SEATTLE – There was practically an unintentional rivalry within the Texans’ series of embarrassing gaffes during a humiliating Monday night loss to the Seattle Seahawks.’
Which mistake would prove to be the most costly?
Recommended Videos
They all fell under the mental error category, primarily penalties, and one head-scratching special-teams miscue at the end of the game.
Starting there, the Texans had a legitimate shot to climb back into this ultimate 27-19 defeat at Lumen Field. They scored a touchdown on a C.J. Stroud pass to rookie running back Woody Marks with 2:04 remaining in regulation, just before the two-minute warning with one timeout left.
The Texans could have got the football back with a three-and-out on defense. Instead of kicking the football out of bounds, though, Ka’imi Fairbairn sent the kickoff short to George Holani one yard into the end zone. That mistake of a short kick prevented the Texans from preserving the two-minute warning timeout with a touchback.
“The plan at the end of the game was kicking the ball out of bounds so we could utilize the (two-minute warning), and we did not execute that,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Again, goes to the entire game. You know, frustrating that we’re not executing the things that we’re supposed to do.”
The Texans committed 10 penalties for 105 yards. They’re the ninth-ranked team in the NFL in terms of penalty frequency with a 7.3 average per game and 62 yards a contest.
When the Texans could have got the football back, defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr. was flagged for unnecessary roughness for jumping on top of the pile. That gave the Seahawks a first down and allowed them to run out the clock on the Texans.
“Penalties always affect it, especially the critical moments,” Ryans said. “Third down there at the end of the game, like we’re going to get the ball back and it’s just silly penalties. We have to be a smart football team. We have to make smart decisions. We didn’t in critical times. Again, that’s not winning football.”
Earlier in the game, Texans linebacker and team captain Azeez Al-Shaair was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a tackle on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Al-Shaair, who was suspended for three games last season for a sliding hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and fined $17,389 for an unflagged hit on Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward, took issue with the flag.
His take: He couldn’t see that Darnold was out of bounds when he slammed him to the ground. His head was in Darnold’s chest plate, obscuring his view.
“Probably have to look at the play to see what happened,” Ryans said. “I saw it as a tackle. Started in bounds so I got to look at it and see why that call.”
The penalty on third down assessed to Al-Shaair set the stage for another Seahawks touchdown when the Texans had the stop and could have held them to a field goal.
Al-Shaair’s point is that Darnold should be treated as a runner, not a quarterback, by rule on that play. Especially since the whistle didn’t blow, ending the play.
“I pushed off of the receiver to run into the tackle, he lowers his shoulder, we both just kinda hit each other, I’m driving him, he’s trying to drive his legs, still no whistle, but my head is like in his chest, so I don’t know really where I’m at on the field,” Al-Shaair said. “There’s still no whistle. It never blew the whistle until after I dropped him on the ground and then they were like, ‘That’s a flag because you hit him on the ground. Like, ‘Well, you didn’t blow the whistle and he’s a runner.’ I played against Sam multiple times.
“We have a pretty good football relationship, just conversation. Even after it happened, it’s like, ‘Bro.’ I was like, ‘Wow, I know you’re just playing football, like it was weird and we both just kinda just chopped it up, talked about it and kinda moved on. But yeah, I mean it was it was awkward.”
Al-Shaair’s larger point is that the referees need to use their whistles when the play is over.
He emphasized the same thing happened with Settle’s penalty.
“You’re talking to the refs about it, they’re like, ‘Yeah, I know there wasn’t wasn’t a whistle blown, but you gotta see where you are on the field,’” Al-Shaair said. “I’m like, ‘Well if I’m out of bounds, blow the whistle.’ THat’s the whole point of the play. Even the play with Tim at the end of the game, they never blew the whistle.
“So Tim is driving the pile and he gets flagged for unnecessary roughness, but you never blew the whistle. So, it’s just confusing because it happened a whole bunch today. Weird. Tim, I feel bad. Obviously, he’s beating himself up about it. But it’s like we’re trying to get the ball back for the offense and they’re driving him forward, we’re trying to drive him back. They never blew the whistle. It was genuinely the weirdest thing.”
Al-Shaair suggested that the league wanting to protect quarterbacks given the popularity and importance of the position from a financial standpoint was a factor in how the game is officiated.
“It’s just this league,” he said. “Obviously, quarterbacks get paid a lot of money. He’s made a lot of plays to get himself in position to make a lot of money. It’s insane. I mean, he dropped his shoulder, I hit him. Like when me and him talked about it, it was cool.
“Obviously, it’s just football. He understands it, I understand that. But you know, when they’re paying him $50 million dollars or whatever he’s getting, that’s just how it’s gonna be.”
There was another unnecessary roughness penalty when All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. intercepted Darnold in the second half. During his return, he stiff-armed Jaxon Smith-Njigba to the head and his helmet came off. Smith-Njigba went after Stingley and got pushed into the bench by linebacker Christian Harris. Stingley was flagged instead of Harris, though.
“Yeah, I didn’t see,” Ryans said. “Again, I’ve got to see what happened on those. Again, it’s things that we can control. I always look at penalties or things that we control, so we have to do a better job controlling those and making smart decisions."
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com