Texans defeat Colts

By Elwyn Henderson

The 11-5 Houston Texans hosted the 8-8 Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium in Houston in the 2025 regular season finale Sunday. Houston entered the game knowing if they won the game and the Tennessee Titans upset the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville that they would win the AFC South for the third consecutive year. The Texans did their part, defeating the Colts 38-30 but the Titans were blasted by Jacksonville by the score of 41-7 so Houston ended up as the 5-seed and will play the Pittsburgh Steelers,    26-24 winner over the Baltimore Ravens in the final Sunday night game of the 2025 season. The game will be played on Monday night, January 12th at 7 PM Central Time on ABC and ESPN.

Houston won the opening coin toss and elected to receive to begin the game. Blake Grupe kicked off and after a short return CJ Stroud brought the Texans offense on the field for their first possession of the game.

The offense got a good drive going but Stroud was called for intentional grounding and the drive ended up stalling, forcing a 51-yard Ka’imi Fairbairn field goal with 12:05 left in the opening quarter, giving Houston an early 3-0 lead. The drive was 8 plays, 31 yards and took 2:55 off the clock.

Fairbairn’s kickoff after the score was returned to the 31 and rookie quarterback out of Notre Dame Riley Leonard brought the Colts out for their first possession.

It took just 3 plays for the visitors to find the end zone as Leonard hit Alec Pierce on a 66-yard TD pass with 10:36 left in the quarter. Grupe added the PAT and Indy led 7-3. It took just 3 plays and 1:29 for Indy to move the 69 yards into the end zone.

On the return by Houston after the kickoff the visitors were penalized 15-yards for a personal foul after the return and the Texans began at their 33. On the next play the Colts were called for illegal hands to the face moving Houston to their 48.

The drive appeared to be headed toward the end zone as Stroud completed a pass down to the 9 but Houston was called or an ineligible man downfield, moving the ball back to the 39. A third down pass moved the ball down to the 30 and Fairbairn came in to attempt a 48-yard field goal. The kick was good and Houston trailed 7-6 with 6:36 left in the opening frame. The drive was 7 plays, 31 yards and took exactly 4 minutes.

Indianapolis began their next drive at their 24. The defense forced a quick three-and-out and -Rigoberto Sanchez came in but the visitors called a fake punt and Sanchez completed a 16-yard pass to keep the drive alive. The offense moved the ball down to the Houston 32 and Grupe came in to attempt a 50-yard field goal. The kick was good and the Colts lead moved to 10-6 with 34 seconds left the quarter. The drive was 11 plays, 44 yards and took 6:02,

The ensuing kickoff was returned from the 3 to the 35 but the Texans were called for holding on the return and the ball went back to the 18.

After a frustrating first quarter Houston finally got things rolling, moving 82 yards in 11 plays over 6 minutes, ending the drive with a 12-yard Stroud to Jayden Higgins TD pass with 9:34 left in the first half. Fairbairn added the extra point and Houston had their first lead of the day at 13-10.

The Colts began their next drive at their 29 and on the third play of the possession Leonard was hit by Tommy Togiai and he fumbled and Henry To’oT’o recovered for Houston at the Colts 2.

On the first play of the possession Stroud ran into the end zone from the 2 with 8:32 left in the half. Fairbairn added the extra point and the home team led 20-10. The drive was 1 play, 2 yards and took just 4 seconds.

The next Indy possession resulted in a quick three-and-out and Jaylin Noel was hit at the 21 just as he was catching Sanchez’s punt, resulting in a 15-yard penalty and setting Stroud and company up at their 36 with 7:05 left in the half.

Houston moved the ball down to the Colts 41 and then the defense forced a Tommy Townsend punt down to the 8 with 3:59 left in the half and Leonard brought his offense back on the field hoping to put a score up knowing his team would receive the second half kickoff.

Leonard marched his team down the field with precision passing and the drive ended when he hit Pierce on a 14-yard TD pass with 1:25 left in the half. Grupe nailed the extra point and the Houston lead was cut to 20-17. The drive was an 8-play, 92-yard possession that took 2:34 off the clock.

Houston set up on their 30 after the kickoff return with hopes of adding points before the half came to an end. The offense moved the ball down to the Indianapolis 11 where Fairbiarn came in to kick a 29-yard field goal to end the half. The kick was good and Houston went into the break leading 23-16. The drive was 9 plays, 59 yards and took the last 1:25 of the first half.

Fairbairn kicked off to begin the second half and after a touchback to the 35 Leonard led his troops back on the field.

They took just 3 plays and 1:55 to move the 65 yards to the end zone for a TD. The score came on a 1-yard run by Leonard with 13:05 left in the third stanza. After Grupe’s extra point the Colts took a 24-23 lead.

When Houston came out after the kickoff Davis Mills came in to relieve CJ Stroud and it was clear that DeMeco Ryans didn’t want to chance having his franchise quarterback get hurt in what had become a meaningless game since Jacksonville was leading Tennessee 31-7 in the third quarter, meaning Houston could not win the AFC South.

