Texans vs. Colts: Houston Grades, Notes and Quotes

Considering how long it took the Houston Texans to finally defeat their division tormentors on the road, it feels appropriate to celebrate with these famous lyrics from The Wizard of Oz.

"

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead.
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

"

Yes, it came against the dynamic duo of Matt Hasselbeck and Charlie Whitehurst, and yes, the Texans only managed to score 16 points against a defense that had allowed 51 and 45 over the previous two weeks, but breaking their winless streak to take sole possession of first place in the division is worth celebrating. 

"

VICTORY FORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/2S6yqfIiPr

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) December 20, 2015"

That being said, the race for the AFC South isn't over.

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, defeating Tennessee on the road and a suddenly improved Jacksonville team in the last week of the season with Brandon Weeden under center is no guarantee.

Hopefully, Brian Hoyer will clear the concussion protocol and return to play, but he hasn't exactly lit up the scoreboard recently, either.

If they're not able to win both games and go just 1-1, that could open up some tiebreaker scenarios that might not go Houston's way.

Let's worry about that if it happens. For now it's perfectly fine to celebrate the streak ending and the division lead. 

It's playoff football time in Houston, most likely.

Position Grades for the Texans

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Quarterback: !

It doesn't matter what the numbers say, Brandon Weeden was the quarterback on the field when the Texans got their first win in franchise history at Indianapolis. The only grade that can be given is a big exclamation mark after that out-of-nowhere performance and victory.

Build a statue on Kirby near NRG Stadium and give Weeden free drinks in this city for a long time, because that was awesome.

Weeden certainly wasn't the reason why they won—that distinction should go to the defense—but he actually had a decent game considering the situation. Weeden completed over 50 percent of his passes, with one touchdown, no interceptions and a 95.8 quarterback rating.

That level of play won't win you every game, and maybe not even most, but given the situation it seems fair to say most Texans fans will take it gladly. T.J. Yates was 6-of-10 with 68 yards and a pick before leaving the game late in the second quarter. 

Running Back: B+

It's been hard to figure out why the coaching staff likes Alfred Blue, but give the guy credit because he had a great game against Indianapolis. Certainly the awful defense of the Colts was a factor, but rushing for over 100 yards on 5.3 yards per carry should be applauded.

The other backs didn't touch the ball much, but Akeem Hunt did show off his speed with a 21-yard gain on a sweep play to convert on fourth down in the first half. 

Wide Receiver: B-

Cecil Shorts didn't catch a pass and Nate Washington had his mandatory couple of drops, but at least DeAndre Hopkins was a factor again after not contributing much against New England.

The Colts secondary had tight coverage on Hopkins for most of the game, but his quarterbacks showed enough faith in him to throw the ball anyway, and he rewarded them with a few big plays.

For the day, Hopkins had eight receptions on 11 targets for 94 yards, which unsurprisingly led the team in each stat.

Rookie Jaelen Strong only had one catch, but he made it count with a 15-yard touchdown reception for the go-ahead score. Strong now has three career receptions against the Colts and all three have gone for touchdowns.

Literally all he does against the Colts is score touchdowns.

Tight Ends: F

Once again this group added nothing positive, instead hurting the team with bad plays and penalties.

Besides the lack of production in the passing game, both Ryan Griffin and C.J. Fiedorowicz killed one Texans possession with two holding calls in the third quarter.

After sacking Matt Hasselbeck at the Indianapolis 1-yard line, the Texans got the ball in Colts territory after a punt and eventually had a 1st-and-10 situation from the Indy 20-yard line.

However, offensive holding calls on both Griffin and Fiedorowicz helped turn that 1st-and-10 into a 3rd-and-21 from the 31-yard line and changed what could have been a touchdown drive into a difficult 46-yard field-goal attempt.

The Texans don't exactly have a high-powered offense, so turning a potential seven-point possession into a tough three points because of holding calls against their tight ends is inexcusable.

Offensive Line: C-

The offensive line allowed three sacks, five hits and many more pressures that had to make the two quarterbacks feel uncomfortable for most of the game.

They blocked well in the running game, as evidenced by the 107-yard performance from Blue, but both Derek Newton and Xavier Su'a-Filo struggled badly in pass protection.

