Texans chose wrong option

Practice makes perfect ... until you try it for real in a game. The Houston Texans put a halfback option pass in their arsenal this week, confident they could catch the Jaguars by surprise with the new play. The Texans practiced it several times and each time executed it perfectly. But that perfection turned into disaster when Houston coach Gary Kubiak stamped his approval on the play call from offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan midway through the fourth quarter. The Texans had a first-and-goal from the 5-yard line, having marched 76 yards in six plays, and ready to cut into the Jaguars' 23-12 lead. Chris Brown took a pitch from quarterback Matt Schaub in what appeared to be a sweep around right end. But Brown eased up while under pressure from Jaguars cornerback Tyron Brackenridge and hurried his throw to tight end Joel Dreessen. But Dreessen got tangled up with a couple Jacksonville defenders, leaving safety Gerald Alexander in position to make an easy interception at the 1-yard line. Kubiak, already under fire for yet another disappointing Texans' season, took the blame for the call. "We had what we wanted, it just didn't work out," the fourth-year coach said. "That's a tough spot to put Chris in, so it's just a bad call by me - just a poor call. The corner comes up and we didn't get a helmet on him. But it's on me. I put him in a tough situation. I thought it gave us a chance for an easy score but I was wrong. "We've run that pitch against them [ Jaguars ] many a time and we thought we could sneak Joel back in the end zone and lob him the ball for a touchdown. But the corner came up and we were unable to get a hat on him." It was the second time in as many games with the Jaguars this year that a Brown turnover had a key role in the outcome. In the first meeting on Sept. 27, Brown fumbled at the goal line with less than three minutes to play and the Jaguars leading by 7. Daryl Smith recovered in the end zone to preserve the victory. A dejected Brown said afterwards that he probably shouldn't have thrown the pass. "We practiced that play this week and it looked good," he said. "I just couldn't get much on the ball as I was getting hit while I was releasing the ball. When you look back at it, maybe I shouldn't have thrown it at all. "That was a big, critical play. We had points there for us. We could have at least walked away with a field goal." Dreessen, the intended receiver, said: "There was a lot of traffic in there. It's one of those plays you can't come out too early because then they won't bite on the run. It's very frustrating right now. We installed that play this week and the Jaguars wouldn't have been aware of it. We thought we could score off it." The Jaguars went three-and-out after the turnover with Houston getting the ball back at the Jacksonville 46. Schaub then completed 5-of-9 passes for 51 yards with four of the completions including a 1-yard TD pass going to Andre Johnson. But it was too little, too late and the Jaguars held on for a 23-18 win. Asked afterwards if he felt the Texans needed to resort to trickery with all the offensive weapons they had, Johnson sidestepped any controversy. "I can't really say what should be called, when it should be called," the Pro Bowl receiver said. "I just run the play that's called in the huddle. The play worked real well for us in practice, unfortunately it didn't happen that way in the game. "I definitely want the ball in those situations but again, I can't control what the plays are." jeff.elliott@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4292