Colts quarterback Daniel Jones will remain on the injury report this week.
Jones landed on the report last Thursday as a limited participant because of a fibula injury and head coach Shane Steichen said that Jones will be listed as a limited participant again on Wednesday. The Colts are only holding a walkthrough, so that’s an estimation of what Jones would do in a full practice session.
Jones moved back to full participation last Friday and played in Indianapolis’ overtime loss to the Chiefs. He was 19-of-31 for 181 yards and two touchdowns that helped the Colts take an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but he also ran the offense on four straight three-and-outs that opened the door for Kansas City’s comeback win.
The Colts will need a better result against the Texans this weekend or things will suddenly be very tight in the AFC South as December gets underway.
The Chiefs have signed running back Dameon Pierce to their practice squad, the team announced Monday.
They cut wide receiver Jimmy Holiday from the practice squad to make room for Pierce.
The Chiefs needed help at the position with Isiah Pacheco sidelined.
The Chargers, Broncos, Bears, Eagles, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins also had interest, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
The 2022 fourth-round pick was in his fourth season with the Texans when they cut him last week.
Pierce led the Texans with 939 rushing yards during his rookie season but wound up behind Devin Singletary the next year and has remained a reserve since then. He has 10 carries for 26 yards and a touchdown as the third option in a backfield with Woody Marks and Nick Chubb.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud’s status hasn’t changed since last week.
Head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters on Monday that Stroud remains in the concussion protocol. Stroud was injured in the team’s Week 9 loss to the Broncos and has missed the last three games.
Davis Mills has started all three of those games for Houston and the Texans have won all three to push themselves back into the playoff picture in the AFC. Ryans said that Stroud will return to the starting lineup if he clears the protocol ahead of the team’s Week 13 game against the Colts.
The next update on Stroud’s progress will come with Wednesday’s practice. That will also be the case for safety Jalen Pitre as he also remains in the concussion protocol to kick off the week.
The Colts had an 11-point lead over the Chiefs heading into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, but they weren’t able to finish off their ninth win of the regular season.
A Kareem Hunt touchdown run, a two-point conversion and a field goal tied the game and the Chiefs won it on another Harrison Butker kick in overtime. The Colts went three-and-out on each of their final four possessions, which left cornerback Charvarius Ward to say that he feels the Colts are close to being a real contender but are “not there yet” after failing to finish off the Chiefs.
“We gotta learn how to win these type of games,” linebacker Zaire Franklin said, via the team’s website. “The learning curve can’t be long. I feel like we didn’t play up to the standard that we wanted to play at, but credit to them — they’ve been in that type of situation and made the plays that they had to make. . . . They made championship-level plays. And we gotta be better if we’re going to be the type of team we want to be this year.”
The Colts won five blowouts during a 7-1 start to the season, but they’ve lost two of their last three games and their most recent win came in overtime against the Falcons. They remain in first place in the AFC South, but they’re just a game up on the Jaguars and two games up on the Texans with four of their final six games coming against those divisional foes. The other two are against the Seahawks and 49ers, so now would be a good time for the Colts to show that they’ve learned the necessary lessons from Sunday’s loss.
Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. had the game of his life on Thursday night. He had six tackles, 2.5 sacks for 31.5 yards, three quarterback hits and a pass defensed that nearly was an interception.
The AFC defensive player of the week honor likely is already won, although Texans safety Calen Bullock should receive consideration for the three takeaways he had in the 23-19 win over the Bills. (It’s also likely another week that Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett doesn’t win the award no matter how many sacks he has. Garrett, arguably the league’s best defensive player, has not won the award since Week 12 of the 2024 season.)
On one of his sacks of Josh Allen, Anderson traveled 51.7 yards chasing the Bills quarterback, per Next Gen Stats. That is the longest distance traveled for a sack since Week 2 of 2023 and is higher than any other Texans defender in the past 10 years.
Allen lost 18 yards on the play, as Anderson nearly sacked him at the beginning of the play before Allen spun out of it. Anderson got up and chased Allen left and then back right before finally tackling him.
“That just goes back to the relentless rush,” Anderson said, via video from Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “I think coach really hit it on the head this week. It’s like, ‘Man, whatever it takes to get him down. You’re going to miss him once, but pop back up and get him again.’ It’s just crazy. . . . [Our goal was to] just be relentless in everything we do this week.”
