The Houston Texans reached the playoffs for the first time since 2019 with a 23:19 away win at the Indianapolis Colts. A rookie made history, another offensive star really turned things up.
Texans @ Colts: At a glance
- The Houston Texans are in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. If the Jaguars don’t win on Sunday, they would even win the AFC South.
- CJ Stroud played fearlessly and made NFL history. The hero of the evening, however, was Nico Collins, who achieved several personal bests.
- The Colts had victory in sight, but a failed play in the final minutes ultimately made the difference.
Texans @ Colts: The game report
The visitors got off to a better start after an early 38-yard field goal from Matt Gay. Their first offensive play of the game was a 75-yard bomb from CJ Stroud to Nico Collins, who outran the defense for the first touchdown of the game. Afterwards, both offensive lines had a noticeably difficult time and hardly moved the ball at all. It wasn’t until around six minutes before halftime that the Texans got rolling again.
Thanks to a 29-yard catch from Collins, they reached the red zone again and a little later Stroud threw his second touchdown pass of the game to fullback Andrew Beck. However, the Colts caught up before halftime with a 52-yard field goal from Matt Gay. And that gave Indy the momentum back, because immediately after a quick stop, Jonathan Taylor caught fire and ran for a 49-yard touchdown. The subsequent two-point conversion by Mo Alie-Cox equalized the score at 14:14.
As a result, Gay missed a 57-yard field goal attempt by only hitting the right upright. This was preceded by a treatment break for edge rusher Jerry Hughes that threw Indy out of rhythm. Previously, they literally marched across the field and could hardly be held on the ground. In return, Ka’imi Fairbairn did better and scored from 51 yards. With the Colts, who had now lost right tackle Braden Smith with a knee injury and Taylor also had to go into the locker room with an ankle injury, Gay equalized again with a 35-yard field goal.
What followed was an impressive drive from Stroud, who received an early sack but quickly shook it off and ended up making several impressive passes to Collins. In the end, it was Devin Singletary who put Houston back in front with a three-yard touchdown run. However, Fairbairn missed the extra point. 23:17 Houston with 6:20 minutes to play.
The Colts then marched back into the red zone led by the returning Taylor, but on 4th&1, running back Tyler Goodson dropped a swing pass from Gardner Minshew, allowing the Texans to get the ball back deep in their own half. And since the Colts also wasted a timeout before the fourth attempt, they ended up with none left to stop the clock early again. With seven seconds left, the Texans finally lined up to punt and with one second left to play, punter Cameron Johnston intentionally ran out of his own end zone for a safety in order to waste as much time as possible. After the subsequent free kick, the game was over.
The Texans are now safely in the playoffs, while the Colts are eliminated. If the Jacksonville Jaguars don’t win on Sunday, they would also win the AFC South.
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Houston Texans (10-7) @ Indianapolis Colts (9-8)
Result: 23:19 (7:3, 7:3, 3:8, 6:5) BOXSCORE
Texans @ Colts: Key stats
- Stroud broke the 4,000-yard mark this season in this game. He is only the fifth rookie in NFL history to achieve this. Before him, only Andrew Luck (2012), Justin Herbert (2020), Cam Newton (2011) and Jameis Winston (2015) achieved this. Meanwhile, Stroud has passed the last two for the third-most passing yards by a rookie quarterback.
- Only at the very end did the Colts manage to score a third attempt. And that despite the fact that they were often in 3rd & short situations and their run game worked very well. They were 1-11 on 3rd downs and 0-1 on fourth down attempts. They were also 0-3 in the red zone, which was ultimately the killer.
- The Colts ran for 227 yards (6.1 per carry) as a team. Taylor also had 188 rushing yards alone. He is the first 100-yard rusher against the Texans this season. In general, the Texans run defense was previously the fourth best this season with an average of 88.5 rushing yards allowed.
The star of the game: Nico Collins (Wide Receiver, Texans)
Nico Collins played his best game ever in the most important game of his career. He set career highs with nine receptions and 195 yards. He also opened the game for his team with a touchdown. A magnificent idea.
The flop of the game: Gardner Minshew (quarterback, Colts)
Minshew didn’t see much land against the Texans and was mostly inaccurate with his passes. He ultimately achieved -0.08 EPA/Play and -11.3 CPOE. He also played a major role in the failed fourth attempt because he threw behind the receiver. He had a chance to win in the red zone, but missed it.
The highlight of the game
The first exclamation point of this game was also the best play – the 75-yard touchdown pass from Stroud to Collins.