Texans 20, Colts 20
FRANK REICH: Okay, obviously very disappointed with the results of the game. We really came here to be 1-0. That's our mantra. That's what we do. We did not attain that goal today.
I saw a lot of good things, though. There's obviously a lot to clean up. We couldn't finish drives, had mistakes in all three phases; at times just had too many penalties.
I think we were not a disciplined team today. We can do better there. We can coach better and play better there.
In the second half really through three quarters defense held us in there some, and then offensively we got it going in the fourth quarter, did a lot of good things, and I am proud of that. I am proud of the way we fought back.
Talking to the guys on the sideline, I felt from the defense, felt the defense talking to me, just felt good about that. Offensively felt good talking to the guys. Felt good about what we could do. Got ourselves back in it, gave ourselves a chance at the end, and we didn't convert.
It's not any one play. There was obviously a lot of plays in the game, so we're not pointing to the missed field goal in overtime. There were plenty of mistakes throughout that game where we could have sealed it and we didn't.
But I am proud of how the defense stepped up there at the end and got the stop at least when we needed to to at least walk away with a tie.
Q. You guys changed up a ton of things in training camp and time of practices and played your starters in preseason all with an idea of being ready for week 1, and for the most part in the first half you guys were sloppy. Can you put your finger on why, why you guys weren't ready?
FRANK REICH: Well, I would say this: I have to look at the film, but it felt to me on offense like we moved the ball up and down the field. That didn't feel sloppy to me. What felt sloppy was not being able to finish drives.
So I agree with you there. We've got to be able to finish drives. We had 200 yards of offense in the first half. I mean, that's doing something right. But that's not what wins games.
But if I'm evaluating and saying where -- it's not characterized in my mind by sloppiness throughout. It's a mistake here, a mistake there, which is sloppy, so I'm not backing away from that comment; that's a fair comment.
But there was a lot of good, but we've got to finish drives. We've got to finish drives and be better.
Q. The inability to finish drives was a result of mistakes, though; would you not agree? There were quite a few -- you threw a ton of balls into the end zone, right; they just didn't get completed?
FRANK REICH: No. There were I wouldn't say a ton of mistakes. There were mistakes that stopped drives. There were mistakes that stopped drives that weren't good enough.
So ultimately that's a reflection on me, and I take ownership of that. I'm not backing down from the comment. Obviously we had three points in three quarters. There's nothing to be happy about that offensively.
But I'm also -- it's the first game, and I'm looking at -- I know the guys we've got, and I'm not backing down from who we have. We'll get that cleaned up. It's a 60-minute game. We got it back. We did a lot of good things. It wasn't good enough to go 1-0.
That's ultimately all that matters. That's our goal, to go 1-0. We didn't reach that goal. Any time there's penalties and mistakes, that's a reflection, that starts with me.
Q. You guys had a 42-yarder to win it and Rob missed. It's not the first time the kicker has missed with a chance to win the game. Is he your kicker moving forward or is that something you need to evaluate?
FRANK REICH: You know, I can't even begin to -- in my mind he's our kicker. In my mind he's our kicker.
We go back and everybody gets evaluated. Coaches, players, we all get evaluated. If I've learned one thing over the years it's don't rush into those decisions. Those are decisions Chris and I get a chance to talk about and everybody gets evaluated. Rod has done a lot of good things for us.
Q. How comfortable should you be on a 42-yard kick, and did you see anything in the operation that led to the miss?
FRANK REICH: No. I didn't see anything in the operation that led to the miss. It's not a slant -- you know, (indiscernible) in the 80 percentile. We called a play on 3rd down. We had been running the ball pretty well, so we call a play on 3rd down to try to get Matt out in the open.
We hit that same naked earlier in the game, so I thought maybe they'd play a run and we'd get Matt out there just, hey, let's take a short sack, run some time off, just in case the worst things happens and we missed.
Obviously had a lot of confidence that we'd have a 40, 42-yarder worst case scenario if we had to take a short sack. Best case scenario is we come out of there on the naked and we get something clean, we go down and score a touchdown. They played good defense and then we didn't convert.
