This always takes on a different tone than the recap. The recap reflects the emotions of the moment. When you win a game 16-13 on a walk off field goal there are bound to be a number of emotions. The Value of Things is always about analyzing the data to see if we notice any trends. We also look at the great, good, and bad in wins and the good, bad, and ugly in losses.

Teams can always improve even when they are coming off a victory. That is particularly true when facing the worst team in football. When we start stacking these together we start to notice some trends. The trends say that this team has a great defense and a lousy offense. However, lousy might be overly simplistic. They are situationally awful, but we will get to that in a minute.

Total Yards: Texans 68/315, Titans 57/229Rushing Yards: Texans 23/75, Titans 17/58Passing Yards: Texans 45/240, Titans 40/171Third Down conversion: Texans 4/13, Titans 6/15Sacks: Texans 3, Titans 4Turnovers: Texans 0, Titans 1Penalties: Texans 5/53, Titans 9/62Time of Possession: Texans 31:03, Titans 28:57

I often struggle to understand the Houston Texans. I am a data nerd. Everything above indicates that the Texans should have won the game comfortably. They possessed the ball longer, gained more yards, ran more plays, and made fewer errors. This seems to be a hallmark of the Ryans tenure in Houston. They win close games. They play hard. Yet, they seem to make things as difficult as humanly possible. Okay, let’s check in on the great, good, and bad.

A backup quarterback has an unenviable job. He has to come in and run the offense cold and hopefully keep the machine rolling as much as humanly possible. We can certainly assign style points if we want and other analysts will do it on their own dime, but Mills was called on to win two must win games and he did. He did while engineering two walk off drives in two weeks. We can always talk about why those drives were needed and we certainly will, but he did his job. He kept the Texans’ playoff hopes alive for another week.

Let’s be honest, he didn’t have to do much on this day. The Houston Texans have the best defense in football and the Titans are worst offense in football. He was called on to take care of the football and make smart throws. He didn’t have any turnover worthy throws in this one. Sure, he missed an occasional throw because he is a backup quarterback. We are grading on a curve here. It wasn’t an “A” worthy performance because some analysts love to throw those around. It was good enough and that is what matters.

The defense would have made it into the great column if it weren’t for that last touchdown drive. As is usually the case in Houston touchdown drives on defense, there were some questionable penalties. The pass interference call on Derek Stingley was particularly egregious. Still, you cannot in good conscience allow a 50+ yard pass on third down and call yourself great. We can say it was a good performance though and part of a mosaic of the best defense in franchise history.

Daniele Hunter and Will Anderson combined for 2.5 sacks and a fumble recovery. We can certainly debate where their seasons stack against great seasons by J.J. Watt or Mario Williams. What we cannot debate is that the Texans have never had a passing rushing duo quite like this. Add that to the best corner duo in the NFL and you can see why this defense is the best defense in the NFL.

There comes a time when I go from sports hate to sports pity. Certainly, ultimately winning the game helps cool the fires of 1000 suns. I have shifted to sports pity for Nick Caley. He keeps a good poker face. When the team gets inside the five yard line he doesn’t break down crying. He would be forgiven if he did. He just doesn’t seem to have the answer. Asking him to dial up up a fourth and goal play should be considered torture according to the Geneva convention.

This is why my sports hate in the moment is aimed at DeMeco Ryans. You have to kick the ball in those situations. You have to. You can rattle off all of the analytics you want. Teams are expected to score the touchdown this percentage of the time and if you created 1000 simulations you’d score X amount of points going for it and Y amount of points kicking. We get all of that. ESPN, Fox, CBS, and Amazon can rattle off their numbers. They are irrelevant.

They are irrelevant because the Texans are incapable of scoring on fourth and goal. It’s hard to imagine many scenarios that are worse than what happened. If Mills had hit a popcorn vendor it would have at least been first down from their own two yard line. Instead, they had first down from the 15. What any normal team would do in that instance doesn’t matter. You are coaching the Houston Texans and what the Texans offense is likely to do is the only thing that matters. You kick there and you are up ten points at the end of that game. Then, a miraculous 95 yard drive doesn’t matter.

I know this feels like nitpicking and I suppose it is. However, it is a symptom of a bigger problem. It is one thing to say something to the press or general public. You pump up your coaches and your players. We all get that. However, when it comes to making decisions, you have to know your team and its limitations. In a vacuum I would love to play smash mouth football on the one yard line. In reality, I know that just ain’t happening. You could run three times, four times, and 3000 times. You aren’t getting in when you run from guard to guard. Stop doing it. When you are fourth down inside the five, stop going for it. Your chances of success are slim. Know your football team and what they are capable of. That is the coach’s main job.