The Indianapolis Colts dropped a must win game against Houston Texans on their home field Sunday afternoon. The Colts fell to the Texans 22-17 in the most important game of the year.
The Colts had everything in their favor heading into Sunday. The offense was clicking, their quarterback on fire, and the game was at Lucas Oil Stadium. But poor effort and execution doomed the home team
Andrew Luck had one of his worst games of the season, turning the ball over three times (two interceptions and a fumble). He wasn’t alone in his struggles as the Colts wide receivers were smothered and the defense couldn’t stop the Brock Osweiler led offense.
The Colts had a late shot to take a lead but failed to convert on a bizarre play call on fourth-and-one. Pressure up the middle and good coverage prevented Luck from finding anyone forcing an attempted dump off to backup Robert Turbin well short of the line to gain (it might have been a screen to Turbin which is even more baffling).
Luck finished the day completing 24-of-45 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target was of course T.Y. Hilton who had nine receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown. His final stat line was good but Hilton was quiet for the majority of the afternoon.
Not as good was Phillip Dorsett. While he drew a couple pass interference penalties, he had three bad drops this afternoon and was more of a liability on the field. Luck clearly lost his faith in Dorsett as he gave up a couple easy completions to force the ball to a well covered Hilton.
On defense, the Colts were gashed on the ground for 185 yards and couldn’t get the Texans off the field when it mattered most. They have multiple shots to force turnovers in the redzone but couldn’t make the play.
The Colts saw multiple offensive linemen leave the game with injuries, a few backup defenders drop as well, and Donte Moncrief leave early with a sore hamstring.
The loss makes a division title an uphill battle for Indianapolis. They’ll need an awful lot of help from the Texans and Titans opponents if they’re going to make the playoffs.
Up next, the Colts face the Vikings in Minnesota on December 18th.