Duane Brown hasn't been called for many holding penalties over the last five years or so since becoming their every-down left tackle and a multiple time Pro Bowler, but he was flagged for holding, which negated a nice run by T.J. Yates on the play where he injured his knee.

Defensive Line: A

It could be argued that the performance from the defensive line won the game. They closed off running lanes and were in the faces of both Hasselbeck and Whitehurst all game long.

The Colts only managed 2.6 yards per carry, with a rushing total of 50, their second-lowest rushing yards total of the season. 

Linebackers: A

The other group that significantly impacted the game would be the linebackers, with big statistical days from several players.

Whitney Mercilus in particular seemed to get fired up and flipped a switch after getting flagged for running into the punter. Mercilus wrecked the Colts' game plan during the second half with one sack and two other hits on the quarterback.

John Simon, who had an awful game against Buffalo, also made a few plays with a sack, two other hits on the quarterback and one tackle for loss.

Jadeveon Clowney lined up as a lineman quite a bit, but regardless of what position he played, he seemed to get the most consistent push into the backfield and disrupt more plays, both run and pass, than any other player on the defense.

Great job by the linebackers in this game.

Defensive Backs: B

The stats look pretty for the defensive backs, but it's hard to say that it was because of them more than the pressure applied by the front seven and the injury issue with Hasselbeck.

The Texans should have played more press coverage, as the Colts' game plan was obviously to focus on the short and quick throws to keep Hasselbeck from getting hit and limit the throws that might be difficult to make with the injury to his ribs.

Early on, that game plan worked for Indianapolis, but eventually the pass rush got home and caused mistakes.

Andre Hal also dropped another interception that extended an early drive, but obviously it wasn't as costly as his drop against Buffalo.

The defensive backs had a solid game, but Hasselbeck being held under 150 yards with a poor completion percentage and quarterback rating probably had more to do with his injury and the Texans pass rush than the play of the secondary.

Special Teams: D

Nick Novak made all his reasonable field-goal attempts and Shane Lechler averaged over 50 yards per punt, but the return teams and return coverage on special teams were awful for the Texans.

Quan Bray of Indianapolis averaged 16 yards per punt return with a long of 33, compared to Keith Mumphery of Houston who averaged just seven yards per punt return with a long of 15.

The long return from Bray didn't lead to any points for the Colts, but he did have another good return of 19 yards that helped set the Colts up with the ball at the Texans 35-yard line and eventually resulted in a field goal to make the lead 10-0.

The more unforgivable sins, though, were the mental mistakes by both Mumphery and Shorts, who both called fair catches on punts inside their own 10-yard line.

Standing at the 10-yard line and letting the ball go if it's over your head is something players learn in grade school, but Shorts failed to do so at both the 7- and 8-yard line, while Mumphery did the same at his own 6-yard line.

That shouldn't happen once, let alone three times in the same game.

Even if the coverage team is in place to down the ball before it bounces into the end zone, saving those five or six yards isn't worth the risk of a fumble that gives your opponent a nearly automatic score.

Coaching: C

This is a feeling that has been expressed many times on here over the last two years, but I don't trust Bill O'Brien with decisions regarding timeouts, challenges or when to be aggressive or conservative on third or fourth down.

Go back through my postgame articles through my profile page for all the examples over the last two seasons, but the mistakes today were glaring.

In the first half, Coach O'Brien decided to send out a 34-year-old kicker they signed midseason as a free agent, whose career long is 53 yards from four years ago, for a 57-yard try—just a baffling decision.

What chance did Novak have to make that kick? Maybe 10 percent or 20 percent at best? Why risk giving the Colts good field position for odds like that?

The Colts didn't take advantage of the good field position with a score, but that mistake by O'Brien still cost his team a lot in terms of field position.

Houston's offense got the ball at their own 8-yard line after a punt by Indianapolis, but it would have likely been close to midfield had it not tried the field goal considering where the Colts would have been punting from.

The other poor decision that stands out was his challenge on whether or not Mercilus got a finger on the ball on a play where he was called for running into the punter.

Whether or not he touched the ball was certainly very close, and they had a lot to gain from a reversal, but the video just didn't show enough to challenge that play. It has to be obvious to get overturned, and that certainly wasn't the case with that play.

