SMITH: TOTAL TAKEDOWN.
Another blowout loss in a home playoff game shows the Texans still have a long way to go
Bill O’Brien should be better than this by now.
I do not know what Romeo Crennel was doing for one half of a playoff game.
Deshaun Watson was magicless on a national stage.
And be honest, Texans: Did you even watch game film to prepare for Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton and all-mighty Indianapolis?
It was a first-half clown show during a wild-card game Saturday at NRG Stadium, which again was dominated with boos for the wrong team. It ended as 21-7 Colts which, of course, was much worse than it looks.
“We just weren’t able to get it done,” said O’Brien, who’s been blown out 51-7 in two home wild-card defeats.
The Texans’ only playoff victory under their fifth-year coach came against Oakland’s No. 3 quarterback in 2016. Since 2002, the franchise has still won just three wild-card games — the other two were versus Marvin Lewis’ Cincinnati teams — and never come close toward winning the Super Bowl.
Colts-Texans III captured 17 years of local frustration.
O’Brien’s team knew exactly what it was facing. It took a career-changing injury and Peyton Manning leaving Indy for the Texans to first take the AFC South. Andrew Luck, Manning’s replacement, then immediately became the Texans’ primary threat.
The moment that the 2018 Colts turned 1-5 into a road wildcard game, the question was whether the Texans could finally figure out a way to contain Luck. He completed 8-of-10 passes for 101 yards, one touchdown, a 142.1 rating and a 14-0 first-quarter lead. He was 16-of-22 for 191 yards, two TDs and an untouchable 21-0 deficit by halftime.
A ticking clock and the fallout were the only things that remained. After turning 0-3 into 11-5 and a division title, the Texans clearly weren’t good enough and still hadn’t figured out how to deal with the Colts’ biggest weapons. They also would allow a taunting Hilton to wear a clown mask into their stadium without punishment.
One Texans cornerback said post-defeat that Hilton’s costume was disrespectful.
How about allowing Luck to throw for 1,085 yards and eight touchdowns against your secondary in a single season?
By the end of the first half, it felt like the Texans needed a new defensive coordinator. After the Texans scored just seven points in four boring quarters, the offensive coordinator talk had fired up again, and the man calling the plays again blamed himself.
“I think that this organization has a very bright future. We have a great young quarterback. We’ve got a lot of really great guys in the locker room,” O’Brien said. “I told the team. … I stood up there and said, ‘Look, I just didn’t do a good enough job of getting you guys ready to play.’ ”
Indy coach Frank Reich won the day — and could have been 2-0-1 (or 3-0) versus the Texans this season if not for a failed fourth-down conversion late in overtime during Week 4.
“Beat the Colts” blared on NRG’s Jumbotron, becoming more and more of an in-game joke.
The Texans’ seven points was tied for the second-fewest by a home team during a playoff game in the last 10 seasons. Only the Brian Hoyer-Texans — destroyed and humiliated 30-0 by Kansas City inside a boo-filled NRG in 2015 — were more pointless.
“It sucks. I told the boys in there it sucks,” said J.J. Watt, whose comeback season ended with another humbling postseason defeat.
Hilton clowned them. Luck shredded a secondary that should burn its “Defense With Attitude” souvenirs. Reich’s Colts recorded an early knockout in Part III, suddenly ending a Texans season that teased hope, then ended like all the others before.
When it began, this was a building year. They weren’t contenders. Only a fool would have linked them with a potential trophy.
But this is also Year Five of O’Brien, and Luck is clearly back in the South.
Tom Brady is still hanging around in New England. Patrick Mahomes is just getting started in Kansas City.
Watson finished his first full pro season by completing 29of-49 passes for 235 yards, one TD and a 69.7 rating. He also was sacked three more times. He threw a costly pick. He pleaded for non-calls, looked toward the sideline in confusion and ended the game on his back, staring up at stadium roof.
I can picture the Texans winning a Super Bowl with Watson.
But the Texans must improve in multiple areas and their 2018 version was far too similar to every other team that fell short after beginning the season with clear limitations.
“The Colts started out faster than us,” Watson said.
“A lack of execution on our part,” he said.
That’s not how you win a playoff game. To have it happen at home, during a wild-card contest against a 10-win squad, is yet another sign that the Texans still have a long way to go before they finally arrive.
“They did a great job. We just didn’t get it done,” O’Brien said. “Like I always say, it starts with the guy in front of the team, and that’s me. We weren’t able to get it done.”
Indy was primed from the first second and rarely hesitated.
The Texans passed on the opening kick, immediately gave up a nine-play, 75-yard TD drive, then soon became desperate. It was already over. Turning 0-3 into 11-5 was a nice story.
The real one is that the Texans’ franchise still has only won wild-card games and O’Brien only has one playoff victory in five seasons. Watson gives you hope. The Texans keep reminding you how hard it is to believe.