Houston Texans lead the Indianapolis Colts, 17-10, in the first half

The Houston Texans elected to receive at the beginning of the game, and had a monster opener, with a 45-yard return from Dameon Pierce, putting them at the 43-yard line to start. Colts safety Trevor Denbow was injured during that return, and had to be helped off the field. He was unable to put any weight on his right leg. The Texans were kept from scoring a touchdown, though, continuing their record of not allowing an opening drive touchdown so far this season, one of only six teams to do so. The Texans were forced to stick with just a field goal instead.

Yet the Colts answered with a bang; Ashton Dulin had an explosive 56-yard return, giving the Colts fantastic field position in Texans territory. The offense relied mostly on passes from Anthony Richardson, which were largely blocked by the Texans; his actual accuracy seemed otherwise to be good. Richardson did manage to connect with Adonai Mitchell in the end zone, but Mitchell was out of bounds, and the drive ended with a field goal from Matt Gay.

Again, the Texans responded with another strong kickoff return, with 132 yards from kickoff returns in the first quarter alone, compared to a measly amount of offensive yards for both teams. The Colts defense managed to hold the Texans yet again, and got the ball back fairly quickly.

Despite a false start from Quentin Nelson, Jonathan Taylor had a huge first play back, running for 18 yards and a first down. Richardson then managed to avoid pressure from the Texans defense, and ran for a first down himself. Once again, the blitz came down hard on Richardson, who managed to dodge a sack, but the pass was not caught by Will Mallory. Another missed pass from Richardson came on the heels of more pressure, and Rigoberto Sanchez had to punt the ball away.

The Texans got the ball back on their eight yard line, and CJ Stroud took a hard hit from DeForest Buckner, though he managed to get the ball away before he was sacked. They followed that up with an actual sack from Dayo Odeyingbo, and the Texans punted again -- a short punt for the second time in the game.

After several runs from Taylor, Richardson connected with Josh Downs for a 69-yard touchdown. With just one minute left in the first quarter, the Colts were leading 10-3.

When the Texans got the ball back, the Colts defense got pressure on Stroud again, but he was able to get the ball away for a first down. The Texans managed to drive into Colts territory, into field goal range. Stroud appeared frustrated with the amount of pressure the Colts defense was putting him under, but managed to continue connecting, particularly with Joe Mixon, who ultimately ran for a touchdown at the end of the drive.

With 10 minutes left in the half, the score was tied, 10-10.

At this point in the game, the Colts pass rush was seemingly struggling; Stroud was making passes easily to tight ends and running backs with little interference from the defense.

After an illegal formation for special teams, Richardson and the offense had the ball on the 25-yard line. Richardson saw the pocket collapse almost immediately and tried to connect with Alec Pierce, but Pierce was not able to make the catch. The Colts saw themselves at 3rd and 10, and Will Anderson ended up sacking Richardson for a quick end to the Colts' drive.

The defense managed to respond well, keeping pressure on Stroud and putting a quick end to their drive, with both teams quickly going three-and-out. That gave Richardson and the offense the ball back with yet again.

Once again, the Colts failed to make any progress, and went three-and-out. Interestingly, the problem today seems not to be Richardson, who has been getting the ball mostly where it needs to be; instead, the receivers seem incapable of making good catches. Steichen, meanwhile, was neglecting the run game, despite having Taylor back. Was he worried about putting too much stress on his newly-returned running back? There's no telling as of now, but Steichen's current strategy for his offense does not seem to be working.

The Colts defense kept the Texans offense contained, with another three-and-out drive, and Richardson came back on the field with less than six minutes to go in the half. And yet again, the ball was quickly punted away.

With just over a minute left in the first half, the Texans were driving, but DeForest Buckner put a quick stop to their momentum with a sack, the second time Stroud had been sacked so far this game. That sack put the Texans out of field goal range, giving the Colts offense the ball back. But that quickly led to disaster, as Richardson threw an interception with :23 seconds left in the half, putting the Texans in the end zone, leading to a touchdown.

At the end of the half, Richardson had just two completions of 15 passes, for 81 yards.