|
The Texans led the Colts 27-10 with less than five minutes left on Sunday, and all that was left to do was to start tabulating what this all meant for the winless Texans. There was the matter of getting that first win of the season under the belt; that was going to be nice, yes. So was the prospect of dragging the Colts into last place in the AFC South along with them … but with the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Texans were essentially in third place. And the Texans’ upcoming schedule? Not too difficult; home games with Miami, Detroit and Cincinnati. In short, Houston had a golden opportunity to be 4-3 by the end of October.
But the Texans could not close the deal. A Peyton Manning-to-Tom Santi TD pass with 4:04 left cut Houston's lead to 27-17. Then, with the Texans in position to essentially clinch the game with a first down, QB Sage Rosenfels, who was starting for an ill Matt Schaub, inexplicably leaped as he tried to reach out for the marker. Colts DL Raheem Brock knocked the ball loose, and Colts MLB Gary Brackett dashed 68 yards for a touchdown to reduce the Texans’ lead to 27-24 with 3:36 left.
On the Texans’ next drive, Rosenfels fumbled again, and the Colts recovered on the Houston 20. Two plays later, the Colts had the lead on a Manning-to-Reggie Wayne TD pass. The Texans’ last-ditch effort to win the game ended when Rosenfels threw an interception with 50 seconds left. The Colts, who felt oh-so-fortunate to be 2-2, celebrated, while the Texans were left to deal with one of the more confounding losses in recent memory. “That was just devastating,” Texans DE Mario Williams said. “That’s pretty much it. You can’t say anything else about it.”
The PFW spin
How the Texans bounce back from this bears watching. It’s easy to say that the Texans should simply move on to the next game, but that is easier said than done.
“I think a loss like this kind of hangs around,” Texans WR Andre Johnson said Sunday, “because you’re trying to figure how it happened and why it happened, but the only thing you can try to do is just put it behind you and that’s it. It’ll probably be hard.”
The Texans can take solace in their play for much of Sunday’s game. After a slow start, they reeled off 27 unanswered points vs. Indianapolis. Rosenfels, who likely will return to the bench in Week Six, was in rhythm. The Colts had no answers for Johnson, who caught nine passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. RB Steve Slaton was again impressive, rolling up 93 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Even the forgotten Ahman Green got into the act, contributing 47 yards on 12 carries.
The Texans’ defense also put together a strong effort. Williams, who would be a defensive MVP candidate on a winning team, had two sacks. The oft-criticized secondary made some nice plays on the ball. Also, the run defense held up well, limiting RB Joseph Addai to 71 yards.
Not only were the Texans well on their way to only their second-ever win vs. the Colts, they were going to do win in such a fashion that 1) signaled that they were ready to turn the corner and 2) sounded all sorts of alarms about Indianapolis.
Yes, the Colts are .500, and the Texans are, well, .000, but Houston was the much better club for much of the game. If the Texans don’t lose sight of that, they figure to get in the win column sooner than later. The upcoming schedule is favorable, and all is not lost for Houston just yet.
It just feels like it. And understandably so.
|
|
