INDIANAPOLIS – It was a rough, confusing and disorganized ending to the Texans’ series to close out the first half that should have resulted in a chance for kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn to knock in a field goal or have quarterback C.J. Stroud take a deep shot at the end zone.
Instead, the officials mixed up the sequence and left everyone scratching their heads about what transpired during the Texans’ 29-27 road win at Lucas Oil Stadium.
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When Stroud completed a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Nico Collins down to the Colts’ 38-yard line with 18 seconds left, they called their third and final timeout. Although they initially ruled the ensuing play a seven-yard catch despite tight end Dalton chultz bobbling the football on the way to the ground, the instant replay review nullified a chance for a clock-stopping spike. The catch was upheld. Initially, the officials messed up and had the game clock operator put 15 seconds left on the clock, more than enough time for the Texans to run a play and then send the field goal team onto the field.
Instead, referee John Hussey apologized on his microphone and said that there were just five seconds to play. Because the clock started on the official’s mark, the five seconds evaporated as Stroud lined up in the shotgun and threw an incompletion in the direction of wide receiver Tank Dell as time expired and took a 12-7 lead into halftime. A listed timeout from the Colts was not observed.
A pool report with NFL senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell gave an explanation that the issue was with the Texans, which both coach DeMeco Ryans and Stroud accepted responsibility for.
Fewell said Stroud was told the clock was going to start.
“That was communicated to the quarterback that, ‘Hey, there are five seconds on the clock and the ball will start on the ready,’” Fewell said.
What prompted the review and the runoff of 10 seconds?
“We needed to confirm that it was a catch, number one,” Fewell said. “After that, we had to get the admin of the play correct. And, so, from the admin standpoint, the referee was told that the clock was to be set at 15 seconds.
Why wasn’t it set at 15 seconds? What happened to the 10 missing seconds?
“That’s correct,” Fewell said. ‘So, it would only have been set to 15 seconds if we were reversing the call. We didn’t reverse the call. And, so, then we corrected the admin and the clock to five seconds.”
The Texans ultimately won the game, so there’s nothing for them to be salty about. If they hadn’t prevailed, this would likely have been a bigger deal.
“Week 1, everybody’s rusty,” Stroud said. “So, I’m rusty. We are rusty as a whole. I think the officials told us one thing, but we got another. It’s up to us to really make the situation. My job, I’ve got to be better right there. That’s something we can definitely learn from. I don’t think that it’s the end of the world, but those points could have cost us. We definitely have got to be better.”
If the Texans had known there were only five seconds left, they could have hurried the field goal team onto the field and had Fairbairn kick it as the clock expired.
“Yeah, it was just us as coaches, starting with me,” Ryans said. “Just communication on the sidelines.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.
