Texans coach Lovie Smith followed through with winning, not concern with No. 1 overall pick

Things were going great for the future of the Houston Texans.

The Texans were trailing 31-24 to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 18 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Facing a fourth-and-20 from the Colts’ 28-yard line with 58 seconds remaining and two of their three timeouts burned, Houston was on their way to securing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Instead quarterback Davis Mills threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Akins to pull Houston within one, 31-30. Then, the Texans went for two with Mills finding Akins again to push Houston ahead 32-31.

The success was part of the Texans’ overall performance against the Colts. The Texans generated three takeaways with one of them a spectacular interception from defensive end Jonathan Greenard, who returned it for a touchdown.

Coach Lovie Smith shared with reporters after the game, which cost Houston the No. 1 overall pick, what his thoughts were on not picking in the top spot in April’s draft.

“All right, this is the option that I had,” said Smith. “So, you’re saying, ‘Hey, guys, playing this last game, all that you’ve been working for all your life, you play to win, forget that, lose the game on purpose.’ I think that would be a hard one to get by. They wouldn’t expect me to say that. I didn’t.”

The Texans slip to No. 2 overall. The Texans also have a No. 12 overall pick thanks to their trade with the Cleveland Browns from the offseason.

“Each week our game plan to be to win the game,” Smith said. “It’s kind of simple as that. That’s what we followed through on today.”

The Texans finished with a better record in the head-to-head series against the Colts for the first time since 2016.