C.J. Stroud completed a 7-yard pass to Dalton Schultz to the Indianapolis 31-yard line in the waning seconds of the first half. In field-goal range, the Texans hustled to the line and spiked the ball.
Officials, though, stopped the play just as the snap happened to review Schultz’s catch.
The play stood, but that’s when all hell broke loose.
Referee John Hussey announced that the clock would reset to 15 seconds after the Texans had snapped the ball with 18 seconds on the previous down. The Colts then called timeout to complain about the clock, at which point Hussey apparently gave the Colts their timeout back, and figured out there should be a 10-second runoff.
It was confusing, and Hussey’s announcements (or lack thereof) were confusing. The TV crew didn’t clean up the mess until the second half.
“We needed to confirm that it was a catch, number one,” senior vice president of officiating Perry Fewell said in a pool report. “After that, we had to get the admin of the play correct. And so, from the admin standpoint, the referee was told that the clock was to be set at 15 seconds.
“We didn’t reverse the call, and so then we corrected the admin and the clock to five seconds.”
The Texans kept their offense on the field apparently not realizing the clock was at five seconds and would start on Hussey’s signal. Stroud threw incomplete to end the half.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans took responsibility in a sideline interview with CBS’ A.J. Ross and again in his postgame media availability.
“It’s just us as coaches — starting with me — communicating on the sidelines,” Ryans said, via a transcript from the team.
The Colts’ timeout was listed on the NFL’s official play-by-play until postgame editing when the timeout and the final play of the half — Stroud’s incompletion — were deleted. Colts coach Shane Steichen said he had no comment when asked about it after the game.
A timeout would have meant the clock didn’t start again until the snap.
“Week 1, everybody’s rusty,” Stroud said. “I’m rusty; we’re rusty as a whole. I think the officials told us one thing, but we got another.”
The Texans led 12-7 at halftime but could have had more since Ka’imi Fairbairn already had hit field goals of 51 and 50 yards.
“I’ve got to be better right there,” Stroud said. “That’s something we can definitely learn from.”
It didn’t matter, though, as the Texans held on for a 29-27 win.