Colts 26, Texans 20
5 observations from the Texans brutal 26-20 loss to the Colts
Dec 6, 2020, 3:20 pm
Photo by Getty Images
The Indianapolis Colts extended the Texans 2020 woes with a 26-20 victory at NRG stadium. Five observations from the game:
1) Deshaun Watson's day was a microcosm of the season. In the first half, Watson was terrific, leading the Texans to 20 points. But the second half was a different story. The Houston defense adjusted and slowed Indy down, but the Colts did the same thing to Watson. He threw his first interception in 237 attempts and his first since Week 5 in the second half. To be fair, it was a hell of a defensive play by the Colts, and not really a bad pass by Watson. But he was also sacked for a safety and fumbled the ball on a sack that was recovered by the offense. He led them into scoring position with a chance to win the game late, but center Nick Martin had a horrible snap that led to a game ending fumble. And Martin isn't even the worst of the overpaid players. More on that later.
2) Another O'Brien reject shines. O'Brien basically gave up on Keke Coutee. Pressed into service with Will Fuller suspended, Coutee had his second career 100-yard game, with 141 on eight catches. He should be a part of this offense moving forward. As this team remakes itself in the off-season, Coutee could be a key factor. Practice squad player Chad Hansen had a nice game as well. with five catches for 101 yards.
3) About that running game...David Johnson returned and had 44 yards on 10 carries, which sadly is one of his better games of the season. The Texans have to find a way to upgrade this position in the off-season. The good news is quality running backs can be found in the mid to later rounds of the draft. They should not be paying either David or Duke Johnson what they are getting for this lack of production.
4) Bradley Roby was missed on the defense. I wrote earlier in the week the Texans would miss Bradley Roby more than Will Fuller. The secondary simply could not match up with the Colts receivers in the first half. The Texans have very little depth at the position, and it showed with Roby out as Phillip Rivers torched them early. The Texans made some adjustments in the second half, which slowed the Colts down (of course, the Colts defense did the same against the Texans offense). Still, the Houston defense did enough in the second half to win the game, including a huge fourth-down stop inside their own 10-yard line. It was a big play by Tyrell Adams, who continues to show he can be a big part of the future as well. The Colts only points of the second half came on the Watson safety. Unfortunately that was two more than the Texans could muster.
5) Remember when Whitney Mercilus was a decent NFL player? It's definitely tough to recall, because he was absolutely useless again on Sunday. The only time his name got mentioned was when he being blocked out of a play. Of the overpaid Texans, Mercilus might be the most useless of all.
The bottom line: This was a tough loss, and the Texans had their chances to win it. But the awful fumble was a killer, and the Texans fall to 4-8.
How 3 major x-factors could tip the scales in Texans-Colts: Week 1
Sep 5, 2024, 7:27 pm
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.