Turning point - Houston

Sorry this post is coming out a few days later than I had originally planned. I wanted to find something that I can write about each week that is relevant to each week’s game. Now I know I am not one of the most talented writers that we have here on AP. But I did think I could find something that could generate a little conversation, and that’s the whole point, right?

 I think that each of us while watching the game has that moment where we step back and say “there it is”. Sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s not depending on how the game turns out. It’s that “turning point” moment where the outcome of the game starts to be defined in our eyes. For some people it’s a big touchdown play and for others it could be a hustle play that gets a team going. It’s not necessarily momentum because that can change a few different times throughout the game. I am wanting to know what that moment was for you in the Houston game. I am not sure about everyone else and their “routine” in watching the game but I don’t miss plays. I see every play from kickoff till the clock reads 00:00.  In the Houston game this was the play that made my stomach start to turn a little.

For me it was in the 4th quarter when we were still up 31-21, There was about 6 minutes left on the clock and Houston had just got the ball. Owen Daniels had just caught a pass for about 20 yards or so and got the ball out to the 40ish yard line. The next play, also to Daniels went for 27 yards to the KC 35 yard line. It was at this moment that I started to get a bad feeling. Maybe it was watching Vrabel try and run down a much younger, more athletic Daniels as he ran down the field and gave them two huge plays in a row. But until this point I thought we had a pretty good handle on things. It was then that I realized that there was going to be way too much time left on the clock for Houston to possibly get the ball back. Considering their drive started at their 14 yard line and in 2 plays and in just over a minute got the ball to our 35 yard line this was getting a little stressful.

Obviously we all know the outcome but I feel that this play, considering it followed another big play by the same player just gave them too many yards too quickly in a crucial part of the game. We called timeout immediately following this play and I don’t know if it was Haley or Crennel possibly feeling the same way, or someone trying to figure out why we lined up Mike Vrabel on Owen Daniels in the open field. I don’t know what the playcall was but Schaub obviously saw something he liked and it worked out for them on two huge plays.

A few other plays do come to mind during the game - The 3rd and 10 completion on Houston's final drive, our 3rd and short pass play to Moeaki, and the infamous PI call. All of these were no doubt big plays in the game. But the "turning point" to me was that play to Daniels.

Hopefully next week against Jacksonville we have the “turning point” play in our favor.