NFL fans roasted the Texans' Lovie Smith for playing for the tie by punting late in OT
Playing for the tie?!
There aren’t many more anticlimactic ways to start a season than settling for a tie. You prepare all offseason to go out and win — to try for anything else is a disservice to everyone involved. But for first-year Texans head coach Lovie Smith, he seemed more than happy to take that tie into Week 2.
The Texans saw a 17-point lead disappear in the second half of Sunday’s game against the Colts. And it wasn’t pretty. After jumping to that 17-point lead, the Texans completely stalled on offense with four punts and a fumble in the second half. But when the Colts’ Rodrigo Blankenship missed a field goal in overtime, the Texans still had a chance to steal a win.
Smith was just unwilling to chance it on fourth down at midfield. With 20 seconds left in the game on 4th and 3, Smith sent out the punting unit to concede the tie. And man, it was such a gutless call.
Of course, there’s always the element of risk when making coaching decisions throughout a game. But with 20 seconds to go, you’d like to see a coach believe in his team to pick up three yards and get into field goal range. Worst case, you’re asking the Colts to make a big play and have an unreliable kicker convert in 20 seconds.
By punting, Smith signaled that he didn’t believe in his team. You can’t blame fans for being frustrated with that decision.