The Bitter Taste

At one point on Sunday, I wondered if a bitter taste could be taken out of my mouth. As you all remember, back in 1993 the Houston Oilers were involved in "The Comeback Game," in which they gave up a 32-point lead in a playoff loss against the Buffalo Bills.

Back to Sunday. I sat and watched the Houston Texans play one of their worst games in the history of the franchise for three quarters, and then something happened. With Matt Schaub knocked out of the game with an ankle sprain, backup Sage Rosenfels struggled to lead the team back. Somehow, he did just that. After three quarters of play the Texans were down to the Tennessee Titans, 32-7. And then Rosenfels and the offense composed a 29-point fourth quarter, putting the Texans up 36-35.

I couldn't really believe what I was watching. With two minutes off the clock in the fourth, the Texans scored their first offensive touchdown of the game, putting the score at 33-15. I was still in the middle of writing this column, which took me five drafts until I came to this. I wanted to talk about how much the Texans were moving in reverse. How I felt like it was 2005 all over again.

I mean, after a 2-0 start, the Texans have constantly moved backwards. I understand that there is a plague of injuries on both sides of the ball, but they still don't seem to be a productive football team. Instead of thinking they might be a contender and might be a dark horse team to get into the playoffs, they are hopeful to get by this season with an 8-8 record. Even saying they will get to .500 seems like a stretch.

And as I pondered all of these things, I notice that Texans reciever Kevin Walter just caught another pass from Rosenfels. 32-22 Titans. I stopped writing. After Titans kicker Rob Bironas made the score 35-22 with a field goal, I wanted to see if the Texans had anything left. Rosenfels connected with tight end Jeb Putzier to put the score at 35-29.

I began to sweat. I was nauseated. I felt like I was going to go into labor. We were one score away from winning with 1:43 left in the game. Now the Texans needed the ball back. An onside kick was attempted and recovered, but flags were flying everywhere. The Texans were called for illegal procedure and had to retry the kick. How many things can possibly go wrong in one game? The second onside kick was attempted and recovered by the Texans. At that point I didn't really know what to do with myself. The Texans would have the ball with 1:40 left, and could win the game with a touchdown.

Games like these aren't good for the weak at heart. It is the type of game that makes you want to drink bleach. On second down, Rosenfels connected on a 53-yard pass to Andre Davis and the Texans took the lead. I was now in a euphoric state. I had no clue what just happened. I just knew that the bitter taste from 1993 just exited. Something good finally took place for Houston football.

Then, Tennessee quarterback Kerry Collins drove the Titans down the field, and with :02 seconds left, Bironas kicked a 29-yard field goal to break the record for most field goals made in a game (eight) and win the game.

Maybe 14 years from now I can get the bitter taste of this game out of my mouth.