A weekly review of what the Houston Texans must fix:

We've addressed the big plays allowed by the Texans' defense in this space a few times. Now we'll turn our attention to the Texans' third-down offense.

Against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Texans had 10 third downs with 6 or more yards to go, including a third-and-18 and a third-and-14. The Texans converted three of those 10, one with an 18-yard dash by running back Arian Foster, another with a 45-yard pass to receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and another with a 21-yard reception by Hopkins. On both pass plays, Hopkins' yards after catch created the first-down conversion.

Overall, Houston converted only five of 13 third-down attempts. It's been a season-long problem. The Texans have found themselves in those third-and-long situations 75 times this season, more than every team except the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars.

It helps explain the Texans' struggles on third down. This season, the Texans have converted only 37.6 percent of their third downs. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's Total QBR on third down is 32.9, ranking 30th among eligible quarterbacks, and better than only Brian Hoyer, Kirk Cousins and EJ Manuel. Making things simpler on Fitzpatrick will help.

Avoiding negative plays on first and second downs can keep the Texans out of those difficult third downs -- that's what caused most of the long third downs for Houston against the Eagles. It's not just coachspeak when Bill O'Brien harps on being better on first and second downs.