3 most impressive things from the Colts’ dominant win over Houston

The Indianapolis Colts had a dominant Week 13 victory over the Houston Texans.

On Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts completed the season sweep of the Houston Texans with a commanding 31-0 victory. The Colts are now 7-6 and remain alive as ever in the playoff race.

Houston, now 2-10, never had a chance in Sunday’s game, but the Texans’ defense was able to prevent Indianapolis from running up the score.

In the end, Indianapolis coasted to a comfortable victory with quality performances from players on both sides of the ball. Once the team watches the film, they’ll see some things that need improvement, but they will be pleased with how they took care of business on Sunday.

Here are the three most impressive things from the Colts win over the Texans:

3. Carson Wentz’s efficiency for Colts offense

After throwing 44 times in Week 12, Carson Wentz had a much more conservative day against Houston, throwing only 22 passes. Wentz was extremely efficient, though, completing 16-of-22 passes for a 72% completion rate.

One of those passes was a two-yard touchdown to Ashton Dulin in the back of the end zone.

This efficiency is just the latest example of Wentz’s development. On a day where he didn’t need to be Superman, he was able to just contribute in a minimal role whenever his name was called.

Wentz connected with eight different targets and continued his relationship with Michael Pittman Jr., finding him six times for 77 yards.

For the majority of Sunday, his passes were accurate and on time and that should further strengthen the confidence in him that he can win games with his arms, if necessary.

2. Frank Reich’s game plan to feed Jonathan Taylor

All week following the loss to Tampa Bay, Frank Reich received criticism about not getting the ball to Jonathan Taylor enough. Even though the Colts scored 31 points against the Bucs and Reich explained the rationale for Taylor’s lack of carries, fans and players still wanted the best back in the league to have a bigger plate.

Sunday against the Texans, everyone got their wish. Indianapolis went to Taylor and the run game early and often. On the first drive alone, Indy ran six run plays. They all weren’t to Taylor, but he did have the final carry, punching in a one-yard touchdown on a direct snap.

In the first half, Taylor had 19 carries for 67 yards. If he didn’t take another handoff for the remainder of the game, those 19 carries still would have been his third-highest total on the season.

It was clear that Indianapolis was being intentional about getting Taylor the football against the 31st-ranked run defense, and it paid off as he finished with a career-high 32 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

Taylor averaged 4.5 yards a carry in the game and scored a rushing touchdown for a 10th consecutive game in a single season, only two games back of the record of 12.

1. Colts defense records an historic shutout

On the very first play from scrimmage, the Indianapolis defense did something they’ve been doing all season: force a turnover. It was how the game ended, though, that made Sunday special for the Colts defense.

By keeping the Texans off the board, Indianapolis not only got their first shutout of the season, but this is the franchise’s first road shutout since 1992.

This isn’t a feat that should be diminished because it was against a struggling Houston offense. In all of the road games played since 1992, there certainly had to be some poor offenses involved, but it wasn’t until today that they were blanked completely.

A lot of it had to do with the Colts’ aggressiveness in taking the ball away. In the first series, Kenny Moore intercepted a pass, and in the following series, he forced a fumble that was recovered by Xavier Rhodes.

After the two turnovers, it was just quality, stingy defense. Indianapolis limited the Texans to 141 total yards: 54 passing and 84 rushing. Houston was 3-12 on third downs and secured only nine total first downs all game.

The Colts’ defense has forced turnovers all season, but this is the cleanest they’ve looked in every other department. Yes, it was just the Texans, but Indy did a lot of good things that they can build off of for the final stretch of the season.

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