Texans outlast Colts, 23-20

By Elwyn Henderson

The 5-2 Houston Texans returned home to NRG Stadium in Houston Sunday hoping to right the ship from a disappointing loss in Green Bay a week later as they entertained the 4-3 Indianapolis Colts.
The game had added significance since the Texans only Hall of Fame member Andre Johnson who entered the Hall this year received his Hall of Fame ring at a special halftime ceremony. Johnson was also the honorary captain for the pregame coin toss.
Houston won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the game. Dameon Pierce took the kick a yard deep in the end zone and went around the right side up to his 43 where CJ Stroud and the Texans offense took the field.
Stroud engineered a nice drive, but it stalled out at the Colts 16, forcing a Ka’imi Fairbairn 35-yard field goal with 11:15 left in the opening frame, giving the good guys a 3-0 lead. The drive was 9 plays, 41 yards and took 3:45.
The ensuing Fairbairn kickoff was returned 55 yards down to the Houston 40 and Anthony Richardson led the Indy offense on the field for the first time in the contest.
Fairbairn’s ensuing kickoff was returned 55 yards down to the Houston 40 and Anthony on 6 plays over 1:15, forcing a 46-yard Matt Gay field goal with exactly 10 minutes left in the first quarter and tying the game 3-3.
The teams traded punts and there was no additional scoring until the visitors put together a quick 4-play, 81-yard drive that took just 2:12. The drive ended with a 69-yard TD pass from Richardson to Josh Downs with 50 seconds left in the quarter. Gay added the extra point and the Colts led 10-3.
CJ Stroud led Houston methodically down the field to tie the game on a 10-play, 70-yard drive following a touchback that took 5:46 off the clock. The score came on a 14-yard TD run by Joe Mixon with 10:04 left in the first half. Fairbairn added the extra point and the game was tied again, 10-10.
The defense was bolstered by the offense and forced a three-and-out on the next Colts possession. Following a punt and a nice return the Texans began their next drive at the Indy 48. They were unable to get anything going and Tommy Townsend came in and punted the ball away. After a short return Richards and his offensive unit began their next drive at their 18 with 8:04 left in the half.
It appeared as though the teams would head to the locker room tied, but on a Colts possession that began with just over a minute left in the half Jalen Pitre intercepted Richardson at the Indy 17 and returned the ball to the 7. Stroud brought the offense on the field and on the first play he hit Tank Bell for a 7-yard TD pass with 17 seconds left till halftime. Fairbiarn added the point after and Houston took their first lead of the day, 17-10.
After the kickoff and a touchback Richardson took a knee and the teams headed to their respective locker rooms.
Indianapolis received the ball to begin the second half and thought they picked up some early yardage they were forced to punt the ball away. Following a fair catch Houston began their first drive of the half at their 8.
Thanks to a 6-yard loss on the first play the Texans were in a big hole to start the possession. They managed to overcome what could have been a disaster and Stroud completed a critical third down pass and then found a wide open Stefon Diggs who got all the way down to the Colts 20. They were unable to put the ball into the end zone, but Fairbairn did connect on a 35-yard field goal with 7:52 left in the third frame, increasing the Houston lead to 20-10. The drive was 8 plays, 76 yards and took 3:27.
The Colts moved quickly down the field, but the defense stiffened, forcing a 37-yard field goal by Gay with 2:01 left in the third quarter, bringing the score to 20-13. The drive was 10 plays, 52 yards and took 5:51 off the third quarter clock.
After a touchback on the kickoff following the score Stroud brought the offense out at their 30. Stroud moved his unit down to the Colts 16 and on a 4th down Fairbairn nailed a 34-yard field goal with 12:21 left in the game to boost the Texans lead to 23-13. The drive was 9 plays, 54 yards and took 4:40.
The Colts started their next drive at their 30 following another touchback and after a somewhat questionable completion to Downs on the Houston 1 the visitors got into the end zone 2 plays later when Jonathan Taylor ran into the end zone from the 1. Gay’s point after was good and Indy was within 3, trailing 23-10 with 8:32 left in the game. The drive was 11 plays, 70 yards and took 3:49.
Houston began on their 30 after another touchback of Gay’s kickoff, knowing they needed find a way to get into the end zone and get a 2-possession lead back. Aided by a defensive pass interference call on a key 3rd down play inside the 20, the drive continued. Two plays later a fumble was recovered by the Colts at their 18 and they got the ball back with just over 3 minutes left in the game needing just a field goal to tie and a TD to very possibly win the game.
Fortunately, the Texans defense rose to the occasion and Indy went three-and-out and punted the ball away from their 5. Houston set up on their 38 with 1:54 left in the game, knowing if they could sustain a drive they could claim the victory. They inexplicably ran up the middle three straight plays and punted the ball away from their 40.
Thanks to an illegal block in the back on the punt, the Colts began what would be their final drive of the game at their 9 with 54 seconds and no time outs left. It came down to a second down play from the Indy 49 with 1 second left before the winner was finally determined. Richardson fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Will Anderson of Houston and the clock ran out, giving Houston the 23-20 victory. The win extends their AFC South lead to 2 games over the Colts and moves their season record to 6-2.
Head Coach DeMeco Ryans was very happy when he faced the media after the big win.
“First and foremost, just really proud of our team and the way they battled today. We talked about how hard this was going to be. Tough opponent, divisional opponent, know each other well. They’re a really good team. I’m proud of all our guys for finding a way to get the win. That’s the most important thing when it comes to the pressure. Whatever happened there thought our guys did well. C.J. [Stroud] finished with over 280 yards of passing, made great decisions with the football all day, and kept us out of some bad plays. Can’t say enough about what C.J. is doing and how he’s leading this offense. Very proud of him. Its multiple guys stepping up and making plays. ‘Hutch’ [Xavier Hutchinson], ‘Metch’ [John Metchie III], [Dalton] Shultz, everybody. Everyone on offense stepped up and made plays. Again, playing these guys we knew it was going to be hard to stop the run. Joe [Mixon], again, over 100 yards. Joe showed up big time for us when we needed him most making plays.”
When CJ Stroud came in for his presser he was asked how big it was to have a 2-game lead in the AFC South following the win.
“Huge. They’re always a tough opponent. Divisional games are some of your hardest games. So, when you can find a way to win — we clean up some things, we’ve got a lot of other things to clean up as well, but I definitely know that we’re a heck of a football team and we’ve just got to keep putting it on film. Once we figure out the little kinks and things that we need to figure out, I think we’re going to be rolling.”
Houston won’t be able to enjoy the win long as they hit the road for a Thursday Night Amazon Prime game on Halloween against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets. They are hoping they leave Met Life Stadium with a Treat and not a Trick!