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NFL Round Up With Kurt Eckert

Houston Collapse Historic

By Kurt Eckert
10/6/2008

A tragic play may one day be written entitled "What Houston Did." Less poetically, but more apt, would be "Sage not Sage at Protecting the Ball."

The sins of backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels were quickly punished by the wrath of the football gods after he fumbled not once, but twice in the final four minutes of a week 5 skirmish with Indianapolis.

His Texans lost to the Indianapolis Colts 31-27 after leading 27-10 with less than five minutes to go, one of the biggest collapses in NFL history.

In their 2008 home debut, the Texans were able to shred the Indianapolis Colt's defense for 3 3/4 quarters. They kept the Indianapolis attack in check by limiting its time of possession and playing a solid field position game.

Indianapolis scored to make it 27-17 with just over four minutes to go and attempted an onside kick, which failed.

Then the wheels came off.

Inexplicably, a scrambling Rosenfels elected to go airborne when confronted by two Indianapolis defenders, leaving the football very vulnerable. He wasn't even that close to a first down. A punt would have been much better.

Inevitably, the ball came loose, and was returned 68 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Gary Brackett. Now it's 27-24 with just over two minutes left. Another failed onside kick.

Forget that Rosenfels should have just hit the dirt on the previous drive, instead of diving for extra yards.

He gets a second chance to run out the clock. But with just over a minute left, he's looking downfield for a receiver when an Indianapolis lineman sneaks up and knocks the ball out of his hand. Indianapolis recovers.

Again, when Rosenfels should have been paying the most attention to protecting the ball, he wasn't. The Sage thing to do would be to cradle the ball like a newborn, drop to the turf of Reliant Stadium in the fetal position, punt and trust the defense to protect a long field.

Leaving Peyton Manning with a short distance to the end zone with his army of sure-handed receivers led to a Texas style shooting.

The shooting of the Texans' own foot.

Manning hit Reggie Wayne in the back of the end zone, and Rosenfels desperation heave on the ensuing possession was intercepted.

Houston drops to 0-4, and lost the opportunity to share last place with the Colts, now 2-2.

The win might have been the very potion the Texans needed to turn their season around.

Shakespeare couldn't have written a tragedy any better.

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