With 1:50 left in the game, up 36-29, Houston Texans interim coach Romeo Crennel decided to go for the two-point conversion to make it a two-score game rather than kick the extra point against the Tennessee Titans.
An extra point would have made it 37-29, and the Titans would have been tasked to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to send the game to overtime. Instead, it only took a 7-yard A.J. Brown touchdown catch and a Stephen Gostkowski extra point.
With almost 24 hours to think it over, Crennel says he would do it all over again, even though the sequence led to the Titans tying the game, going to overtime, and beating the Texans with a 5-yard Derrick Henry touchdown run that sent Houston to a dismal 1-5.
“I think I would do it again because you know what, you’re on the road against a division opponent who is undefeated, and if you can get a two-point conversion, you shut the door on them and you win the game,” Crennel said. “I think that when you have that opportunity, if you want to win the game, you go ahead and you try it at that time.”
Part of the reason was because of how exemplary quarterback Deshaun Watson had been playing to that point. The two-time Pro Bowler was 28 of 37 passing for 335 yards and four touchdowns. The touchdown that setup Houston for the point-after decision was a 1-yard touchdown pass from Watson to Brandin Cooks on fourth-and-goal.
“It had a lot of to do with it,” said Crennel. “The offense, second half they came out and they were moving the ball and we got ahead in the game. We were making plays. Then we were down there close, so, I felt like we had a great opportunity to put the game away if we could get that two-point conversion.”
An element that hasn’t been mentioned is kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn missing an extra point with 4:43 in the third quarter that would given Houston a 24-21 lead. Perhaps the tenor of the game changes as then the Titans kick a convention point-after to take a 28-24 lead upon Henry’s 94-yard touchdown run.
When Houston scored with receiver Will Fuller catching a 53-yard touchdown pass, it would have been 31-28. The final Cooks touchdown would have made it 38-28 Texans with 1:50 to play, the two-score situation Crennel was trying to foist upon Tennessee, who had one timeout remaining.
“We had a guy open,” Crenne said of Watson’s two-point throw intended for Randall Cobb that defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons tipped. “Unfortunately, the ball got tipped and we didn’t make it. Then, they were able to put it into overtime, they got the coin flip and then they win the game.
“I would do it again because I think it was a good choice.”
At 1-5, the Texans will have to make similar gambles as they seek to keep their postseason hopes alive.