The Texans went into halftime leading the first place team in the AFC South by three scores. Houston’s offense had new life with a quarterback who can push the ball down the field and not be counted on to throw pick-sixes to the other team. The Texans’ defense fed off that energy as well, briefly emerging as the dominant unit mostly unseen in 2013.
Then Gary Kubiak collapsed to the turf as a result of something that is not a heart attack, according to the reports being bandied about at the moment. What effect that had on the morale and the playcalling of the Texans can only be known by the team itself. The end result is that the Texans blew an 18-point lead en route to losing. There’s no way of knowing what would’ve happened in normal circumstances. Teams make adjustments and it’s unfair to the Colts to just assume this was Houston tanking. At the same time, something seemed amiss. It’s hard otherwise to see how Andre Johnson had seven catches for 190 yards in the first half and two catches for 29 yards in the second.
Wade Phillips will get whatever portion of the blame that isn’t accorded to Randy Bullock for missing three field goals. It helps that the immediate story is less about a team with diminished playoff hopes than the condition of its hospitalized head coach.
Hopefully the news that comes about Kubiak is positive from here on out. While the finish couldn’t have been great for Houston fans, at least they can be comforted that the team may have an answer at quarterback without necessarily having to commit a high draft pick on one next off-season.