These guys have one art perfected

In the final scene of the Broadway play Lombardi, Dan Lauria, in the role of the legendary Packers' coach, says in a gruff voice that the true measure of a man is not how he falls down but how he pulls himself up off the ground.

But what if the man routinely falls down in historically spectacular fashion? Should we not measure him by the way he falls when the results of his futile attempts to stand often end in comedic tragedy?

The man we're talking about is Texans coach Gary Kubiak, who has men in his charge who come up short in such remarkable fashion that losing is their art.

The men we're talking about are the Houston Texans, who added another stunning method of falling to their 2010 ledger of despair Sunday by allowing the Jets to travel 72 yards to a game-winning TD in 39 seconds.

The Texans have taken so well to falling that one would think their goal is to cement a reputation as a team that lies down to make improbable dreams come true. Safety Bernard Pollard says they are an opponent's highlight waiting to be filmed.

Last week in Jacksonville, it was a Hail Mary. This week's game-ending events in a 30-27 loss at the New Meadowlands Stadium begged for a quality East Texas drawl: "Aw, hayul."

All can't even hail Jets QB Mark Sanchez, who took advantage of the Texans' defense to complete four passes in the final minute, including the clincher to Santonio Holmes with 10 seconds left to play, because we're talking about the Texans.

Footballcommentators.com has calculated the win-probability for a team kicking off with 55 seconds remaining and a four-point lead to be about 90 percent. The Texans are in the unlucky 10 percent. (Or are they the untalented 10th?)

"I pretty much figured we had it won; it was just time to go out and take it," defensive end Antonio Smith said. "I've been in that predicament so many times and frankly we've been in that predicament a couple of times this year, so I knew there was still another level we had to go to."
Predicament? You bet

Your initial thought might be that Smith misused the word predicament. He didn't.

Despite the seemingly positive situation — victory there to be had with less than a minute of good play - Smith knows that most times the Texans' defense has taken the field this season it has been a predicament: an unpleasant, trying or embarrassing situation.

"I can't say it's starting to get annoying, because it has been annoying," Pollard said. "I can't say it's starting to get ridiculous, because it has been ridiculous. You look up whatever word in the dictionary you want to use, and it's beyond that."

Ridiculous is a word that works for the 4-6 Texans, who with a four-game losing streak - their third consecutive season enduring such a stretch - have gone from first place to last place in the AFC South.

Now, it would take a franchise-record six-game winning streak to reach 10-6, the likely record the Texans would need to make the playoffs for the first time. It might be better if the Texans held strong and continued to come up with grand ways of losing. Aren't you wondering what they will do next?

Against the Jets, a porous defense showed up for pretty much the first time all season, but the offense again took the first half off. The offense did fourth-quarter damage with 20 points and the defense did something it had hardly done at all, forcing two turnovers, and a 23-7 fourth-quarter deficit turned into a 27-23 lead.

The celebration was at hand. Almost.

Players don't want to point fingers, but if they did they would start with safety Eugene Wilson, whose over-the-top help in pass coverage wasn't on top or very helpful. The Jets completed a 42-yard pass to Braylon Edwards with 16 seconds left to set up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Holmes, who beat Glover Quin one-on-one.

The Texans call the pass coverage on the long pass play "2-man" and to a man, losing in that situation is inexcusable. About the only thing worse than that would be losing on a Hail Mary from 50 yards out on the last play of the game. Done that.
Keeping mum

Wilson elected not to speak with reporters after the game, exiting the locker room in a hurry, saying that he had to meet someone. Had he had met Edwards around the time the ball arrived, the Texans' locker room wouldn't have been so dreary.

Linebacker Kevin Bentley, who recovered the fumble and had what should have been the game-winning interception with less than two minutes to play, said the loss brought him to tears.

"Week in and each week out, some fluke play happens that puts us behind the eight ball," Bentley said.

Eventually the ball will (and should) drop on a coaching staff that even when it manages to put players in position to make plays, can't get those players to make the plays.

The Texans looked better on defense but for the 10th straight game allowed at least 24 points. Somebody has to take the fall for the falls.

Mario Williams sat in front of his locker for some time afterward, chin on hand, thinking about the events of the day. How his team again fell. Fell hard.