The offense failed to get a first down and after a Townsend punt Indy set up on their 22. They also had a three-and-out and after a punt the Texans went back to work at their 28.

Mills led the team down to the 24 and on 4th down Fairbairn booted a 43-yard field goal with 6:53 left in the quarter to put the Texans back up 26-24. The drive was 8 plays, 47 yards and took 3:26 off the third quarter clock.

The next drive began for the Colts at their 35 after yet another touchback. They moved down the field but a key third down pass fell incomplete and after a 15-yard penalty and disqualification of Pierce, Grupe came in and kicked a 39-yard field goal to put the Colts back up 27-26 with 1:42 left in the third quarter. The drive was 13 plays, 44 yards and took 5:11.

Houston began their next drive at their 31 after a 28-yard return of the kickoff. They were unable to get a sustained drive going and after a Townsend punt the Colts set up shop on their 8 with 4:47 left in the game.

The Houston defense came to life and Alijah Huzzie intercepted Leonard at the Texans 33 and Davis Mills brought the offense back on the field.

The drive only managed to get to the 25 and Fairbairn came out on 4th and 2 for a 44-yard field goal. The kick was good with 11:15 left in the game and the Texans took the lead back 29-27. The drive was 4 plays, 8 yards and took 1:13.

Fairbairn’s kickoff after the field goal went out of the end zone again and Leonard and his teammates set up at their 35.

They moved down to the Texans 4 and on 4th down Grupe kicked a 22-yard field goal to put the Colts back on top 30-29 with 2:39 left in the game. The 61-yard drive took 8:36 off the clock and took 14 plays.

Grupe’s final kickoff of the game was a touchback to the 35 and Davis Mills brought his unit out for one last possession and a chance to win the game.

The offense managed to move the ball down to the Indy 25 with 17 seconds left and on 4th and 7 Fairbairn came in to try to give his team the lead. The kick was a 43-yarder and it was good, giving Houston a 32-30 lead with 12 seconds left in the game. The drive was 7 plays, 40 yards and took 2:27.

Fairbairn’s kickoff was returned out of the end zone to the 25 with 5 seconds left in the game and Leonard had one play to try to make a miracle happen.

A miracle DID happen, but it happened for the Texans. Indy lateraled the ball four times and the final lateral was fumbled and Togiai picked up the ball and returned it into the end zone for a TD as the clock ran out and Houston won the game 38-30.

When Coach DeMeco Ryans met with the media after the big win the Mirror asked him if the back and forth game would help the team going into the playoffs.

“As I told the guys after the game, we’ve been in all sorts of games. You name it. What I’m most proud of is our guys find a way to finish, no matter if it’s like it was today, in that fashion where you need a drive at the end. A two-minute [drive] you need to close it out, we can go do that. We’re not shying away from any of those moments. That’s the game of football. You’re never going to line up and blow everybody out. That’s not realistic. You got to persevere no matter how it looks. You keep persevering and keep making winning plays throughout the game; you’ll end up on top.”

When quarterback CJ Stroud came in for his presser the Mirror asked him how he felt about the team finishing at 12-5 and making and having the opportunity to face Pittsburgh or Baltimore next weekend in the playoffs.

“For me I give God the glory. If I look back at this year, look back at my life, look back at everything I’ve been through, I think He… I know He had His hand on me even in times where it doesn’t feel like it. Just a testament of you don’t really learn on mountaintops. Most of the time you learn in valleys. I think the Lord has really had His hand on this team from our head coach [DeMeco Ryans] all the way down to our players. I think I’m really grateful that God has put us together on this 2025-26 Texans team. We got the world ahead of us. But to go out and be 12-5 in the regular season, the best record I’ve had so far in the league with the start we had has just been a blessing. I am really grateful to God that I have my brothers and teammates to do it with.”

We followed that up by asking if he felt God was blessing the team with success due to the public testimony he and Coach Ryans and the team give to the public.

“I don’t want it to ever be confused. I don’t think God is like, the Texans are going to win. Win or loss He gets the glory and that’s up to us. That’s just worship. Him giving us our talents, our abilities and these jobs, He’s more than worthy of all the worship. That’s really why we do what we do. It’s not because we want favor from the Lord, even though that would be nice. In my opinion you don’t just get favor from the Lord because you just give Him glory, but He deserves it and He is worthy of it. I look back on my life, He’s been faithful. It’s not because we all follow Jesus that we just win every game, but regardless, I think it shows the world when you lose and you’re not doing well how you profess your faith or you go about your life when things aren’t going great is the testimony and really the testament of your faith and your journey, your witness to everybody else.”

The real work now begins for the team. They know they have gotten better than they were last year and have matured, but the question is can they find a way to make it to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA to play for a Super Bowl Championship. The road will be a tough one but this team has a lot of confidence and momentum heading into the postseason and they do have a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy on February 8th.