Somewhere in here is a compliment

The Indianapolis Colts, who play at Houston today, have never lost to the Texans. In their nine meetings, the Colts have sacked David Carr 33 times.

“He’s my boy,” defensive end Dwight Freeney told the Indianapolis Star last week, words that should surely grab the attention of Texans offensive linemen.

Freeney’s not kidding. His No. 1 victims are Carr and Steve McNair, each of whom he has sacked seven times. But Freeney says Carr has improved. Carr leads the NFL with a 68.6 completion percentage.

“David’s getting a lot better, man,” Freeney said. “He’s getting there. He’s hanging in there. He’s a tough guy. He keeps getting up.”

Jones denied his props

Tennessee defensive back “Pacman” Jones was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct last Sunday when he celebrated an 83-yard interception return for a touchdown by sliding down the goal post support.

He had celebrated similarly twice this season without being penalized.

Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the league’s competition committee, called the league Monday to get clarification. Mike Pereira, the NFL’s director of officiating, told Fisher the flag should not have been thrown but that similar future celebrations would be flagged.

“After looking at the act and several other demonstrations that have taken place throughout the last few weeks, from this point on, they very strongly recommend he do something other than use the goal post as a prop,” Fisher told reporters. “Because it will be considered a prop and he will be penalized.”

Out-of-bounds critique

The Raiders were hoping to score a cosmetic touchdown late in last Sunday’s 20-0 loss to St. Louis, but receiver Doug Gabriel failed to get out of bounds to stop the clock with 20 seconds remaining.

Gabriel was traded by Oakland to New England last summer, only to be released by the Patriots this month. Then, he was re-signed by Oakland. But Raiders owner Al Davis was none too pleased about Gabriel’s mental lapse against the Rams.

“That guy made a mistake there,” Davis told reporters. “He should have gone out of bounds. That’s why maybe [the Patriots] let him go.”

Davis’ deep thoughts

In that same postgame conversation, the Raiders owner bristled when San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami asked if the string of defeats had convinced him that he needs to change his approach.

“You seem to know what I like -- what do I like?” Davis said.

Quarterbacks who can throw deep, and fast receivers, perhaps?

“Did we throw the ball deep with [Rich] Gannon?” Davis said. “Did we throw the ball deep with [Ken] Stabler? We threw the ball deep with [Jim] Plunkett and won two Super Bowls.

“What I say to you is: five decades, five Super Bowls, four head coaches, four different quarterbacks.

“I want to win. Obviously in life, I like certain things. I like beautiful women more than unbeautiful women. I’m not in any way demeaning the unbeautiful women.”

Vonnie who?

The Dolphins are playing host to the Jets on Christmas night, so who better to steal headlines in Miami and New York than a guy named Vonnie Holliday?

Holliday, a defensive tackle for the Dolphins, irked the Jets back in October when, after his team’s 20-17 loss at the Meadowlands, he complained that Miami had “played a Jets team that was not a very good football team, a team we were better than and should have beat.”

That prompted a response from New York receiver Laveranues Coles last week in a conference call with Miami reporters.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t even know who Vonnie Holliday is,” Coles said. “Whatever he has to say ... I feel if it came from Jason Taylor or Zach Thomas, it would be a little bit more of something to say something about.”

Informed of that, the Dolphins defensive tackle shot back: “We fully expect to go into that game and get a victory.”

That’s the Holliday spirit.

-- Sam Farmer