Colts quarterback Peyton Manning throws a 6-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark in the fourth quarter Sunday against the Texans in Houston. The Colts overcame a fourth-quarter deficit for the fifth game in a row.
Someone better perform the Heimlich maneuver on the Houston Texans. The team that finally was supposed to get over the hump, improve from the mediocrity of 8-8, choked away Sunday’s game at Reliant Stadium along with, in all likelihood, their season.
Houston blew leads of 17 and 13 points to fall to the very short-handed Indianapolis Colts, 35-27. The Texans have now lost three straight games since going two games over .500 at 5-3. They held second-quarter leads in all of those pivotal divisional contests.
At 5-6 and 1-4 in the AFC South, resuscitation seems implausible. The Texans likely will have to win their final five games to even sniff a chance at the playoffs. And even then they’ll have to overcome a 4-5 conference record, the postseason tiebreaker among AFC teams.
“Disappointed,” Houston coach Gary Kubiak said. “We lost a big football game, and we just played very poorly in the second half. So, just very disappointed.”
The Texans came out on fire, taking out two weeks of frustration on the Colts. They bolted to a 14-0 lead with scores on their first two possessions. For the moment, they looked like a good team, better than the 8-8 teams of 2007 and 2008.
But it was a tease, and the real Texans showed up. The choking began early in the second quarter. It started innocuously but slowly ballooned into the big elephant in front of a sellout home crowd.
Brian Cushing intercepted Peyton Manning’s pass, and all seemed well. He returned the ball to the Colts’ 10, but an unnecessary roughness penalty moved the Texans back to the Indianapolis 40.
Houston did manage to get down to the 12, but a false start set up a third-and-10. Then Andre Johnson dropped a rare pass in the end zone, and the Texans settled for a field goal and a 17-0 lead.
The fall from grace officially was under way as Peyton Manning guided the Colts to a touchdown. Matt Schaub and the Texans appeared to have an answer but couldn’t convert on a third-and-1. The play call — a low-percentage fade to Johnson in double coverage — turned several heads.
It led to another field goal and secured another collapse.
“We settled for a couple field goals when I think we should have been able to put sevens on the board,” Schaub said. “I think that kept the score closer than it could have been at halftime.”
The Texans ran a mere seven plays in the third quarter. Their first five second-half possessions went: interception, punt, punt, interception, fumble. The last two turned into Indianapolis points, including Clint Sessions’ interception return for a touchdown.
Houston committed six penalties for 89 yards in the final two quarters. The Texans didn’t score until 18 seconds left, down double digits, with the game already decided. This was after scoring 20 points in the first half.
“It’s frustrating,” Schaub said. “Everything was right there for us.”
The Colts, arguably the NFL’s best team at 11-0, have made a lot of teams choke. They have now won five straight games when trailing in the fourth quarter.
But this wasn’t exactly a full-strength Indianapolis team. The Colts were without Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sander and sack-leader Dwight Freeney. They also started two rookie cornerbacks.
There’s a reason the Texans gained 397 yards on offense. They just choked it all away when it mattered most.
Good teams take advantage of weaknesses. Good teams don’t turn the ball over three times in the second half or commit 10 penalties for a whopping 129 yards. Good teams win division games at home. Good teams don’t choke.
