One of the biggest what-ifs from the 2020 Houston Texans season will be rooted in the last offensive play of Week 13 against the Indianapolis Colts.
On Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium, with 1:22 to go in the game, the Texans had second-and-goal from the 4-yard line. They forced the Colts to use all of their timeouts. The game was the Texans’ to win or lose.
Instead, a botched shotgun snap from center Nick Martin went to the left of quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was unable to recover. Colts linebacker Anthony Walker did, and the Texans fell to 4-8 with the loss.
“I just knew we were going to score and that we were going to win the game,” interim coach Romeo Crennel told reporters Monday. “Then, boom, that mishap occurs, and we can’t get on the ball and they do, and you lose the game. That’s a tough way to lose the game.”
Crennel believes that if the snap were to have been low and to the right, Watson would have had a chance to recover the football and give Houston two more cracks at the end zone.
“I think the difference was that it was to his left side instead of to his right side,” said Crennel. “If it had been to his right side, I think he would’ve been able to handle it. But because it was to his left side, he had to go across his body to try to handle it across his body. He couldn’t get the handle on it.”
It would have also worked because Martin’s blocking assignment stunted and went to the left of the center, coincidentally putting him in the path of the loose ball.
Said Crennel: “After he snapped the ball, he tried to get to the right and then the guy stunted to his left, which put the guy right into the backfield. If the snap was better and we handled the ball, then he would be able to get his job done that he was supposed to do on that particular play. As it turned out, the guy stunting inside, the ball being on the ground, we were unable to get to it but the guy who stunted got to the ball.”
Houston has to recover from the loss quickly and get ready for the Chicago Bears, who they face Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Solider Field.