How can the Texans go deep down the field?
Well, yes and yes. This is how.
One play after quarterback Ryan Mallett threw a nine-yard curl route to Nate Washington, the Texans signal caller launched one deep that nearly ended up as a 71-yard touchdown.
The curl route was key on first down because it set up aggressive cornerback Charles Tillman on the very next play. On 2nd and one, the Texans came out in a similar set as on first down. I refer to this as a bandit set - TE and one WR to one side, with two receivers set to the other side.