Finally, we come to the first real football game of the year. If you step back or look at the game from 20,000 feet, it was one of the most entertaining games of the season. There were a lot of goals scored, but there were also some defensive plays. Of course, the closer you were to the action, the more nervous you were. But if sports are meant to be entertainment, then both teams did great.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the final numbers from the game. Which numbers better predict success and failure? Hopefully, we’ll have a better picture by the end of the season. The other part of this post will, of course, cover the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game. Yes, the Houston Texans won 29-27, but a wise old coach once said you can’t ignore in a win what you wouldn’t ignore in a loss.

The numbers

Total yards: Texans – 417, Colts – 303
Running yards: Texans – 40/213, Colts – 22/104
Passing yards: Texans – 36/204, Colts – 21/199
Sacks: Texans 2, Colts 4
Turnover losses: Texans 0, Colts 1
Penalties: Texans 5/30, Colts 4/20
Time of possession: Texans 40:00, Colts 20:00

You don’t see a lopsided possession ratio like that very often. The Texans ran 76 plays, while the Indianapolis Colts ran only 43. Of course, the Colts gained over 300 yards on those 43 plays. The Texans averaged 5.5 yards per play, while the Colts averaged 7.0 yards per play. This was an old-fashioned case of the Texans having possession of the ball and moving the chains consistently. The Texans had 26 first downs, while the Colts had 14. Of course, we’ll get to the reasons in a moment.

The good

Quite simply, this was the best individual performance by a Texans running back since Lamar Miller’s Monday Night performance against the Miami Dolphins. Devin Singletary came close last season against the Bengals, but Mixon is the real master. This was different. In the fourth quarter, the Colts knew what was coming and couldn’t stop it. The Texans offense was literally running out the clock, and the Colts still hadn’t stopped it.

The Texans also incorporated some wide receiver running, with Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell combining for three carries and 25 yards. Dameon Pierce also had three strong runs for 16 yards. Running for 200 yards hasn’t been typical for any Texans team since the days of Arian Foster. I don’t think we’ll see that every week. This will most likely be a true game plan offense (and not as Bill O’Brien described it) where a new hero emerges every week. However, it’s good to know they’re capable of doing that when a similar game is on their schedule.

The bad

The fans will lecture you more about game management than anything else on Monday morning. I’m not sure what the hell happened at the end of the first half, and I don’t know if anyone in this building knew. Either Dalton Schultz caught a pass or he didn’t. The refs couldn’t seem to make up their minds. Then they said it was 15 seconds after the catch. Then they said it was five, but the Colts called a timeout. But the timeout didn’t count.

Let’s put all that aside and assume the clock started on the play. Why exactly is your offense out there? I’m guessing they thought it was actually 15 seconds. I can forgive the coaches for not having a clue what the refs were talking about. However, the missing three points could have made a huge difference if the Colts had gotten the ball back at the end of the game.

The Ugly

Why did the Colts average seven yards per play? Simply put, the Colts gained more than half of their yards on three plays. One of those plays was an absolutely brilliant throw and catch when the receiver was covered by the Texans defender. The other two were botched coverages. In addition, there were two or three other times where the Texans defensive backs botched their coverages and would have been run over by a more accurate quarterback.

Also, this wasn’t a particularly talented wide receiver group the Texans were up against. Part of that was due to inexperience at cornerback and safety. Part of that was due to poor communication between some of the guys on the back end. A lot of it was just bad football. Caleb Williams isn’t going to miss some of the throws Richardson missed, and the Bears’ wide receivers are far more talented. That needs to be fixed immediately.