Demaryius Thomas' debut with the Houston Texans took place on Sunday - fittingly on the road against his old Denver Broncos - who had traded him just five days earlier at Tuesday's deadline.

Thomas had three catches for 61 yards on Sunday, as the Texans narrowly escaped with a 19-17 victory - when Brandon McManus missed a game-winning 51-yarder on the game's final play.

Broncos head coach Vance Joseph was widely criticized for his situational football on Denver's final drive. Case Keenum drove Denver down to the Houston 37 with 43 seconds left, but the Broncos only ran a shorting play for five yards. Runing back Phillip Lindsay then ran the ball up the middle for a one-yard loss.

Joseph then opted to melt the clock and trust McManus to kick the lengthy field goal, which obviously came back to bite him. After the game, Thomas took a shot at his former team for their awful late-game management.

"That's what they do over there," Thomas said, via Mike Silver of NFL.com. "I ain't a part of that no more. We like to win over here."

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Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Thomas certainly has a point. The Texans have erased an 0-3 start and sit comfortably atop the AFC South with a 6-3 record now. Meanwhile, his Broncos have lost six of their last seven games and now stand at 3-6. For the third straight year, Denver is seeing an impressive 2-0 start to go waste.

The Broncos wanted to trade Thomas in order to clear out cap space, and it was hard for him to live up to expectations with questionable coaching and mediocre quarterback play.

But like he said, Thomas doesn't have to worry about it anymore. He's joining a Houston team that has the division title on cruise control. He and DeAndre Hopkins promise to form quite the dynamic duo with second-year quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is having an MVP-caliber season.

Thomas got to see Denver botch yet another game in the waning seconds. But this time, the perennial Pro Bowler got to witness it from the other side. And his time, it has to feel good for him.

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