Colts Defeat Texans, 27-20, Without Luck
By Evan Reller
The Indianapolis Colts keep stealing games from the AFC South. Three days rest with a road game, starting QB injured, backup QB with a bacterial infection and it didn’t matter. The Colts led the Houston Texans wire-to-wire on their way to a 27-20 victory, their third straight against the AFC South. The win gave the Colts a record 16th straight division win.
Andre Johnson finally remembered that he is a talented football player tonight as he torched his former team for a pair of touchdowns. Johnson led the Colts in receptions for the first time this season with six for 77 yards.
Matt Hasselbeck, who spent Monday night in the ER with an IV while fighting a bacterial infection, put in another standout performance. He completed 18-of-29 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. None of his passes was more impressive than a deep shot to T.Y. Hilton on third down to ice the game.
Hilton hauled in the rainbow and the Colts kneeled to end the night. He finished with five receptions for 88 yards.
The Colts did a fair amount of damage on the ground tonight with Frank Gore as well. Gore averaged 4.5 yards per carry and finished with 98 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Adam Vinatieri also drilled two long field goals, making sure the only players to score for the Colts were 32 years or older. Vinatieri, Gore, Hasselbeck, and Johnson have a combined age of 148 years old.
The Texans QB situation proved to be the team’s downfall tonight. Ryan Mallett led a good opening drive, but was intercepted off a tipped pass by Mike Adams. Brian Hoyer came in after Colts linebacker Sio Moore delivered a shot that knocked Mallett out. Hoyer passed for over 300 yards, but with the game on the line felt pressure and threw up a duck to Adams with under two minutes to play.
The Colts certainly have issues on both sides of the balls, but now have a stranglehold on the AFC South. They’ll face the Titans and Texans in Indianapolis and have just a road game left against the Jaguars.
The Colts can now take time off to get healthy with a mini-bye week before they host the Patriots on the 18th for Sunday Night Football.