The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Colts Edition
The first divisional matchup between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts had divisional as well as playoff implications, making it a big game. With a win, the Texans would clinch the division, while the Colts would clinch a playoff spot. Both teams needed a win to keep their positioning in the playoff race as well as the division; however, the Texans flexed their muscle just enough to close the door on the Colts.
FINAL SCORE: Texans 29 Colts 17
TEXANS REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 12-2
TEXANS DIVISIONAL RECORD: 5-0
TEXANS AFC CONFERENCE RECORD: 10-1
TEXANS VS NFC CONFERENCE RECORD: 2-1
Texans Total Yards: 417
Colts Total Yards: 272
Texans Passing Yards: 239
Colts Passing Yards: 148
Texans Rushing Yards: 178
Colts Rushing Yards: 124
Texans TOP: 33:06
Colts TOP: 26:54
THE GOOD
Bulls on parade came out red hot putting consistent pressure on the Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck. The Texans defense took it to the Colts young team and wouldn’t cut them any slack. JJ Watt was relentless and a force all game long causing Luck to be harassed in the pocket. Watt had 3 sacks, 10 tackles and 1 forced fumble, and the Texans defense sacked Luck a total of 5 times. The special teams made an excellent play to keep the momentum in the Texans favor by blocking a punt and scoring a touchdown. Bryan Braman bullied his way through the Colts offensive line to block the punt, recover the fumble and run it in for the touchdown.
THE BAD
The play of the safeties for the Texans has been terrible over the last 4 games. They have been allowing far too many receivers to get behind them in coverage. Not allowing a receiver to get over the top of them should be priority number one. The one play that allowed T.Y. Hilton of the Colts to score a touchdown was caused by Quintin Demps, who was benched and replaced by Shiloh Keo. The Texans must get this fixed because if they don’t it can seriously hurt them in the playoffs.
THE UGLY
There was nothing ugly about this game. The Texans beat the Colts by two scores and sent them a message that they have no chance of challenging for the AFC South title anytime soon.
*Injury Note: Tim Dobbins has a finger injury, and will have to play with a cast.
See more analysis and highlights of the game here.
