I knew this could happen. Short week, Indy flying high off its first win of the year, Texans at a low point after snapping a 7 game win streak, having already clinched the division, traveling on a short week to a hostile environment where they've never won in 10 tries...let's just say I put my money where my mouth was and I'm pretty happy about this outcome.
Since this is a Yates thread I'll comment on Yates. What I'll say is, 13 of 16 for 132 yards, 8.3 yards per attempt, on interceptions...he wasn't bad. I don't see criticism there. Save the criticism for the coaching staff. They played a "bad team" game plan today and it back fired on them. When you're playing a bad team you figure that you're better at executing than they are, and so all you have to do is execute normal, conservative plays...and eventually you'll win the game because the other team can't execute. The Texans had no desire to call anything that could have opened the offense up. I don't know how much of that you blame on Yates. The coaching staff is calling games like they just can't wait for Andre Johnson to come back healthy. That's the reality of the situation.
And that defensive meltdown on the final drive...you've gotta get hold of your players if you're Gary Kubiak. Unlike Mike Mayock, I thought ALL of the calls on that drive were justified, even the one where Watt dropped Orlovsky at his feet. The Texans are going to ask for that penalty to be reviewed and the review is going to come back saying it was a justified call because Watt grabbed onto Orlovsky's feet while he was on the ground and continued to put pressure on his legs even after the throw, trying to bring him down. You can get cute with camera angles and try and claim Watt was blocked into the legs, yadda yadda yadda, but at that moment when Watt had his legs and Orlovsky had thrown the ball, Watt was still trying to bring him down by the legs. He committed a violation and he was called for it. The other calls were spot on as well and they gave the Colts the game.
Next week the Texans get Andre Johnson back, and they'll have had a nice long week to get some install in there and work on some more advanced passing with Yates, work on opening some things up. Expect them to come at the Titans with a fresh approach, a more aggressive game plan, and to start executing how they expect to execute in the playoffs.