If the guys upstairs looking at the play told O'Brien there was enough there to challenge and win, then maybe their jobs should on the line, but it seems more likely that they told him it was close and he decided to gamble.

Regardless, they had no chance to win that challenge, and as a result it just gave away a potentially crucial second-half timeout.

Another thing that was puzzling was the call of a reverse, end-around-type run that had Weeden handing off the football and then blocking.

Maybe Weeden did that instinctively, but him blocking in that situation was as bad a decision as a coach could make, if O'Brien did in fact call a play that included the quarterback blocking.

At the time they had already lost Yates for the game, and as it turns out likely for a long time, so if Weeden had been hurt while blocking, they would have had to bring in Shane Lechler as the emergency quarterback and sign someone else after the game in case Hoyer isn't able to return from injury.

Again, it's hard to say with certainty who made the decision, but seeing quarterbacks at least attempt to block on plays like that is not uncommon, so O'Brien and offensive coordinator George Godsey shouldn't have used that play even if the quarterback blocking wasn't designed.

To end on a high note, credit should be given to O'Brien for playing the odds and doing the smart thing by playing for a field goal near the end of the game. Some fans on Twitter thought they should have passed the ball instead of running on third down, but that would have been a huge mistake.

The Colts hadn't moved the ball all day, with only 190 total yards, and were playing an injured quarterback, so running the ball to kill clock before a field goal was the correct strategy.

Getting to the two-minute warning with a run and then kicking the field goal forced Indianapolis to have to go the full distance of the field with less than two minutes and no timeouts, on the back of a limited quarterback and against a hot defense.

Why in the world would you rather pass the ball with Weeden and risk an interception over that scenario?

Thankfully, O'Brien played the situation correctly, because passing on that play would have been crazy.

Colts Held to Their Lowest Total Yards Number of the Season

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The Indianapolis offense had been struggling for awhile with its quarterback situation playing a big factor, but it hit a new low against the Texans this week.

Their previous low for total yards this year came against Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago when the Steelers held them to 240 yards, but the Colts only managed to gain 190 against the Texans in this game. 

"

#Texans defense in 2nd half: held Colts to 72 yds, 1-6 on 3rd down, forced 2 turnovers, pitched shutout.

— Adam Wexler (@awexler) December 20, 2015"

Before this game, the Colts hadn't been held to fewer than 200 total yards since the 2011 season when Peyton Manning missed the entire year. The Colts lost that game, too, a 24-10 defeat in Week 14 to the Baltimore Ravens.

T.J. Yates Done for the Season

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The injury to T.J. Yates that forced him out of this game is believed to be serious and, according to multiple reports, is feared to be a torn ACL, which would obviously end his season. 

"

T.J. Yates on knee injury 'it doesn't look good' said MRI tomorrow will determine severity of knee injury believed to be torn ACL

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 20, 2015"

Yates is the third quarterback to receive at least two starts for the Texans this season, and if Hoyer doesn't clear the concussion protocol, Weeden might get the opportunity to make it four. 

"

Brian Hoyer still under the concussion protocol, but "feeling good," improving outlook, per sources, more testing this week

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) December 20, 2015"

The Texans will likely be favored in their final two games even if Weeden starts, but getting Hoyer back on the field will be the biggest thing to watch going forward.

Neither Tennessee nor Jacksonville is even an average team and the Texans defense is playing well, but the confidence level of Houston fans would no doubt be higher with Hoyer playing instead of Weeden. 

J.J. Watt Glad to Have the Indianapolis Monkey off the Team's Back

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Just like the fans, coaches and everyone around this Texans team, J.J. Watt is glad he won't have to hear the talk of never having won in Indianapolis again after their 16-10 win. 

"

"Just good to have that off our back, sick of hearing about that every year," @JJWatt on #Texans getting 1st win at Indy (now 1-13 all-time)

— Adam Wexler (@awexler) December 20, 2015"

There were numerous times in the past, like in 2011, when it could be argued that the Texans should have won, but odd things always seemed to happen even when Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck didn't kill them through the air.

The streak is over; long live the Texans!

Follow me on Twitter for more news and opinion on the Texans: @sackedbybmac