I kind of understand what the Colts just did, but tying is better than losing, every time.
I don't understand it at all. They knew they were going to lose if they didn't pick up the first. I don't like the call.
Colts fan here. At first blush I was fine with the decision to go for it. My beef was with the execution. A day later, I feel the same. I get that from an analytics and stat based perspective, it made zero sense. Even if they convert they still need to pick up another 15-20 yards to get in FG range. And failure to get it would hand the Texans the ball only needing ten yards to attempt a FG. But football is an emotional game. The Colts are young and still searching for an identity. They're not going to be playing in January, so why hold back? Be aggressive and show your players you have faith in them. I'm sure nobody on the team is happy about the loss, but they wouldn't have been any happier with a tie. Reich definitely lost the game, but he maybe won his locker room over in the process.
As for the execution, Reich botched it. He admitted as much postgame. If he's really that sure of it where he'd do it "ten times out of ten", then he should have had them line up right away with a play call ready to go. Once they tried to draw Houston offsides and took a timeout the thing was dead in the water.