'We're In The Dump': Rookie Star Dameon Pierce Stopped Again; What's Wrong with Texans Run Game?

"Copy-cat" approach working against Houston Texans running game as Dameon Pierce shut down for second consecutive outing, held to eight yards.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Dameon Pierce ran into an all too familiar brick wall Sunday, yet another defense copying the blueprint for how to stop him and the Houston Texans' once formidable running game.

The Miami Dolphins' stout defense became the latest unit that was able to shut down Pierce, a contender for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The formula keeps getting repeated week after week as the fourth-round draft pick from Florida was limited to a season-low eight rushing yards for the second consecutive game. During a 30-15 loss at Hard Rock Stadium, Pierce had four runs for seven yards at halftime and just one carry in the second half for a yard as the Texans fell behind 30-0 and abandoned the running game.

Defenses are loading the tackle box to account for Pierce, and the strategy is working.

“Oh man, they’re stacking the line," Pierce said with a laugh. "Putting five down linemen up there: three down linemen, two stand-up defensive ends and just letting the linebackers play the gaps. That’s hard to run against in any system, whatever you are running. That’s something we do, though. That is something we are going to game plan against, something we’re going to get better at. We just have to get used to it up front. 

"Obviously, if teams do something good against us, the other teams are going to copy cat and put it in their repertoire and implement that against us. But we just have to start finding counters to the stuff that people are going to do to us, because we’re changing our tendencies. We’re trying to do tendency-breakers. We just trying to get a better flow on offense. Ultimately, we are going to change that." 

The Texans finished with 36 rushing yards on 14 carries. Backup running back Dare Ogunbowale was the leading rusher with 14 yards on four carries and a touchdown.

"I mean, y'all know when someone stops someone up front, it always starts up there, up front," Texans coach Lovie Smith said. "We played good defensive lines and they haven't allowed us to get our run going. It's kind of as simple as that. 

"We need to play better. There's no other answer than I'm going to give you 30 minutes after the game, because believe me, if we saw that problem we would have taken care of it out there."

Pierce rushed for 94 yards on 17 carries in a loss to the New York Giants two games ago and a career-high 139 rushing yards against the Philadelphia Eagles three games ago. It's not as if he forgot how to run the football.

Is it almost impossible to run the ball against these stacked fronts? The Dolphins are big and strong inside with defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Raekwon Davis.

"'Almost' is a good word," Pierce said. " I feel like everybody really trying to do what the Titans did. They're running their own variations. They've got great guys up front. They let loose and make plays. They're very disruptive up front. Shout out to them."

The Texans faced seven or more defenders on all but one of Pierce's carries. He had four total yards against those alignments.

"Same thing everybody is loading up to make us run the ball," right tackle Tytus Howard said. "They've giving us the same looks. They're trying to force us to throw the ball."

The Texans are a run-first offense. When the running game is done, they're forced to throw the football. That isn't their strength.

“That’s our identity," Pierce said. "That’s what we want to come out and base our offense of us. Like you said, it may be one of those days. We weren’t saying it’s the first six, seven weeks, it’s just something we’re in the dump with right now. But we’re going to figure something out and we’re going to get our thing back on track and going where we need to be moving forward.''

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