Austin American-Statesman

It’s Houston’s Luck(y) week

Colts QB stands between Texans and division title.

- By Kristie rieken

HOUSTON — The last time the Houston Texans faced an inexperien­ced quarterbac­k they forced secondyear pro Jake Locker into five turnovers and sacked him six times in a win over the Titans.

Two weeks later, they get a shot at Andrew Luck, the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft last April, and they can clinch the AFC South title with a win.

Luck has thrown for 3,792 yards for the Colts, but leads the AFC in intercepti­ons with 18, and has lost five fumbles. He’s also been sacked 32 times, and will now have to deal with AFC sacks leader J.J. Watt.

“We need more sacks,” said Watt, who has a single-season franchise record with 16½. “I need to rush the passer better. As a defensive line, we need more pressure and we need to bat some more balls. We’ll put it on us up front.”

Coach Gary Kubiak noted that Luck is challengin­g because even if the defense gets to him for a sack, his size (6-foot 4, 234 pounds) makes him difficult to bring down.

“It’s got to be a big conscious effort for us to keep him contained, and then when we do have our opportunit­ies you got to really work to bring him down,” Kubiak said. “You can make an incredible highlight reel of people hanging on to him and him still making plays.”

Kubiak likened Luck to Ben Roethlisbe­rger because of his size, and said that when he was studying the draft last year he thought he was the best quarterbac­k to come out since his prede-

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