3rd quarter – Texans ball

It’s hard to talk about it. The Texans had Andrew Beck in a stacked formation with WR Jared Wayne on the left side. WR Tank Dell lined up in a condensed split on the right side. Beck moved forward in short order, setting up just outside of LT Laremy Tunsil. Stroud faked an outside zone to Mixon on the left side while Beck continued to block the back in what looked like a split zone run. But Stroud turned around with an eye on the throwback – the play on which Dalton Schultz scored in last year’s playoff game against the Browns. However, there were only two route runners – Tank and Wayne. Tank ran over with the DEEP and Stroud saw him and took off. Tank made a damn good catch, but as he made the catch, Wayne lunged for the pass he thought was intended for him and collided with Tank just as he caught the pass. The biggest gut punch touchdown I can remember.

3rd quarter – Chiefs ball

On the drive immediately after Tank’s touchdown, the Chiefs picked up a couple of first downs that put them almost at midfield. On third-and-1, the Texans hit Isiah Pacheco for a crucial fourth-and-1, and I was pretty sure the Chiefs were going to go for it. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid didn’t bat an eyelid. He put 12 people on the field (one RB, two TE) and tried to run inside the zone again. But DT Mario Edwards Jr took a pretty violent shot at RT Jawaan Taylor, knocking him right back into the backfield. LB Neville Hewitt hit Chiefs RG Trey Smith and also threw him back to Pacheco. Mario then shot under Taylor and attacked Pacheco for defeat. What a huge play on fourth-and-1, but the Texans’ offense couldn’t capitalize after the stop, leaving the game tied at 17-16 for the time being.