What happened instead, however, was a total breakdown for the Texans. With Dameon Pierce on the sidelines with an injury, they gained two yards on four plays, culminating in a fourth down play that looked broken from the start.
The sequence of “run for loss, short pass, run for loss, broken play” gave the Cowboys the ball back, leading to a 98-yard touchdown drive for Prescott and the Cowboys.
After the game, Lovie Smith hit all the classics about a struggling team who lose a heartbreakingly close game to reporters, saying he was impressed by the improvement. But he was less verbose about this particular sequence of plays, only saying the execution wasn’t there and the lack of Pierce affected the series.
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“It affects it quite a bit,” he said of missing Pierce. “First-and-goal inside the five, plan would’ve been a little bit different. But no one wanna hear about injuries, we’ve had quite a few. If Dameon would’ve been healthy and ready to go, of course he would’ve been in there then.”
Of Driskel’s seemingly broken play, Smith simply said “we just didn’t execute. We didn’t execute like we needed to.”
Smith concluded by saying it was “tough” to get that close to upsetting the Cowboys but ultimately falling short.
The Texans, of course, would never admit it but the loss does benefit them. They’re now 1-11-1 on the season, and primed for the first overall pick. Although this loss undoubtedly stings the Texans players and coaches, it may sting a little less once April rolls around.
