You might be asking yourself between sips of beer: Why did the Houston Texans enter halftime without points against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium?
C.J. Stroud spiked the football with five seconds remaining after completing a pass to Dalton Schultz at the Colts’ 31. The Texans were going to send out the field goal unit to take an eight-point lead while getting the ball to begin the third quarter.
Instead, the referee stopped the clock to review the play for an incompletion. It ended up being a catch, but here’s where things get interesting.
The referee initially said 15 seconds were left but Colts coach Shane Steichen called a timeout to argue about the timing. He was right, so the referee gave back the timeout to Indianapolis and moved the clock back to five seconds.
But why didn’t the play count?
Don’t worry, we’re getting there.
That's some bad strategy, play calling and clock management by the Texans on that last drive of the first half. That's embarrassing. They lead 12-7 at halftime despite the issues.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) September 8, 2024
Since the timeout was removed, so was the spiked ball. The Texans needed to spike the ball again to stop the clock. And since they lined up in shotgun, the clock kept running.
Stroud threw an incompletion to end the half, even though Houston thought it had one last play. Texans coach DeMeco Ryans took ownership for the clock management issues before entering the locker room.
Best I can tell the officials waived off the Colts timeout and just acted like it didn’t happen and started the clock like it was a completion?
Would they have communicated that to the #Texans?
Officials definitely said five seconds.
Were Texans hoping to steal a few yards?
— Cody Stoots (@Cody_Stoots) September 8, 2024
“That was on us on the sidelines. We gotta be better than that,” Ryans told CBS sideline reporter A.J. Ross.
The Texans lead 15-13 entering the fourth quarter.
