Dallas Clark defending Mario Williams one on one
No matter how many times I see it, I still can’t believe it. I realize that the Colts didn’t plan for this to happen – but how does Kerry Collins not call a time out? Or audible out of the play? At least on the second sack, there was some kind of a blown blocking assignment, but on the first – it was quite literally just Dallas Clark on Mario Williams, one on one. What the HELL.

JJ Watt (Mario Blanco) is pretty good. Yep.
On the play after Mario’s first sack, Watt (brilliantly dubbed “Mario Blanco” by Matt Campbell), came from the opposite side of the field to absolutely BLOW UP an attempted screen pass from Kerry Collins to Joseph Addai. Later he of course recovered the fumbled snap by Collins. After a Ben Tate TD run made it 17-0, on the next play from scrimmage Clark chose poorly. He decided to help out on Barwin rather than block Watt straight up. Watt crashed the backfield and made first contact on Addai for what turned out to be a tackle for loss by, well, a LOT of Texans. Watt did get gassed later in the game, and dropped off considerably – but that’s to be expected for the rookie. Impressive debut, to say the least.

Matt Schaub found Andre Johnson early and often.
One of my gripes about the offense last year was that it seemed like the Texans wouldn’t go out of their way to get Andre Johnson involved in the game from the jump. The popular retort to that is “you shouldn’t force it.” Yes, yes you should. Johnson doesn’t have much “elite” time left, and unless he’s being triple-teamed, the Texans should always do all they can to get him the ball. Johnson was simply running wild on the Colts in the first half… but I’m sure the only thing he thinks about is the botched catch that resulted in Schaub’s first interception.

NOISE
I’ve asked around on Twitter to those who were at the game – what was the loudest moment? It’s incredible how many different answers I received. The moments after the Star Spangled Banner, Mario’s first sack, Jacoby Jones’ punt return TD, etc. All I know is that watching on TV, it sure sounded like it may have been one of the loudest home games in franchise history.

Okay, just wanted to bask in the win a little bit more. As for the Dolphins, I expect the Texans to win, but obviously it will be a much bigger test for both sides of the ball. I’ll certainly hit on that in more detail soon.

How many times have YOU rewatched the Texans/Colts first half game?