Bill O'Brien Shows his Coaching Ineptitude Yet Again
What a performance, or rather lack thereof, by one of the most fraudulent 11-5 teams in NFL history, the Houston Texans. I haven’t seen an 11-5 team this unimpressive since the Chiefs in 2013, who started the year off with a 9-0 record as they bullied the punching bags of the league, and then lost 5 of their last seven games to finish 11-5. That Chiefs team lost in the first round to (guess who?), the Colts. So you could say Andrew Luck has experience in defeating frauds like Houston.
Pregame: I thought the key for the Colts to win was their offensive lines’ ability to create holes for Marlon Mack, and boy did they do just that. The O-line for the Colts won this game. They lived up to all the hype around them and more. This was a Texans defense which did not allow a rusher to get over 100 yards all year. I don’t care who you’re playing to do that again NFL caliber O-lines is an accomplishment.
But the Colts defense had many lucky breaks throughout the game. Their Tampa 2 defense allowed the Texans to checkdown to the redzone many times, but the lack of execution on fourth down plays eventually led to their downfall. The defense halted the Texans on the goal line again and again and the Texans only touchdown of the game was a question mark as well. I believe that receiver Keke Coutee fumbled the ball before crossing the plain, resulting in a touchback. Although this ultimately didn’t affect the outcome of the game, it still shows that the Texans couldn’t even score without being on watch for mistakes.
The player of the game however had to be Pierre Desir. The Cornerback was covering Deandre Hopkins all night and did a fabulous job of doing so. Deandre Hopkins was shut down at wide receiver, dropping his first passes all year. He was a complete non-factor going for only five receptions for 37 yards. This guy was straight up dominant in the regular season, and Pierre shut him down.
The Colts will have to face the Chiefs next week, and I’d take the Colts in this game. A white hot team either destroys everything in its path or burns everything around it, and I believe Frank Reich will guide his team to a conference championship berth and a rematch of the game that birthed deflategate.
As for the Texans, they have missed their window with the defense they have. They have many aging pieces that I expect to crumble next year. Long time linebacker Whitney Mercilus is a shell of his former self and other key pieces will shrivel away as he has.
Bill O’Brien needs to be let go as well, to not do anything with that good of a defense with this many years. He will suffer the same fate as Mike Mularkey, but he won't get the honor of losing to the greatest player to ever play the game, Tom Brady.
