CHRON: How will Texans lose today?

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In their 12 losses, the Texans have seen everything from predictable routs to the bizzare endings of the past three weeks. No. 13 has some tough acts to follow


By JOHN MCCLAIN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

http://[img]http://dart.chron.com/i...dia=yes&vert=news&stpg=yes&posi=island1[/img]Like fingerprints and snowflakes, no two Texans losses are the same.

For the last three weeks, these da Vincis of defeat have invented new ways to lose.

When they play Arizona today at Reliant Stadium, will the Texans blow another game in the final seconds, get blown out in the first half, make it respectable or — stop the presses — pull out their second victory?

"We just haven't been hammering enough nails in the coffin, so I went to Home Depot and bought a 100-pound bag of nails," tight end Mark Bruener said. "It's hard to believe, isn't it? I've been in this league for a long time, but I've never seen a team lose like we have the last three weeks.

"For some reason, we just seem to be snake-bitten."

Dating to the end of last season, the Texans have lost 13 of 14 games, including 12 of 13 this season. They have lost close games, and they have been blown out, but until they played St. Louis at Reliant Stadium, their defeats didn't merit the weirdness factor.

When they were embarrassed in prime time by Kansas City (45-17) to drop to 1-9, no one accused the Texans of tanking games so they can select running back Reggie Bush with the top pick in the draft.

Then they hosted the Rams and led by 10 points with 34 seconds remaining. Rookie quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a seventh-round pick from Harvard, came off the bench and played for the first time this season.

The way Fitzpatrick engineered the improbable comeback, you would have thought Rod Serling was calling the plays. The 33-27 overtime loss might have been the most difficult for players to stomach in the franchise's history.

"That game started the chain," said quarterback David Carr, who threw three touchdowns against the Rams. "It's raised all the questions, but it didn't cause doubts in our minds because we played hard the next two weeks."

Next up was the trip to Baltimore. Kris Brown kicked five field goals, but the Texans' defense collapsed on the game's last series, and Matt Stover's field goal won it 16-15 for the Ravens.

"I didn't think there were other ways to lose, but then we played Tennessee," Carr said.

The defense didn't allow a touchdown, but it collapsed again and surrendered a field goal that gave the Titans a 13-10 lead in the final seconds. Needing a miracle, the Texans almost got it.

Tennessee's squib kick was fielded by center Todd Washington. He tossed a lateral to receiver Jerome Mathis, who ran 50 yards as time expired.

The clock ran out, but the Texans got a reprieve when Mathis was pulled down by his facemask. A game can't end on a defensive or defensive special teams penalty.

Brown, who had a 37-yard field-goal try blocked with less than four minutes left, misfired so badly from 31 yards that most watching the game thought that attempt had been blocked, too.

"There are a lot of weird ways to lose in this league, and we've just experienced three of them," center Steve McKinney said. "Hopefully, there won't be any more like that."

During preparations for today's game against the Cardinals, some of the Texans players were surveyed about which of the last three defeats was the weirdest.

"The Rams by far," Bruener said. "Being up on them like that with a rookie quarterback who had never been in a two-minute offense in the NFL — well, you just expect to win in that situation. I mean, what are the odds you're going to lose under those circumstances?"

Left tackle Chester Pitts agreed.

"I think that one cut me the deepest," he said. "These others were like good games that came down to the wire. That's football. But the Rams, we should have definitely won that game."

Cornerback Dunta Robinson cast a dissenting vote.

"Hey, I think the Tennessee game was the weirdest," he said. "When you think of everything bad that had happened to us in the previous two games and in that game as well, and then for Mathis to take the kick back and get the facemask penalty to put us in position to win, I still can't believe it.

"Man, it can't get any weirder than that, can it?"

They better hope not.

john.mcclain@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3532439.html
 
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