All football games have context. The context for this game blew up when the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Tennessee Titans 41-7 to clinch the AFC South division. A very sarcastic thank you to the folks
from Possum Holler for showing up and playing a competitive football game there. It’s good to know they weren’t phoning it in (eye roll). At any rate, the Texans clearly were not trying their best because of those results, so it is hard to reach any conclusions from this game individually.
However, we always look at the numbers because the numbers themselves can tell us a great deal about winning and losing in general. Over the course of 17 games we will see patterns from the Texans specifically and from teams that win and lose. Afterwards, we will look at the great, good, and bad as we always do in Texans victories.
The Numbers
- Total Yards: Texans 64/339, Colts 64/354
- Rushing Yards: Texans 32/134, Colts 28/76
- Passing Yards: Texans 32/205, Colts 36/282
- Third Downs: Texans 4/13, Colts 8/15
- Fourth Down: Texans 0/0, Colts 1/1
- Sacks: Texans 1, Colts 0
- Turnovers: Texans 0, Colts 3
- Penalties: Texans 7/77, Colts 7/81
- Time of Possession: Texans 28:15, Colts 31:45
For the third week in a row, the officials played a major role in the game. Perhaps, with an officials’ labor contract looming, they felt they needed to make their presence known. In this case, they tossed Alec Pierce from the game for bumping the back judge. Technically, he did make contact with the official, but he did not intend to bump him and the ejection is one of the weakest calls I have seen in years. The Texans had no answer for Pierce throughout the day, so his ejection did more to slow down the Colts offense than anything the Texans backups were doing.
Obviously, that is a little bit of commentary in a feature that should be about the numbers. The numbers have shown what they have shown all season. The key to winning football games is winning the turnover battle. Take away those turnovers and the Colts win the game and win it easily. The strip sack in the first half led directly to an easy touchdown and the interception in the second half led to a field goal. Throw in a meaningless touchdown at the end and the Texans defense was responsible for 16 of the team’s 38 points.
The Great
Give DeMeco Ryans and his staff some credit. Trying to win a football game while resting key players is a tightrope that most teams are unable to manage. It is a difficult decision as well. Regardless of wins and losses, you want to feel like you have momentum going into the playoffs. I’m not sure if the Texans can feel great about the win, but they have had numerous games in this nine game winning streak that didn’t feel fantastic. So, in a lot ways this game was not much different than most of the games in the nine game winning streak.
If you want to chalk this game to anything it is a game won by culture. Ryans has set up a culture of winning he calls SWARM. The next man up philosophy has its limitations. You cannot rest as many guys as the Texans did without feeling some effects. The defense was not nearly as crisp and the offense was not quite as explosive. Still, winning football is about making plays when you need to make them and the Texans had enough guys make enough plays to win the football game.
The playoffs bring all kinds of cliches’ and the biggest one is that every team starts 0-0. Everyone in the playoffs is good and everyone in the playoffs got there because they had players make key plays when they needed them most. So, this game means little for us, but the continued confidence of playing winning football can only help as the real season begins.
The Good
When you are a playoff team, you usually have good starters. The Texans may not have Pro Bowl players at every position, but just about every starter is solid. No team has quality backups at every position. The salary cap won’t allow it and even if there were no cap, it is very difficult to be two deep at every single position. These kinds of games reveal that in ways big and small. On the positive end, players like Xavier Hutchinson and British Brooks weren’t supposed to play huge roles this season and they didn’t in most games. They were huge in today’s game and exist as quality depth for the future.
On the negative end, Nick Caserio and Ryans likely discovered that they need depth in the secondary. Riley Leonard beat the Texans repeatedly. Some of those were good plays, but most of them were just blown coverages. Obviously, the game serves as vital experience for those players who will hopefully do better next time. It will also serve as valuable information when we get to February and the team is beginning the process of building their 2026 roster.
The Bad
Given that this was a game for the backups, there is no single player or facet I want to harp on. So, this is more of a commentary surrounding those that follow the team. The Davis Mills mafia needs to retire. Since C.J. Stroud retook the reigns they have been squawking about Mills being the better quarterback. Every Stroud hiccup is followed up by another longwinded rant on social media and the internet. It is getting tiresome and the performance today from both should be enough to put that issue to bed.
Maybe Mills makes it someday as a starting quarterback somewhere. That place should not be Houston. Personally, I have seen enough of Mills to know exactly what he is. He is a guy that can play a few games a season and keep the season from going in the crapper. Those guys are valuable, but we shouldn’t mistake them with starting quarterbacks. They also are not incredibly rare. Mac Jones did the same thing in San Francisco. Cooper Rush did the same thing when he was in Dallas. Gardner Minshew has done that in multiple locations. The Colts own Riley Leonard looks like one of those quarterbacks too.
None of those quarterbacks is a legitimate starter for a playoff team. What’s more, most of them know that. I suspect Mills does too. He can continue to go to the stadium and can keep getting paid to do it. He can probably do it for the next ten years if he wants to. I salute him for finding himself and developing into a quality backup. Not everyone can do that. Let’s just not make the mistake of thinking he is more than that.
