Indianapolis raced to a 24-0 lead after one quarter and held on against a fast-finishing Houston, beating the Texans 33-28 in Thursday’s National Football League game.
The Texans were driving with less than five minutes remaining when Andre Johnson caught a 13-yard pass, but then fumbled.
On Houston’s final drive, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was sacked by Bjoern Werner, who stripped the ball and D’Qwell Jackson recovered to snuff out the Texans’ last chance.
Photo: USA Today
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck finished with 370 yards passing and three touchdowns, while T.Y. Hilton had a career-high 223 yards receiving with a touchdown, as Indianapolis took over first place in the AFC South division.
For Houston, Fitzpatrick threw for 212 yards and a touchdown, and Arian Foster had 109 yards rushing with two scores.
After an early field goal by the Colts, their first touchdown came on a two-play drive which was instigated by Luck’s 49-yard pass to Hilton, who fell, but got up and continued into the endzone.
It was initially ruled a touchdown, but a review found Hilton was touched when he was down at the 5-yard line. It was only a temporary setback, as the Colts immediately scored the touchdown as Trent Richardson ran in from the 5-yard line.
The Colts pushed the lead to 17-0 when Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a 5-yard pass from Luck with about seven minutes left in the first quarter.
Luck capped a long drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Coby Fleener at the end of the first quarter to extend the lead to 24-0.
After a dreadful first quarter where Houston managed just 2 yards, the Texans’ offense finally got going in the second. They kicked a field goal on fourth-and-five, but a penalty gave Houston a new set of downs.
They took advantage of the opportunity when, two plays later, Fitzpatrick found Johnson in the corner of the end zone and he managed to get both feet in bounds for a 4-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 24-7.
Houston got the ball back when Jared Crick tipped a pass by Luck that was intercepted by Justin Tuggle and the Texans closed to 24-14 when Foster scored on a 12-yard run.
The Colts added a field goal to make it 27-14.
In the third quarter, Houston’s Foster had a 34-yard run before Johnson grabbed a 26-yard reception to get the Texans to the 2-yard line. Foster ran wide before cutting back inside and into the end zone untouched on the next play to make it Indianapolis 27, Houston 21.
The home team had the momentum, but the Colts managed to pad their diminishing lead when Luck, who was under heavy pressure, threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Hilton. The 2-point conversion failed, leaving Indianapolis up 33-21.
The Texans cut the deficit to five points early in the fourth quarter when Luck fumbled, and Watt recovered it and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown, but that was as close as Houston could get.
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