Red Zone Play: For the Houston Texans, A Win Is A Win, Right?

The first half of last weekend’s game went just like you would have expected coming into the 2018 season. Houston, clearly the superior team when it comes to roster talent, dominated the Indianapolis Colts. Sure, T.Y. Hilton and Andrew Luck looked scary from time to time, but seeing Jadeveon Clowney make it around the left tackle to recover a botched snap faster than Luck could get to a ball a foot in front of him was exactly the sort of dominance we all expected from the Texans’ defense.

Sure, the offensive line still did its best impersonation of an elite set of traffic cones, but Nick Martin bulldozed some Colts, Deshaun Watson slipped his way through tackles, and Houston looked like it had finally found a way to win. J.J. Watt and Clowney showed us what those two could do when both were firing on all cylinders. It was time to get excited.

Then halftime came, and once again, we witnessed Houston’s inability to make halftime adjustments at a pro level. While Deshaun Watson did manage to get a touchdown in the final three quarters of play (including overtime), it was yet another appearance of the All-Field Goal Offense ™ that saved the day.

Is it wrong to feel that celebrating this win just feels cheap?

The Texans faced what might arguably be the weakest opponent on a weak schedule and had to go into overtime to win on the leg of Ka’imi Fairbairn after trading field goals with the Colts. To make it worse, if overtime still worked in the old sudden-death manner, the folks in Indy would be celebrating a win right now.

To borrow a phrase, it’s like backing into a W.

For the amount of money fans are expected to shell out to buy tickets, pay for parking, spend on overpriced concessions and drastically marked up merchandise ($40 for a tee shirt that costs $4 to print, anyone?), and everything else that comes with being a fan of the Houston Texans, we deserve better than what’s being put on the field. Players like Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, Will Fuller V, J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Tyrann Mathieu deserve better than the game management we’ve seen over the course of the Bill O’Brien era.

Maybe we’re just expected to be happy Houston finally won a game. Maybe we should get excited that Bill O’Brien staved off going 1-13 to elevate the team to 2-12 over the last 14 games. Maybe we should raise a toast to the slight spark of hope that we haven’t watched J.J. Watt’s career—you know, the guy who is arguably the best defensive lineman in NFL history—get flushed down the toilet. I suppose we should also cheer that we’re not seeing the same thing happen to Deshaun Watson.

A Houston Texans win is a win, right?

What do you think? Did this one give you all the feelz? Are you rushing out to Academy or the Texans’ team store to buy your new jersey, jacket, or other piece of memorabilia to celebrate the new one game winning streak?

Let us know your take in the comments section.