Colts stifle Texans’ late surge to avoid collapse
HOUSTON — When Indianapolis raced to a big lead over the Houston Texans in the first quarter, Colts coach Chuck Pagano was worried they’d let up.
They did, but that early lead was so big that they were still able to hold on for a 33- 28 victory Thursday night.
“You’re going up and down on the sideline screaming at everybody: ‘ Don’t take your foot off the gas,’ ” Pagano said. “Next thing you know, just like that ( it’s close). It’s never over in this league.”
The Colts ( 4- 2) led 24- 0 after one quarter, but allowed Houston ( 3- 3) to cut it to 33- 28 early in the fourth quarter on J. J. Watt’s fumble return for a touchdown.
“You give a team a 24- point lead right out the gate, you’re going to have a difficult time,” Watt said.
The Texans had two opportunities to take the lead late, but the Colts recovered fumbles by Andre Johnson and Ryan Fitzpatrick in the last five minutes.
“You can finally start to see the type of defence that we envisioned a long time ago, to go out there and do that week in and week out,” Pagano said.
Luck finished with 370 yards passing and three touchdowns for his fourth straight 300- yard passing game and T. Y. Hilton had a career- high 223 yards receiving with a touchdown to give Indy first place in the AFC South.
“We realized with the recent history of Thursday night games, teams who are going on the road are struggling and we didn’t want to do that,” Luck said. “We were lucky enough to get off on that fast start.”
The Texans were driving with less than five minutes remaining when Johnson — called for pass interference two plays earlier — caught a 13- yard pass and fumbled.
Watt knocked down Luck’s pass on third down on Indy’s next drive to give Houston one last chance. But Bjoern Werner sacked Fitzpatrick and stripped the ball and D’Qwell Jackson recovered.
Fitzpatrick threw for 212 yards and a TD for Houston.