Day of Infamy

I was really looking forward to this season. The Texans looked to be turning the corner last year, I got a new Andre Johnson jersey for Christmas, I got the NFL Sunday Ticket, I got a great fantasy team, I got a brand new grill. Everything was optimistic. Then Sunday happened. I haven't felt like that since Jan. 3, 1993(Oilers-Bills playoff game).

One minute I'm texting my friend, who's a Cowboys season ticket holder and a Steve Slaton owner in our fantasy league, that Slaton had just scored again and the Texans are "drilling the Colts 27-10." He was already on his way to Texas Stadium, so the next minute I'm telling him Rosenfels just fumbled the ball twice and the Colts won 31-27.

I am convinced that this is all happening for a reason. Every bad scenario possible is happening in one season to Gary Kubiak so he knows for the rest of his career what to do and, more importantly, what not to do during the course of a game. As painful as it is -- you learn.

My senior year in high school, we were the No. 1 team in Houston and we were leading our second-round playoff game 3-0 with about a minute-and-a-half left in the fourth quarter. The opposing team had negative total yards for the game and I think one first down. Our defense was awesome. We had an all-city punter. It was third and long from their 35, we just needed to take a knee or run two QB keepers -- our QB was a great dual threat. He rushed and threw for 1,000 yards. What do we do? We run a toss, our running back never catches the ball and it's picked up by a linebacker and returned for a 73-yard touchdown. We lost 7-3.

I went to Baylor, and in 1999 the Bears led UNLV 24-21 in the final seconds. Baylor had the ball at the UNLV 8 and then-head coach Kevin Steele wanted to "create an attitude" or "make a statement" by punching it in for one more score. Well, Darrell Bush fumbled the ball at the 1 and the Rebels returned it for a 99-yard touchdown and the clock expired during the return. The statement or attitute you created: it defined your coaching career and Baylor football for the past 14 years.

I'm not a head coach, so those events don't help anyone. It's just painful to watch your favorite team put themselves in a position to lose. You can see what's coming and there's nothing you can do about it. Give yourself the best chance to win. Give the ball to your running back and get out of the way. Make the other team use all three of its timeouts. After the Texans recovered the onside kick, the game should have been over. Run (Colts timeout), Run (Colts timeout), Run (Colts Timeout), Punt. Run, Run, Run, Punt. Peyton Manning is awesome, but even he shouldn't have been able to have time to drive for three scores in the last 4:04.

The Texans got the ball back at the Colts 42 with 4:03 left. They should've had 4th-and-2 at the 34 with around 3:56 left. Punt. Worst case, Colts get the ball at the 20 with 3:50 left. Let's say Manning hits Reggie Wayne for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play. The Texans still get the ball back after another failed onside kick with about 3:30 left. And the Colts already used their timeouts on the last drive! Run. 2:50 left. Run. 2:10 left. Run. Two-minute warning. Punt. Worst case: Colts get the ball at the Colts 20 with about 1:45 left and no timeouts. That's the absolute worst case scenario. Because Kubiak panicked, Rosenfels was put in a place to choke. They share equal blame. The ball should never have been in his hands.

All that to say, I will remember yesterday's game for the rest of my life. The day we should have turned around and salvaged a respectable season. What could have been 9-7 or 8-8 is probably more realistically 6-10 or (gasp) 5-11. Here's to another high draft pick. Hope they can find a guy who can make an impact on defense. Probably need another good linebacker. We've already invested too much in the line and we'll have a decent secondary when Dunta Robinson returns.