.7 yards per carry with one more game remaining in the season Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
The Texans' plan to stockpile running backs didn't work as planned. They traded Mark Ingram to the New Orleans Saints after he rushed for 294 yards and a 3.2 average in seven games. Bringing back David Johnson on a restructured contract didn't yield a lot of production. He rushed for 200 yards and no scores.
Phillip Lindsay was released and joined the Miami Dolphins off waivers after rushing for 130 yards and a 2.6 average per carry.
The lowest leading rusher in franchise history was 437 yards by Steve Slaton back in 2009.
The Texans are well aware that they'll need to address the running back position in free agency and the draft this offseason to boost the running game in 2022.
“We’ll definitely do that," Texans coach David Culley said. "We obviously want to be better at that, we’re going to be better at that. That’s one of the things that when the season is over, during the offseason we’re going to sit down as a staff and we’ll go through, and not only with just our staff with our scheme, but also personnel-wise as to which direction we need to go and what we need to do to get it right, and we’re going to get it right.”
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