The Texans have a penchant for shooting themselves in the foot. They tried again Sunday, failing to put away the Colts time and time again.
The Colts, though, couldn’t get out of their own way either.
Houston held on for a 23-20 win in an AFC South showdown. At 6-2, the Texans now have a two-game lead on the Colts (4-4) and hold the tiebreaker after sweeping the season series.
The Colts began their final drive at their own 9 after an illegal block by Kelvin Joseph on the Texans punt. They started the drive with 54 seconds and Anthony Richardson ran for 26 yards, but he didn’t even try to get out of bounds with the Colts out of timeouts. Their next snap came at 28 seconds.
The Colts faced a fourth-and-10 at their own 35 with 14 seconds left when Richardson completed a 14-yard pass to Trey Sermon. Indianapolis rushed to the line, and Richardson spiked the ball. The TV replay showed the clock expiring before the ball hit the ground, but replay assist ruled one second remained.
It didn’t matter: Richardson never got the pass off. He was sacked by Danielle Hunter and fumbled, ending the game.
Richardson was right at his average of 48.5 percent completion percentage, going 10-of-32 for 175 yards with a 69-yard touchdown throw to Josh Downs. But the interception he threw to Jalen Pitre was a killer before the half, with the safety returning it 10 yards to the Indianapolis 7 with 23 seconds remaining in the half.
C.J. Stroud threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tank Dell on the next play for a 17-10 halftime lead.
The Texans never trailed after that and were up 23-13 in the fourth quarter despite a huge offsides penalty on defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi on a Colts punt that led to a first down and a Colts touchdown. They then had a chance to put it away at the Indianapolis 8 with three minutes remaining, but Stroud fumbled a pitch to Joe Mixon, and Dayo Odeyingbo recovered for the Colts.
Stroud finished 25-of-37 for 285 yards and a touchdown, and Mixon ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Stefon Diggs caught five passes for 81 yards before leaving with a knee injury on a non-contact play.
The Texans had five sacks, including two by Hunter and one by Will Anderson.
Jonathan Taylor rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries for the Colts, and Downs caught four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.