Q. Frank, Matt mishandled snaps a few times. Do you know what happened there?
FRANK REICH: I don't know what happened there. We'll have to look at that. We'll get that figured out. But that's sloppy play. Two fumbled snaps, that's sloppy play.
Q. The 4th down call with Raheem, was that a zone read?
FRANK REICH: Yeah, it was a play we felt good about coming in, and honestly, this is how it goes sometimes. But it didn't appear like they lined up on defense correctly, but I give Lovie Smith a lot of credit.
They had their defensive end do something that messed with us. He gave us a false indicator, something we had not seen from them, so that's really a credit to Lovie Smith.
They out-coached us and out-played us on that play. That's a play we've had a lot of success with. We don't run it a ton, a couples times a year, but it's been successful almost every time we've run it.
Felt like it was the time to go for it. We went down, kicked the first time. Our defense I think had had two three-and-outs, so I thought, hey, worst case if we don't make it, they're backed up, we still get the three points.
Obviously that didn't play out the way we wanted it to.
Q. Your offensive line obviously had some great moments the way J.T. ran, but did you feel like maybe you needed a little more consistency there, that you could have been afforded more consistency there?
FRANK REICH: I just felt like our protection could have been a little bit more consistent early on, but we knew the strength of this defense was their rush. That's what we were talking about all week long, that this team has a good rush.
But I don't know how many sacks we had. Like I said, I just know we ran the ball well. I knew we threw it well, and believe me, nobody is worried about yards, but you can't ignore certain production.
But to gain those kind of yards you've got to score 40 points. You can't walk away with 20 points with that much offense. That's not near good enough. To have those mistakes, have a mistake -- you know, and that's where sometimes if you don't get the chunk play, that's Lovie's whole thing. Make them go the long haul, don't give up the big play.
All it takes is one screw-up. That's been his career, and he did a good job today, so congratulations to them.
Q. At the end of overtime it felt like a lot of times (indiscernible) you guys were on offense. Was there a thought to being more aggressive to try and win it even as late as it was?
FRANK REICH: At what part in overtime? When we went down to run it in? No, it's fair. Like I said, we were running it so well, that's the way we really got back in it. I thought our staff, our players did a good job. We didn't panic in the fourth quarter.
Look how many runs we called in the fourth quarter being down 17 points. Tell me who else has that many runs in the fourth quarter when you're down 17 points.
I mean, our guys did a great job. That's because you've got J.T., and you know every time (indiscernible) that's one of the things I'm trying to continue to learn, is that when you've got a player like J.T., even though you're down 17, you just learn over the years, hey, you don't have to go exclusively to the pass.
So that got going, and then in overtime that was going -- you know, wanted to go for the kill, for the jugular, get the touchdown, don't leave it up to a field goal, but got it in position, just didn't convert on 3rd down.
Q. In the final minute, the Texans ran like 15 seconds off the clock on one play and you guys got it back and ran it down to just that final snap. What was the thought process?
FRANK REICH: Yeah, that's fair. I've got to go back and look at that whole thing. Just talking to the guys upstairs, felt like we wanted to give ourselves a chance at the very end. We didn't take the 10-second runoff just in case we got a turnover or they got aggressive and we got a turnover.
We figured they had enough time that they were going to get in field goal range. They had enough time, so you just kind of play the odds there, and that's what we were doing in that situation, not taking the runoff. It's a double edged sword. It's really hard to swallow at the end there when we're really just going to play for a tie at the end rather than just throwing it short, throwing two screen plays backed up.
That's hard to do. I don't ever remember doing that before. We've got to go back and I've got to evaluate that end-of-game scenario. Am I comfortable with how it played out, how we called it, in all three phases.
Q. What did you see from Matt overall? Just his first start in the season, what did you see from him?
FRANK REICH: I mean, you saw poise. Obviously we had some mistakes. He had a couple mistakes early. But he's so confident, and I think he helped keep everybody in it.
And then he made a ton of big plays down toward the end. He's the leader we need. He's the leader we need, and he did a great job.
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