Rashaad Penny, Seahawks Grind Out 33-13 Road Win Over Texans

While it wasn't the most comforting of victories against an inferior foe, the Seahawks used a pair of touchdown passes from Russell Wilson and a tremendous performance from Rashaad Penny to vault past the hapless Texans for a 33-13 road win.

Snagging their second straight win for the first time this season, Seattle improved to 5-8 behind Penny's career-best 137 rushing yards, keeping their slim playoff aspirations alive for at least one more week. Pacing the defense, Bobby Wagner racked up 14 tackles, Darrell Taylor had a sack, and Ugo Amadi recorded a pair of pass breakups in the secondary.

Here are five quick takeaways from NRG Stadium:

1. Assuming the role of bell cow, Penny turns back the clock to 2019 with a career game.

Despite battling constant injuries during his tenure with the Seahawks, Penny has showcased first-round talent when he's been healthy enough to play. Back in 2019, before tearing his ACL, he turned in back-to-back 100-plus yard performances in wins over the Eagles and Vikings. But he hadn't produced more than 35 rushing yards or scored a single touchdown in two years since suffering the devastating knee injury, in large part due to his inability to stay on the field.

Making the most of his second career start against the NFL's 32nd ranked run defense, Penny exploded against the Texans as the featured back. Starting off strong with a 13-yard run on the opening drive, he gave Seattle its first lead of the game by kickstarting the second quarter by bouncing outside after a key block by receiver Dee Eskridge and stiff-arming his way free on a 32-yard touchdown run. Then in the fourth quarter, with the Seahawks nursing a 14-point lead, he put the dagger into the Texans by breaking through a pair of tackles on an off tackle run and rocketed to the end zone for a 47-yard score. Feasting behind a dominant offensive line, particular on the right side behind guard Gabe Jackson and rookie tackle Jake Curhan, he finished the afternoon averaging 8.6 yards per carry.

Have a day, Rashaad Penny!

137 yards and 2 TDs for the #Seahawks RB. @pennyhendrixx

📺: #SEAvsHOU on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/fRQkp7Q5F9
— NFL (@NFL) December 12, 2021

2. Making history, Tyler Lockett uses a monster game to pass the century mark for a third straight season.

While Penny rightfully deserves Seattle's game ball, an argument can be made Lockett should get one as well. Capping off a spectacular week for him individually after being named the team's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee, he reeled in five passes for 142 yards and scored a 55-yard touchdown late in the second quarter, averaging 28.8 yards per reception. He had four different receptions of at least 24 yards, consistently toasting Houston's secondary with corners, posts, and vertical routes.

Lockett's second 100-yard effort of the season pushed him past 1,000 yards for the season, putting him in elite company joining Hall of Famer Steve Largent as only the second receiver in franchise history with three straight seasons surpassing 1,000 yards. A beacon of consistency on the outside, somehow, the former Kansas State star still seems underrated among the NFL's best.

3. After an uninspiring start, the Seahawks put Davis Mills back in his element as a struggling rookie quarterback.

Right off the bat, Mills, a third-round pick out of Stanford, looked like the second coming of Tom Brady dicing up Seattle's defense with short, quick passes. With minimal pressure being put on him from the pass rush, he completed each of his first 14 throws, including a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brevin Jordan to give Houston an early 7-0 advantage. An offense that scored nine or fewer points in six full games had 13 points on the board at the half.

But from there, the Seahawks ratcheted things up, taking away many of the quick completions Mills thrived on early in the contest. Without receivers getting open and the pass rush starting to get home more frequently, he went 19 for 35 for the remainder of the game while taking a pair of sacks and misfiring on two fourth down conversion attempts in the second half. Houston ended up finishing a dreadful 3-13 on third down conversions and averaged just five yards per play despite holding the ball for 33 minutes.

4. Led by Al Woods in the trenches, Seattle racked up tackles for loss in bunches shutting down Houston's run game.

Early on, the Texans were able to break off a few decent runs with Rex Burkhead while orchestrating three scoring drives in the first half. But even after defensive tackle Bryan Mone exited with a knee injury in the first half, the Seahawks held serve at the line of scrimmage and were highly disruptive making plays in the backfield. Offsetting a boneheaded roughing the long snapper penalty, Woods blew up multiple plays, including nearly recording a safety deep in Texans territory late in the second quarter. Seven different players, including Amadi and safety Ryan Neal, registered tackles for losses as Seattle held Houston to just 63 rushing yards and a meager 2.5 yards per carry.

5. Back to the basics? Jason Myers better start working on those PATs.

As expected, coach Pete Carroll wasn't concerned at all about Myers missing a pair of extra points on Sunday. For the most part, he's been very reliable in the kicking game since being signed three years ago. But this has been a persistent, somewhat unexplainable problem for him throughout his career. He's now missed three of them this year and 26 total in seven seasons. Every point matters and while his mishaps didn't prevent the Seahawks from losing to the lowly Texans, he needs to curb his PAT yips and get past whatever is preventing him from consistently splitting the uprights in those situations.