Bill O’Brien on soft coverage: We made call we felt was best call for us

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The Texans looked like they thought they were leading the Saints by more than the one-point they were on the final play from scrimmage.

With six seconds remaining and the Saints on the Houston 49 — needing only a few more yards for a makeable field goal — the Texans called for their defensive backs to play soft coverage. They lined up three defensive backs 23 yards deep and gave receiver Ted Ginn Jr., lined up in the slot, an 8-yard cushion instead of having Aaron Colvin in press coverage.

It was pitch and catch for Drew Brees. He easily completed a 9-yard pass to Ginn and called timeout with 2 seconds left. Wil Lutz kicked a game-winning, 58-yard field goal on the final play.

So why in the world were the Texans thinking?

Texans coach Bill O’Brien did not provide a great explanation in his press conference Tuesday.

“At that point in the drive, those are decisions that you’re trying to make in the best interest of the team with what you think they’re going to do with what the situation is,” O’Brien said. “We made a call there that we felt was the best call for us. They executed the call a little bit better than we did. We’ve got to coach it better, and we need to get our players to understand that situation better, and that’s what we’re going to do this week.”

The Texans might have fared better if they had been as defensive on the Saints’ final offensive play of the game as O’Brien sounded Tuesday.