Bobby Slowik’s offense in Houston has turned heads; so has Mike Macdonald’s defense in Baltimore. That matchup set the stage for what many believe could be the final meeting of the two coordinators before one — or both — get head-coaching opportunities with other teams.
Give Macdonald the point in the head-to-head meeting. For one of the few times in what has been a promising rookie season from C.J. Stroud, the Texans were stymied against a ferocious Ravens’ defense that met ball-carriers almost immediately and kept consistent pressure on the 22-year-old signal-caller. The result was a 34-10 beatdown by the Ravens, with the Texans’ only points coming on a field goal and a punt return touchdown. It was the third time the Texans had no offensive touchdowns in a game. The first came against the Ravens in Week 1, the second came in Week 14 against the Jets when Stroud exited early because of a concussion.
Few will regard the Ravens’ win over the Texans as surprising. Baltimore entered as a 9.5-point favorite. It was an experienced team led by a likely two-time MVP at quarterback and a star-studded defense facing off against a young, up-and-coming team that has dealt with numerous injuries on both sides of the ball.
The Texans had their chances before the Ravens’ running game was able to heat up late and ice the game. However, questionable early-down, unsuccessful runs by the offense and a lack of consistent protection for Stroud wound up giving the Texans too many issues against Macdonald’s stellar defense.
MORE: How flurry of penalties cost Texans
Here’s what went wrong for the Texans on offense against the Ravens.
Early-down runs
The Texans made their living on offense in 2023 relying on the arm of Stroud. The rookie ranked 12th in the NFL in EPA per play and consistently lit up defenses with eye-popping numbers.
The running game was more or less an afterthought. Houston ranked 27th in rushing success rate (34.6 percent) and 26th in rushing EPA per play (-0.164).
Yet, the Texans tried desperately to get the running game going early against the Ravens, particularly on early downs, almost all to no avail. Seven times during the game the Texans called a designed run on first- or second-down. Only twice did the run pick up anything more than two yards.
| Drive | Play of drive | Down-distance | Yardage | Drive result |
| 1 | 1st | 1-10 | 0 | Punt |
| 2 | 2nd | 1-10 | -1 | Punt |
| 3 | 1st | 1-10 | 0 | Field goal |
| 4 | 1st | 1-10 | 7 | Punt |
| 5 | 6th | 1-10 | 2 | Missed FG |
| 6 | 4th | 1-10 | 1 | Punt |
| 6 | 7th | 2-7 | 16 | Punt |
The Texans largely struggled even to get first downs after finding themselves falling behind. Houston picked up first downs after the carries on the second, third, and both carries on the sixth drives, but they came up short of getting a first down on the first, fourth, and fifth drives.
Stroud was often able to bail out the Texans, but the Ravens were clearly ready to defend early-down runs.
There was at least some reason to expect success in that department. Baltimore’s defense had few flaws, but it did struggle during the season against first- and second-down runs (4.5 yards per carry, seventh-highest in the NFL), according to Stathead. However, the Texans ranked only 27th in rushing yards per carry on such downs at 3.7, and those struggles really came to light against Baltimore.
Pass protection
A quick glance at the box score would appear to show a great game for the Texans protecting Stroud. The QB, who was sacked the eighth-most in 2023 (38), finished the game without a sack. Back in Week 1, Baltimore sacked him five times, so this seems like a big improvement.
That doesn’t tell the story of the game, though. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Ravens had their third-quickest time-to-pressure rate of the season at 2.4 seconds, with Stroud often facing pressure nearly as soon as he got the ball.
It wasn’t just from defensive linemen. Part of why Macdonald’s defense was so effective on Saturday was because 12 different players racked up at least one pressure, per NGS, led by defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, who had four.
Stroud was effective at scrambling and avoiding any sacks or just getting off a quick throw, but between the pressure Stroud faced and the coverage downfield, he was rarely able to tap into the deep ball. During the regular season, Stroud attempted 11.7 percent of his passes past 20 yards downfield, according to ProFootballFocus. Per Next Gen Stats, only three total attempts passed 20 yards, accounting for nine percent. He went two-for-three for 50 yards on those throws.
Stroud also led the NFL with a 27.7-percent pass rate on intermediate throws (10-19 yards). On Saturday, he attempted just six passes in that range (18.2 percent), and he completed only one for 26 yards.
Questionable trick play call
One play call will rarely be the reason a team loses a game, particularly when the Ravens won by three scores. However, there is one moment that was a head-scratcher the moment it took place.
The Ravens scored a touchdown to open the second half and take a 17-10 point lead. At that point, the balance of the game was still in anyone’s hands.
The Texans appeared set to recapture some momentum, picking up two early first downs. A 16-yard run by Singletary set Houston up at the Baltimore 39. It appeared Houston was starting to find some offensive momentum against the Ravens both through the air and on the ground
Then, Slowik opted to dive into his bag of tricks. He called a jet-sweep, flea-flicker screen pass for Xavier Hutchinson. The play call was blown up right away by Geno Stone, who blew past the blockers to halt Hutchinson, with some help from other defenders, for a loss of five yards.
The Texans had this Flea Flicker Throwback Screen set up…
Unbelievable play by Geno Stone! pic.twitter.com/PiznSYgus0
— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) January 20, 2024
All of a sudden, the momentum was halted. Facing a second-and-15, Stroud missed Nico Collins, then hit Dalton Schultz only for a yard after he was flushed out of the pocket and had to dump the ball off. The Texans had to punt the ball, and it was all Ravens from there as they were able to lean on the running game and control the contest the rest of the game.
