Colts vs. Texans: Offensive post-game grades

The Colts lost a heart-breaker 37-34 in overtime against the Texans. Their offense struggled early, but came on strong late. Here is how each unit played during the game.

There was a huge question mark about the offense of this team going into today’s game. Those questions were answered a little bit today. They struggled a lot early on, but played well enough late to give the team a chance to win.

Quarterback play was not why the Colts lost today. Luck played well when he had time to throw it, amassing 464 yards and 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. But he did have one fumble on a sack that led to a Houston touchdown. But that was on the offensive line instead of Luck. He led a game-tying drive late in the fourth and converted a two point conversion at the end.

The running game wasn’t very effective today. The Colts only had 2.4 yards per carry, amassing only 41 yards on the ground. This grade is mainly for the stellar play of Nyheim Hines, who had 9 catches for 63 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had the best game of his young career, and that could be a sign of things to come from the rookie.

It was ugly early for the wide receivers. They had an absurd amount of drops in the first half. It looked like no one wanted to catch the ball except for T.Y. Hilton and Zach Pascal. Hilton had 4 catches for 115 yards and Pascal had 6 catches for 56 yards and 1 TD. But the drops were a huge issue throughout the game.

Eric Ebron had a rough game. He got called for multiple penalties and had multiple drops. He did have a touchdown catch, but it wasn’t enough to offset his drops. Mo Allie-Cox got called for a holding penalty late in the game that pushed the Colts back. Not a good effort from this group.

The tackles got torched in this game. They allowed a combined 4 sacks. The unit did a little better in the second half after they got some help with protection from backs and tight ends. But they did Luck no favors. They let him get hit all game long. This isn’t an issue that is going to be fixed anytime soon either.

If the offense played a little better in the first half, maybe the Colts win this game. But because of their poor start, they end up losing yet again.