Ugly 16-13 Win Keeps Playoff Hopes Alive

The Grinch came eerily close to snatching Christmas away from the Texans and all of their fans a few days early on Sunday. In a game that the Texans were expected to win handily, they found themselves engaged in an all-out slugfest with the lowly Rams, in a contest that was not decided until the closing minutes.

Luckily for the Texans, all-world wide out Andre Johnson came to the rescue; not to only pull out the game for the Texans, but to preserve Gary Kubiaks’ hide. A loss to the under-manned Rams would have even forced the affable Bob McNair to pull the trigger and fire everyone except the team’s chaplain.

The scrappy Rams came into the contest with one lone win on the season and nothing but a little pride to play for at this point. The Texans on the other hand, still possess playoff aspirations; albeit remote at best. But in the NFL, a win is a win. And the Texans are in no position to turn up their nose at any victories.

“It’s hard to win in this league. Obviously, there weren’t many style points for us today,” Kubiak said after the game. “We were sloppy. We turned the ball over (twice) and jumped off sides on defense, and you can’t do that against anybody.”

The high-flying Texans offense was limited to two field goals during the first half, while his rookie counterpart Keith Null, playing in placed of the injured Kyle Boller, staked the Rams out to a 10-6 at the break. Schaub did have another fabulous day statistically, racking up another 300 yard performance, but had trouble figuring the hyped-up Rams’ defense early on.

“Look, we knew what was going on was uncharacteristic of the Texans,” cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “We knew what had to be done in the second half, and we did it.”

Schaub finally led the Texans into the end zone in the third quarter with a 3-yard strike to Kevin Walter. But after a series of miscues and mishaps, the Texans decided to call on their one sure thing late in the fourth quarter with the game knotted up at 13.

Schaub hooked up with Andre Johnson twice during the game-winning drive to safely put the Texas in a comfortable range for Kris Brown to break the tie and give the Texans a 16-13 edge.

Null and the Rams did have one final shot to hand the Texans their most devastating defeat in franchise history, but the defense stiffened and forced the Rams to punt with just under three minutes remaining. Schaub and the offense then ran out the clock to preserve the win.

“It was ugly,” Johnson said. “Normally, when you play road games, the other team’s fans are energetic, but their fans weren’t at the beginning. I think that killed our energy. The atmosphere of the stadium was kind of dead.”

The Texans now travel to Florida to take on the 7-7 Dolphins next weekend, who lost to the Tennessee Titans in overtime on Sunday.