The Houston Texans had a 22-9 lead over the New England Patriots following quarterback Davis Mills throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to receiver Chris Conley.
The rookie executed a flea flicker and NRG Stadium was rocking as the Texans were on track to snap their three-game losing streak. The third-rounder from Stanford was also on his way to get his first career win.
For Texans safety Justin Reid, that was the moment where the tenor of the game changed.
““After we capitalized on the flea flicker, I felt like after that on both sides of the ball, we just didn’t make the plays we were making the first three quarters in the game,” Reid said.
The Patriots scored 16 unanswered points, including a 21-yard field goal from Nick Folk that gave New England a 25-22 lead with 15 seconds to go.
The Texans weren’t able to pull it out, and fall to 1-4 on the year.
“This one hurt a lot,” said Reid. “The game was right there. We had control of the game and we let it slip through our fingertips. Couple unfortunate plays, couple plays that they made, and credit to them to go and close the game out. Just wish we could have some of them back. You always do whenever games end the way they do like that.”
In order to get off the schneid, Reid knows the Texans will have to find ways to complete the process in the fourth quarter.
Said Reid: “For us to go forward and be the team that we want to be, we’ve got to start capitalizing in the fourth quarter, and start playing our best ball in the fourth quarter in order to finish opponents off, and not let events like today happen.”
The Texans have a chance to snap the losing streak in Week 6 as they visit the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.