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HOUSTON -- Don't get too carried away with the Houston Texans' impressive statistics on third downs. Texans coach Bill O'Brien isn't. "I think it’s important to note that it’s only two games into the season and we need to keep that going, keep that trend going," O'Brien said. Indeed, it's been a good trend for Houston so far. In their first two games, they've converted 55.2 percent of their third downs offensively, fourth-best in the league. Their opponents, meanwhile, have only converted 23.8 percent of their third downs, the second-lowest percentage in the league behind only the Philadelphia Eagles. How a team plays on third down has a lot to do with whether or not they win games. It's no coincidence that this week the Texans are facing an 0-2 team whose defense struggles to get off the field on third downs, allowing conversions 53.6 percent of the time. "It makes the drives longer; it wears the defense down over time," Texans receiver Andre Johnson said. "Hopefully we can keep that going. ... Probably later on during the game you can see it. You know, when you have those long drives, defenses are trying to get off the field, they always preach that. We just try to convert.”
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