HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) - The Texans had scored on three of their previous four drives and linebacker Christian Kirksey had just pounced on a Matt Ryan fumble.
After Davis Mills connected with O.J. Howard on a 22-yard touchdown pass, the Texans had a commanding 20-3 lead with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter.
"He made some big time plays this afternoon, and I think we have a ton of guys across the field that we can utilize in every situation," Mills said of Howard. "Having him as an addition is going to help a lot of that."
Momentum was building.
The defense had supplied a spark to a Texans offense that looked creative, well organized, disciplined and looked to be getting into somewhat of a rhythm.
Yet, that same defense that had just forced three Colt’s turnovers, including a turnover on downs in which Jonathan Greenard came up with a huge tackle for loss inside the Texans own 5 yard line was about to break.
The Texans were out scored 17-0 the final 10:44 of the game, while the Colts stifled the Texans offense, holding them to just 54 yards of total offense in 26 plays.
The momentum changing play came on an EJ Speed blitz.
"You just felt the momentum change after that play," Mills said.
Left tackle Laremy Tunsil said he’d have to watch film to see what happened on that sack fumble created by Speed, but said Sunday's 20-20 tie feels like anything besides a win.
The Colts linebacker blew past an unflinching Tunsil and blasted Davis Mills from the blind side, causing him to lose the football which was recovered by Colts defensive lineman DeForest Buckner.
“It’s better than an L, we’ll take the tie, it’s better than an L but you still feel defeated,” Tunsil said.
Veteran receiver Brandon Cooks, who finished the game with 82 yards on seven catches, said it’s hard to accept a tie after playing good enough to win much of the game.
"The facts are the offense had plenty of chances to be able to not have to do that and we didn't capitalize, and we've just got to be better," Cooks said.
The Texans had opportunities throughout the game to step on the throat, even while the Colts began to eat into the Texans' lead.
Tied at 20 in overtime, the Texans faced a third down and one with 40 seconds left on the clock and opted to run the ball with Rex Burkhead, who took a two yard loss, setting up a fourth down and three.
Head coach Lovie Smith opted to punt from the Colts 49 yard line instead of going for it and stood by his decision.
"On the third-down play before the fourth-down play we had, the plan wasn't to lose yards on that, and I made a decision on 4th-and-3," Smith said. "And there's a lot of football left going into the season. It's kind of simple as that. I felt like a tie was better than a potential loss. Defensively, we weren't really stopping them an awful lot there at the end."
Texans defensive end Jonathan Greenard told reporters after the game that despite them being underdogs coming into the game, the result felt like anything but a win.
"It sucks," Greenard said. "A tie is not a win for us. We’re going to keep working. We’re thankful that we obviously didn’t get the L in the stat book, but it doesn’t help me so I’d take that as a personal L."
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
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