"They ignored injuries, illness and irrelevance to put together a remarkable season.

A torn pectoral here, a broken collar bone there and pulled hamstrings everywhere. By the end of the regular season, even an assistant coach had appeared on the injury report: out, gallbladder and kidney surgery.

So what would the Houston Texans make of having to overcome an all-time bonehead play by a five-year veteran, rookie mistakes by a rookie quarterback and odd bounces of the ball that never seemed to bounce their way?

They did what they did all season. They stayed in the game. They remained confident. They battled back."