The Chiefs lost to the Houston Texans 19-12 at NRG Stadium in Houston in their first road contest of the 2016 season on Sunday.
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The team has started the season 2-0, its latest win a 19-12 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, and is one of two teams (Pittsburgh Steelers) this season to win both their regular season games by at least a touchdown.
This season, the Chiefs have played eight quarters (plus five minutes of overtime last week against the San Diego Chargers).
Novak connected from 32, 24, 31 and 43 yards. Kansas City kicker Cairos Santos did his best to keep pace accounting for all of the Chiefs points with four field goals including a career best from 53 yards out with five seconds gone in the second quarter.
The Texans (2-0) defense was relentless and made life hard for Alex Smith and the Chiefs (1-1) offense.
“Our defense has worked on that a lot”, said head coach Bill O’Brien during the postgame press conference in the bowels of NRG Stadium.
Another encouraging sign for Houston was the return of J.J. Watt. Hopkins finished with seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown.
One of the week’s top matchups has already yielded a big play. “That’s exactly what took place in that moment”.
Two Texans field goals pushed the Texans’ advantage to 13-3 at halftime.
For the second week in a row, the offensive line struggled to protect quarterback Alex Smith.
In addition to Watt, the Texans have spent first-round picks on Whitney Mercilus and Jadeveon Clowney. And Fuller made the Bears’ defense look silly at times, showing off his impressive open-field athleticism en route to 107 receiving yards and a touchdown. He was unable to ever establish a rhythm to get the Chiefs back into the game. “Too many penalties. Dropped balls”. “You name it. Three turnovers”. All these things led to points.
The Chiefs won twice in NRG Stadium previous year, a seven-point victory in the season opener and a 30-0 walloping in the Wild Card Game. Three first half fumble recoveries marked a franchise high for the Houston organization.
Brown’s third field goal capped an 11-play, 70-yard drive that featured two third-down passes by Manning and a pass interference call on a throw to Odell Beckham Jr.
These aren’t the same Texans, though, particularly on offense, where Brock Osweiler has taken over under center, handing off to newcomer Lamar Miller, and rookie receiver Will Fuller looks to be a unsafe complement to star DeAndre Hopkins. “I was trying to do a good job of being decisive and hitting the hole”. He doesn’t think the injury is serious, but will have an MRI on Monday.
Kansas City put an alarmingly minimal amount of pocket pressure on Philip Rivers in Week 1, as he was sacked just once and hit a measly three times.
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Despite his performance, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year still feels like he’s got a way to go before he’s back to 100 percent.
