Osweiler hopes to reprise October surprise vs. Colts
QB’s showing late in OT win raised hopes and questions
It wasn’t a mirage. No, there wasn’t an impersonator standing in for quarterback Brock Osweiler inside the Texans’ huddle.
At the time, it appeared to be a legitimately encouraging performance by a resurgent Osweiler as he engineered a dramatic 26-23 comeback victory in overtime Oct. 16 over the Indianapolis Colts.
Unlike his performances for the majority of the season that have raised many eyebrows and hard questions about the competence of the Texans’ $72 million man, Osweiler delivered a sterling late-game display against the Colts. His accuracy was pinpoint. His mechanics were textbook. He did not show the hesitancy and erratic nature that has plagued him since signing a four-year contract in March that included $37 million in guaranteed money.
How Osweiler completed 25 of 39 passes for a season-high 269 yards and two touchdowns to overcome a 23-9 deficit was remarkable enough that it still is dominating conversations heading into a pivotal AFC South divisional rematch Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I mean, he’s got all the talent in the world,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said Wednesday during a conference call. “He can throw the ball. Playing that position when you win, you probably get too much of the credit, when you lose, the same thing happens. Brock is a heck of a football player. We’ve got great respect for him. We’ve got enough video evidence. We’ve got enough evidence from the end of that ballgame to know that he is a great football player.
“He can make plays. He can throw the ball. There’s not a throw he can’t make. He’s athletic, he’s big and he’s strong. I don’t think people give him enough credit for his ability to extend plays, his ability to move the chains. So, we don’t listen to any of that. We just watch the tape. We know we’re going to have our hands full.”
Outdueling Luck
Osweiler exploited the Colts’ pass defense in that game, throwing with rhythm as he executed a nohuddle attack to complete a combined 13 of 15 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns during the final two series of regulation and overtime.
Osweiler managed to outduel Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, the Houston native and former Stratford standout who was rewarded last summer with a $140 million contract for the NFL’s richest deal. It was such a stellar outing by Osweiler, who’s thrown 13 interceptions and has a 74.2 passer rating during his uneven first season in Houston, that it begs the question: Why can’t Osweiler play the way he did against the Colts every week?
Of course, not everything surrounding the Texans’ 28th-ranked offense can be blamed solely on the quarterback.
“I understand what he’s saying because I’ve heard so many coaches say that exact same thing before,” Osweiler said when Pagano’s comments were relayed to him. “Whether I was the quarterback or somebody else was the quarterback, I’ve heard that saying and so I understand it. Certainly any time, whether we win or lose, and we come in and we watch that tape on Monday, there’s nobody who’s harder on themselves than me. I always believe that I can play better. I’m striving for perfection every single week and so there’s nobody that’s ever going to judge themselves harder than my own self, but I can certainly understand what coach Pagano is saying.”
Osweiler had one drive where he completed eight of 10 passes for 69 yards, capped by running back Lamar Miller’s 10-yard touchdown catch during which he eluded defenders by cutting back.
There was Osweiler’s game-tying dart of a touchdown pass over the middle to tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz late in the fourth quarter. And Osweiler lobbed a 36-yard pass up the sideline to wide receiver Jaelen Strong in overtime to set up kicker Nick Novak’s gamewinning field goal.
Hurry-up helped
Osweiler was 11-for-13 for 122 yards during the final two drives of the fourth quarter alone. He connected with Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins throughout the game, hitting him nine times for 71 yards on 15 targets. That has been a season-long struggle for Osweiler, but not on that night. He was decisive and confident. It appeared to be a revelation for Osweiler
Was the hurry-up mode all that Osweiler needed after completing seven of 17 passes in the first half for a 52.1 passer rating that drew heavy boos from the home crowd?
“Looking at the first time we played the Colts, I think offensively we just started out too slow,” Osweiler said. “We got behind on the sticks on a couple plays. I missed a couple reads and that really put us behind in the first half. When we got into the second half and especially into the fourth quarter, we kind of jumped into a two-minute mode almost. We played at the line of scrimmage. We played in a sub-personnel grouping and we were able to catch a rhythm.
“I think any time you can catch a rhythm offensively, that’s when you see points go up on the board. That’s when you see first down after first down after first down. I think the biggest key going into the second game is trying to replicate that fourth quarter. Find that rhythm early in the first quarter so that we can have that success for the entire game.”
As the two 6-6 teams square off with first place in the AFC South division on the line, Pagano doesn’t want to be sliced up again at the hands of Osweiler.
“The artery opened up,” Pagano said. “They caught fire and we couldn’t do anything about it, and we started gushing blood and there wasn’t enough tape or gauze to get it stopped.”
After a three-interception debacle against San Diego two weeks ago, Osweiler rebounded against Green Bay. It wasn’t enough for the Texans to win, falling 21-13 as Osweiler completed 22 of 35 passes for 202 yards, two TDs and no interceptions for a seasonhigh 97.6 passer rating.
“This is the biggest game of our season,” Osweiler said. “I’m viewing our season right now as a onegame season, and it’s one game we must win. I think our entire football team understands that. There’s great urgency in this building right now and it’s reflected at practice. No doubt about it, we understand as a team how important Sunday is.”