Seahawks’ last visit stirs memories
Bring up Richard Sherman to Texans fans, and they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.
It’s not Sherman as an All-pro cornerback for Seattle or Sherman as a Super Bowl winner with the Seahawks.
It’s one play Sherman made against the Texans that changed the course of history for two franchises.
The last time the Seahawks played at NRG Stadium was the fourth game of the 2013 season.
In Gary Kubiak’s eighth and final season as the Texans’ coach, they were coming off a 12-4 record and a divisional round playoff loss.
In Pete Carroll’s fourth season, the Seahawks were coming off an 11-5 season and a divisional round playoff loss.
The Texans entered the game 2-1. They won 31-28 at San Diego on a walk-off field goal. They beat Tennessee 30-24 in overtime at NRG Stadium. They were clobbered 30-9 at Baltimore.
The Seahawks came to Houston with a 3-0 record behind second-year quarterback Russell Wilson and a defense that would become the NFL’S best.
The Texans led 20-3 at halftime and 20-6 in the fourth quarter. After Marshawn Lynch ran for a 3-yard touchdown, the Texans still led 20-13 with 7:43 remaining.
With 2:51 left, the Texans had the ball at Seattle’s 40, facing third-and-4. During a Seahawks’ timeout, Kubiak instructed quarterback Matt Schaub to throw the ball at Owen Daniels’ feet if the tight end wasn’t open. Daniels wasn’t open, and Schaub didn’t throw it at his feet. He threw it to Sherman, who returned it 58 yards for a touchdown that tied the game with 2:40 remaining. The crowd was silent and in a state of shock.
The Texans could have rendered Sherman’s interception obsolete because they had the ball three more times — once in regulation and twice in overtime — but failed to score.
Meanwhile, Stephen Hauschka’s 45-yard field goal in overtime beat the Texans 23-20.
The Texans dropped to 2-2 and didn’t win another game, tying the franchise’s worst record at 2-14.
The Seahawks finished 13-3 and destroyed Denver 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII.
The Texans have one player left from that 2013, snapper Jon Weeks, who’s playing in his 12th season. He remembers that defeat vividly.
“That’s one of those games where you look back, grit your teeth and say, ‘Man, we had that won,’ but then you had a tremendous player make a great play and tie it up,” Weeks said this week while the Texans prepared for Sunday’s game against the Seahawks at NRG Stadium. “We still had our chances, but, unfortunately, we came out on the wrong side of it.
“That team was loaded with talent. We were wellcoached, and we had a chance to do something special.”
And they did. They lost a franchise-record 14 consecutive games to earn the first pick in the draft that general manager Rick Smith used on defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. It was a difficult season for Kubiak. He collapsed on the sideline at NRG Stadium at halftime of a three-point loss to Indianapolis. Kubiak suffered a stroke, and quick thinking by Dr. James Muntz and the Texans’ medical experts saved his life.
Kubiak returned and was fired with three games left in the season. Bill O’brien was hired in January. It was the last season for Schaub, who threw a pick-six in three consecutive defeats and was booed out of town.
Kubiak deserved another season. The Texans lost nine games by seven or fewer points. They lost five by three or fewer points.
“We had high hopes coming into that season,” Weeks said. “We started 2-0, and when we lost to Seattle, things just snowballed. That was one of those really weird seasons. We were in most of those games. We kept thinking, ‘Hey, we’re going to break out of this at some point.’
“There was never any bickering with that team. Everyone was always positive. We always thought we were going to go on a run, but it never happened.”
Just about every coach and player on that 2013 team still believes the Texans would have defeated the Seahawks if they could have prevented Sherman’s interception return for touchdown. They think a victory over Seattle and a 3-1 record would have been the springboard they needed for a third consecutive AFC South title.
“I know it’s a what-if thing,” Weeks said, “but I think if we had beaten Seattle, we absolutely could have gone on a run. We had talent and superstars on both sides of the ball.”
Those 2013 Texans are still flabbergasted they didn’t win another game after starting 2-0 and being so close to defeating the Seahawks.
“I’m tremendously shocked,” Weeks said. “You look at that roster and we had all the talent in the world. We were a well-coached team with all the right pieces in the right places. It was just an insane year.
“We’d lose those close games, come off the field and say, ‘How did we not pull that one out?’ When I’ve talked to guys about it over the years, we still can’t figure out why we couldn’t break out of it.”