luckadjusted

Week 13 2020 · December 6, 2020

No FTN charting for this game (drops and interception-worthy throws are not modelled).

Colts at Texans, Week 13 2020: who deserved to win?

The Colts beat the Texans 26–20 and were the better team on the day: replayed with the same form, they win 8 of 10.

Before kickoff the Colts were 60% favorites. The game turned on a luck play (Q4, 1:28 left): the Texans fumbled and the Colts recovered, worth 24 points of win probability to the Colts.

Final

Indianapolis Colts 26
Houston Texans 20

December 6, 2020 · NRG Stadium · Closing line: Colts −3.5

Luck index +21 Colts about even · −21 Texans

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Colts win 8, Texans win 2.

  1. 1 IND 40 HOU 12
  2. 2 IND 38 HOU 16
  3. 3 IND 24 HOU 7
  4. 4 IND 27 HOU 14
  5. 5 IND 31 HOU 21
  6. 6 IND 20 HOU 13
  7. 7 IND 33 HOU 28
  8. 8 IND 27 HOU 26
  9. 9 IND 30 HOU 34
  10. 10 IND 6 HOU 20

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Colts win 79% of them, Texans 21%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Colts by 6.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Colts by 17+31.3%
Colts by 9–1620.3%
Colts by 1–825.5%
Level after regulation2.3%
Texans by 1–811.8%
Texans by 9–165.9%
Texans by 17+3.0%

Where the luck was

What the luck was worth

Every lucky and unlucky play, weighted by the moment it happened: its swing in win probability, added up by kind. A missed kick in a decided game counts for nothing; the same kick at the end of a tie game can be most of a win.

Swings add up across a game, so in one that went back and forth they can pass 100%. On the scoreboard the same luck was worth +1.3 points to the Texans: the final margin was Colts by 6, without the luck Colts by 7.3. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each kind is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • K. Fairbairn, 52 yds made · 68% expected
  • K. Fairbairn, 53 yds missed · 67% expected
  • R. Blankenship, 42 yds made · 86% expected
  • K. Fairbairn, 34 yds made · 94% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

Penalties: Colts 7 for 50 yards, Texans 3 for 30 yards

Every accepted flag, in order, and what it did to the helped team’s chance of winning at that moment, including any play it wiped out (points on the scoreboard in grey). A flag in a decided game is worth nothing; one at the turn of a close game can be worth most of a win. Judgment calls count toward luck, pre-snap fouls mostly don’t. How calls are valued

WhenFlagWin probability for
Q1 10:53 False Start on the Colts (Michael Pittman Jr.), 5 yards · pre-snap +2% HOU +0.4 pts
Q1 6:00 Defensive Offside on the Colts, 5 yards · pre-snap 0% HOU +0.5 pts
Q1 2:47 Face Mask on the Texans (Eric Murray), 15 yards +6% IND +1.1 pts
Q2 5:12 Defensive Holding on the Colts (Anthony Walker), 5 yards +3% HOU +1.1 pts
Q3 8:27 Illegal Block Above the Waist on the Colts (Zaire Franklin), 10 yards +4% HOU +1.0 pts
Q4 13:34 Offensive Holding on the Texans, 10 yards +6% IND +1.2 pts
Q4 6:02 Offensive Holding on the Colts (Anthony Walker), 10 yards +5% HOU +1.2 pts
Q4 5:12 Illegal Use of Hands on the Texans (Eric Murray), 5 yards +4% IND +0.6 pts
Q4 3:08 Offensive Holding on the Colts, 10 yards +1% HOU +0.9 pts
Q4 2:57 False Start on the Colts (Michael Pittman Jr.), 5 yards · pre-snap 0% HOU +0.2 pts

Colts penalties, every game · Texans penalties, every game · All teams, 2020

When it happened

Texans’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 64%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Texans were ahead in it, below while the Colts were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 9:59 The Colts converted 3rd & 63rd & 4th downs · 39% expected +8% IND IND: Touchdown
2 Q1 8:42 The Texans converted 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 27% expected +15% HOU HOU: Touchdown
3 Q1 3:40 The Colts converted 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 32% expected +9% IND IND: Touchdown
4 Q2 9:24 The Colts converted 4th & 43rd & 4th downs · 48% expected +12% IND IND: Touchdown
5 Q3 6:37 The Colts were stopped on 3rd & 103rd & 4th downs · 30% expected +8% HOU IND: Punt
6 Q3 1:02 The Texans were stopped on 3rd & 63rd & 4th downs · 37% expected +9% IND HOU: Punt
7 Q4 6:50 The Colts were stopped on 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 68% expected +13% HOU IND: Punt
8 Q4 1:28 The game turned hereThe Texans fumbled and the Colts recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +24% IND –

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Will Fuller (HOU WR), out (IR) · 0.7 pts
  • Randall Cobb (HOU WR), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • Bradley Roby (HOU CB), out (IR) · 0.6 pts
  • P.J. Hall (HOU DT), out (IR) · 0.2 pts
  • Anthony Castonzo (IND T), out · 1.1 pts
  • Khari Willis (IND S), out · 0.5 pts
  • Bobby Okereke (IND LB), out · 0.4 pts
  • Rigoberto Sanchez (IND P), out · 0.2 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Colts 89% · Texans 11%

Final margin
Colts by 6
Luck in points
1.3 for the Texans
Luck-adjusted margin
Colts by 7.3
Replay with same day's form
Colts 79% · Texans 21% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting (not available for this game); injuries from snap counts and injury reports. No FTN charting for this game (drops and interception-worthy throws are not modelled).

Methodology and validation · All Week 13 2020 games · Colts · Texans

More from Week 13 2020