TEXANS-COLTS
Breaking down Sunday’s game in Indianapolis.
The records: Texans 4-11, Colts 3-12. The rivalry: The Texans have a two-game winning streak in Indianapolis after losing their first 13 games there. Colts won 20-14 on Nov. 5 in Houston when Jacoby Brissett threw two touchdown passes to T.Y. Hilton and Tom Savage struggled in his first start after reclaiming the quarterback job following Deshaun Watson’s knee injury. Indy leads the overall series 24-7.
The coaches: The Texans’ Bill O’Brien is 31-32 after five consecutive losses and eight in the past nine games. The Colts’ Chuck Pagano is 52-43 but will finish with his first losing season in six years. The Colts haven’t made the playoffs since losing the AFC Championship Game in 2014. The Texans made the playoffs each of the past two seasons, advancing to the divisional round in 2016 before losing to the Patriots.
How they compare: Offensively, the Texans are 18th in yards gained (12th rushing, 20th passing) and 16th in points scored. The Colts are 31st in yards gained (22nd rushing, 30th passing) and 30th in points scored. Defensively, the Texans are 23rd in yards allowed (12th rushing, 26th passing) and 32nd in points allowed. The Colts are 30th in yards allowed (27th rushing, 30th passing) and 30th in points allowed.
Plot lines: The loser finishes last in the AFC South. That’s a stark contrast from 2009-16, when each team won the division title four times. The Texans never have made the playoffs three seasons in a row, getting there back-toback years in 2011-12 and 2015-16.
Six degrees of separation: Andrew Luck, the forward Stratford High School star, never played this season because of shoulder problems, while ex-Texans linebacker John Simon is on the Colts injured reserve list with a right shoulder injury. Before coming to Houston last May, Texans assistant general manager Jimmy Raye III spent the previous four years working in the Colts’ personnel department.
Trending: The Texans have lost eight of nine after a 3-3 start and are 1-7 since Watson went down. They haven’t scored more than 16 points in six of their past seven games and they have managed only 13 in their past two combined, when they have averaged 207 total yards. The Colts haven’t scored more than 20 points in their past six games, all of which they lost. Indianapolis’ only home victories have come at the expense of then-winless San Francisco and still-winless Cleveland.
Go figure: Despite having played with four quarterbacks this season, DeAndre Hopkins leads the NFL with 13 touchdown catches and has gained 1,378 yards. He is expected to be out this weekend with a calf ailment. The Texans have allowed 34 or more points six times, surrendering 79 the past two weeks — 51 of them in the first half. Between them, the Colts and the Texans have given up 107 sacks, ranking last (55) and next to last (52) respectively.
Worth pondering: Does another terrible effort by the Texans cost O’Brien his job?