HOUSTON -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the Houston Texans' 33-28 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Texans' starting defensive backs, Kareem Jackson, Johnathan Joseph, D.J. Swearinger and Kendrick Lewis, gathered together around Jackson's and Lewis' lockers to talk about what had gone wrong in a game in which they gave up 370 yards and three touchdowns through the air. "Communication is one big part of it," Lewis said. "Communication in the secondary, it gotta be on point at any given time because one big play, one big explosive play can change the game and give those guys momentum. That's what T.Y. Hilton kind of did for those guys, with him kept getting those deep balls. You've got to find a way to slow those types of receivers down, and the rest will take care of itself."
Andre Johnson placed the blame for the loss squarely on his own shoulders for his fourth-quarter fumble. "It was the biggest mistake of the game," Johnson said. "... I didn't have the ball cleanly. Just try to make something happen before really protecting the ball, and it cost my team. I accept full responsibility for it, and that's probably why we lost tonight. I wish I could play again tomorrow so I could change that."
Johnson's teammates probably could have guessed he'd take the fumble very hard. "I don't think that play hurt anybody more than it hurt him," left tackle Duane Brown said. Brown was insistent that play did not lose the game.
