Quiet reflection was needed.
I have let almost a week go by before writing my report from the Houston Texans Divisional Round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs – being the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions – were going to be heavily favoured in this game and with good reason.
As underwhelming as the Chiefs have been compared to recent seasons they still finished this year the number one seed and held home field advantage.
The Texans came into this game off the back of a very impressive defensive display against the LA Chargers. It was one that would need to be repeated if they fancied standing a chance in this one.
In fact they would have had to play a near perfect game in all three phases to stand a chance.
Trouble from the get go
The game did not start that way. From the opening kickoff, what has been a brilliant Texans special teams unit gave up a 63-yard return which fired the home crowd up.
Things almost worked out well for the Texans as Kris Boyd punched the ball out, but was swiftly recovered by the Chiefs.
If this field position was not good enough, in his excitement Boyd removed his helmet to celebrate which drew the Texans first flag of the day. It led to some inflammatory footage from the sideline as Boyd was seen to shove his coach Frank Ross two handedly in the chest as words were exchanged.
The Texans defense held strong though, giving up only a field goal. The Texans fired back with a field goal of their own and in the early exchanges looked to be standing their ground.
The next drive saw the Chiefs again put up three, although through controversial circumstances with a soft – at best – roughing the passer penalty called against Will Anderson Jr. on Patrick Mahomes. This penalty kept the drive alive as the Chiefs were in a third and long situation.
This call was not the last to draw ire from the Texans and the media at large.
Later in the game a very late slide from Mahomes drew a unnecessary roughness call. It again moved the ball for free for the Chiefs and led to their second touchdown of the game.
That score came in response to what might have been the Texans best offensive drive of the season. CJ Stroud led an 82-yard drive which took more than 10 minutes off the clock. It comprised of a balance of pass and run and was finished off by Joe Mixon high stepping into the endzone.
Simply not good enough
Ultimately, however, the game ended disappointingly for the Texans. Even with controversial refereeing decisions it was ultimately the Texans failings that led to the defeat.
The offensive line play was as bad as it has been, allowing eight sacks on the day. Special teams licker Ka’imi Fairbairn missed what equated to seven points, which you just cannot do in such big games.
The defense, as good as it was, still allowed Travis Kelce the room to exploit them on large gains down field – the longest being a 49 yard catch and run. Kelce also capped off a Chiefs drive with a touchdown.
The scoreline was flattered at the end as the Chiefs took a safety to run some time off the clock. The game ultimately finishing 23-14 to the Chiefs.
So the season is over and the work remains.
On another day this game was there for the taking, but time for the Texans to get back in the lab, sort what is broken and come back stronger.
