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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Occam\u2019s razor. The simplest explanation is usually correct.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Football is a complex sport and winning in the NFL is extremely hard, so it\u2019s only natural to dig for answers when a team engineers a drastic turnaround. Often, there is no need for&amp;nbsp;overanalysis.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Colts have won three straight games following a disappointing 3\u20135 start, the last two victories coming with backup quarterback&amp;nbsp;Matt Hasselbeck at the helm. The Texans are even hotter, winners of four straight. Both teams sit at 6\u20135 and are within the AFC playoff picture\u2014Indianapolis atop the AFC South&amp;nbsp;via tiebreaker and Houston holding the second wild-card spot.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How did we get here?\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As of&amp;nbsp;a few weeks ago,&amp;nbsp;Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano\u2019s firing appeared imminent, possibly even before the season ended. Instead, the Colts axed offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and replaced him with Rob Chudzinski.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Houston coach Bill O\u2019Brien did not find himself in quite as much hot water, but the criticisms were building. His&amp;nbsp;decision to bench Brian Hoyer for Ryan Mallett backfired. His defensive coordinator, Romeo Crennel, was cued up as a potential scapegoat after the Texans were humiliated by Miami in Week 7, 44\u201326.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chudzinski promised to scale back the Colts\u2019 game plan to take some heat off his quarterback\u2019s shoulders. Crennel insisted on more than one occasion that the Texans would \u201Cget back to basics\u201D to fix their defense.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hoping for some grand dissertation on how a coaching staff saves a season? These aren\u2019t the teams to provide it. When there isn\u2019t time to blow up the roster and start from scratch, the alternative is to fix what you can, no matter how minuscule the task.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI think it was pretty clear that we sucked at that point [after the loss to Miami], so something had to happen,\u201D J.J. Watt said Sunday, after Houston downed New Orleans. \u201CWe had to play better. So far, we\u2019ve been doing that.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Said linebacker&amp;nbsp;Brian Cushing,&amp;nbsp;per the &lt;em&gt;Houston Chronicle&lt;/em&gt;,&amp;nbsp;\u201CWe just kind of came together and decided enough was enough.&amp;nbsp;...&amp;nbsp;We just decided right there that was it. We just started really simplifying things and playing hard, and just had a bad taste in our mouth in a couple of those games and internally promised each other that it wouldn\u2019t happen again.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We\u2019ve drifted well into Clich\u00E9land here, but the reality of the NFL is that execution tends to trump scheme and sometimes personnel. Just ask Chip Kelly. A coach can draw up all of the elaborate plans that he wants, but if the players can\u2019t put them to use, they\u2019ll go for naught.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When Chudzinski took over for Hamilton prior to Indianapolis\u2019s Week 9 showdown with Denver, he didn\u2019t set fire to the old playbook. There simply was not enough time to do so, even if he wanted to\u2014Hamilton was fired on Nov. 3, a Tuesday; the Broncos game took place the following Sunday.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The challenge for Chudzinski was to figure out what works best for this Colts offense and to whittle down the game plan to match.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200B\u201CI think that was probably the biggest thing,\u201D veteran WR Andre Johnson&amp;nbsp;told the &lt;em&gt;Indianapolis Star&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;on the heels of his team\u2019s 27\u201324 win over Denver, in which the offense played as well as it had all season. \u201CGuys were just flying around out there, playing as hard as possible, trying to make plays. ...&amp;nbsp;I think that was probably the difference. We scaled back a lot.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chudzinski\u2019s aim has paid even better dividends with Hasselbeck under center in place of an injured Luck. On Sunday, Hasselbeck threw for 315 yards and two second-half touchdowns as Indianapolis rallied past Tampa Bay for a 25\u201312 win. While the Colts\u2019 new offensive coordinator has stayed bullheaded on his run game, almost to a fault (Frank Gore rushed for 24 yards on 19 carries), he\u2019s also&amp;nbsp;helped make his quarterbacks\u2019 lives easier by committing to quick passes and rolling pockets.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ironically, Hamilton found that same formula successful back in Weeks 4 and 5, when Hasselbeck first had to step in for Luck. Hamilton could not maintain that reserve, nor that momentum, when Luck returned.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CChud, I thought he called an excellent game [Sunday],\u201D Pagano said. \u201CAnd Matt did a great job of getting us in the right plays, and he made the big plays when he had to. We knew it was going to be tough sledding, we\u2019d have to be patient, take what they would give us.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Colts finally look deserving of a potential playoff spot. So, too, do their rivals from Houston. O\u2019Brien helped orchestrate that turnaround by reversing his Week 1 decision and reinstalling Hoyer as his No. 1 QB. Hoyer has responded well, for the most part\u2014he completed 78% of his passes against the Saints Sunday for 205 yards and two TDs.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, as was expected at the start of the year, it\u2019s the Houston defense now leading the charge. And again, there is no huge secret, no midseason schematic revelation that changed the fortunes.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Texans\u2019 intimidating front is dictating games the way it should with a player like J.J. Watt on the field. The linebackers are making plays behind it, and the secondary is rolling aggressive coverage out wide.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There have been tweaks, of course. Adjustments made from week to week and opponent to opponent, at times depending on which guys are healthy enough to suit up.&amp;nbsp;Overall, though, this has been a matter of the&amp;nbsp;pieces falling into place before it was too late.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI think it\u2019s a credit to the players, the players have really understood what we\u2019re trying to do on defense,\u201D O\u2019Brien said after watching the defense shut down Drew Brees. \u201CThey\u2019ve practiced very hard to get it right. It\u2019s a credit to the defensive coaching staff under Romeo\u2014he\u2019s put guys in position to make plays. The players have really risen up and gotten back to a position where they\u2019re playing really good defense.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Feel free to take a closer look. There are snap counts and blitz protections and passing charts to support the visual evidence that the Colts and Texans are surging.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;They\u2019re extraneous to the underlying&amp;nbsp;explanations. Simplify. Get back to basics. Play like you\u2019re capable of playing.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boring?&amp;nbsp;Rudimentary? Sure. But the AFC South co-leaders have saved their seasons with&amp;nbsp;the uncomplicated&amp;nbsp;approach.&amp;nbsp;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/11/30/colts-texans-afc-south-nfl-week-13>