Lindsay’s final carry as a Texan was emblematic of his tenure with the team and what plagues the running game. He was tackled for a three-yard loss by Harold Landry as he was completely unblocked.

Whether it’s the blocking of an offensive line missing three injured starters in tackles Laremy Tunsil and Marcus Cannon and center Justin Britt not generating enough holes and push up front or the running backs not being elusive or powerful enough to make something happen on their own, the problem persists.

“I think it’s everything,” offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said. “I think it’s the opponent that you’re playing, I think it’s who’s doing what, who’s calling what. I’ve got to do a better job dialing up some plays. It’s a collective effort, so it’s not one person’s fault, it’s not one position group’s fault.

“That’s why we’re in here today, trying to figure out a better way to go and be more productive in the run game. Obviously, we stuck to it on Sunday, but we want to be more productive, we want to be more efficient.”

Kelly is correct in his assessment. The Texans defeated the Tennessee Titans 22-13 largely on the strength of five turnovers, including four interceptions. They ran the football 38 times for 83 yards, averaging 2.2 yards per run as quarterback Tyrod Taylor scrambled for two touchdowns.

Rex Burkhead was the leading rusher with 40 yards on 18 carries, averaging 2.2 yards per run. Johnson ran it 13 times for 18 yards for a 1.4 average.

“You look at being able to attack the defenses on different levels, different zones, different areas, so you’re not just kind of sitting there hammering the same part of the defense the entire game,” Kelly said. “We were able to take that time that we had during the bye week and we were able to identify what we do well, and we tried to do that again on last Sunday and we’ll try to do it again this Sunday.”

It doesn’t really matter what direction the Texans run the football, the results are similarly ineffectual.

The Texans are averaging 5.24 yards running around left end on 25 outside runs, but they’re averaging 3.25 yards off left tackle, 2.94 yards off left guard, 2.6 yards up the middle, 2.57 yards off right guard, 2.75 yards off left tackle and 4.43 yards off right tackle.

“I think the biggest thing with that is we have to block better in those particular situations,” Texans coach David Culley said. “We were better last week, weren’t where we needed to be, but we just need to be better at that. I think now we are doing things more, as I mentioned coming out of the bye week, we are doing things more that suits what we do upfront and what our backs do.

The Texans rank last in total offense and scoring offense (15 points per game)

The Texans recently acquired running back Royce Freeman off waivers from the Carolina Panthers when they placed running back Scottie Phillips on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain.

Freeman is in the final year of a $3.94 million rookie contract. He rushed for 1,264 yards and eight touchdowns for the Broncos.

“He’s got good vision,” Kelly said. “He’s got good patience, runs hard. Obviously, we haven’t seen him here in a lot of situations. But going against our defense he’s done a good job of giving us looks. He’s been smart and diligent in how he prepares and the amount of time we spend on the offense. Been very impressed with him so far.”

Freeman (5-foot-11, 229 pounds) has run the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds. He was drafted by the Broncos in the third round out of Oregon.

In 2018 as a rookie, he rushed for 521 yards and five touchdowns on 132 carries. He gained 496 yards and scored three touchdowns with 43 receptions for 256 yards and one score in 2019.

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