Indianapolis Colts’ Andre Johnson (81) catches a pass for a touchdown against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, October 8, 2015, in Houston.
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The Colts (3-2) extended their AFC South winning streak to 16 games setting an all-time record for consecutive victories.
With Luck on the sideline for the first time in his career, 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck led the Colts on a 53-yard drive in overtime to set up Vinatieri’s 27-yard field goal with 4:36 to play. That assumption was strengthened by the fact that a bacterial infection kept Hasselbeck away from the team for the first two days of the week, including a stint in the hospital on Tuesday.
“You can’t really get caught up in what people say”, Johnson said in a veiled reference to the Texans believing he was well past his prime.
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the notable players and stats from this matchup so we can figure out why things played out the way they did. This was his best game since Week 3, where he notched 14 carries for 86 yards and two touchdowns. In the end Foster only ran for 41 yards and Hasselbeck threw two touchdowns.
They have a seemingly winnable game next week against the Jaguars, but aside from two games against Jacksonville there aren’t many plus matchups on Houston’s schedule. Gore finished the night with 22 carries for 98 yards, the highest total a Colts running back has had in 44 games. And it definitely helped the offensive line mitigate the Texans’ pass rush with J.J. Watt and company lined up across the line of scrimmage.
After the game, Hasselbeck also tweeted out another motivating factor for his performance.
Frank Gore also had a good game. Backup Brian Hoyer, who was replaced by Mallett in the season opener, played well in reserve to keep the carousel spinning. He was taken to the locker room to be tested for a head injury.
Strong’s second catch and touchdown came on an 11-yard pass by Hoyer to get Houston to 20-17 in the third quarter. A 23-yard catch and run by Johnson brought out a mix of cheers/boos from the home faithful.
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DeAndre Hopkins had 11 receptions for 169 yards for Houston. The Colts then scored 13 points over the next quarter. He was playing his former team of 12 years, that essentially kicked him to curb in the offseason, and it makes sense that he wanted to play well against them. Asked last Friday whether injured quarterback Andrew Luck is even in the state of Indiana, Pagano said, “That might be the craziest question that I’ve gotten in the history of football”. Most of his success came in the early portion of the season, though. “It’s a great accomplishment, but at the same time it’s required of us”. The Texans came into this short week with quarterback Ryan Mallet at the helm again despite Brian Hoyer’s solid late performance against the Falcons. More importantly, they need to get the rest of their house in order.
