Colts 30, Texans 24: No Moral Victories

The Texans had a chance to beat the Colts up to the last play of the game, despite playing the entire game without their number one receiver, Andre Johnson. The Texans are claiming no moral victory for the close loss, though their fans are probably more upset at the player injuries that happened during the game than the loss itself. The Colts lost all three AFC South road games last year, and have to feeling good to be currently 2-0 on the road in division this year.

To make it more difficult for the Texans to control the clock like they did last times the teams played, the Colts concentrated on stopping the run by playing 8 men in the box. They switched to Cover-2 after they had a couple of score lead. Ahman Green left the game early in the second quarter with a knee strain, and number 3 running back, Samkon Gado was unable to do much with the ball. (Second stringer Ron Dayne was inactive for this game due to a rib injury).

The Colts held the Texans to 40 yards rushing total. You think Bob Sanders had anything to do with that? Typically, in the past, teams' game plans against the Texans have been about stopping Andre Johnson, but with him out, the better bet is to make the Texans have to play mistake free football in the passing game and become one dimensional.

Matt Schaub threw the ball to 10 different targets and had a completion percentage of 81.8%. Two inceptions hurt the team, especially the one where he failed to take advantage of the Jacoby Jones' 74 yard punt return that put the ball at the Colts' 20 yard line. Time of possession was fairly even, but if you end up -2 against the Colts on turnovers, you are likely going to lose.

So where does the Colts victory leave both teams? The Colts have two in division victories on the road, and are generally playing the way they expect to play. They would be happier if their running game was working better the last two weeks, and their special teams played better on Sunday, but ultimately wins are wins as they don't give out style points.

The Texans at 2-1 may be facing difficult "challenges," as Gary Kubiak likes to refer to them, due to injuries. After this game, their number 1 and 2 receivers and starting and backup running backs are injured, among other miscellaneous players.

This is Kubiak's post game update on the injuries:

"I'm going to be pretty vague here. (RB) Ahman (Green) has a knee sprain, or a knee strain. He'll be evaluated and have an MRI this afternoon. (DT) Cedric Killings, when he was on the field, he was moving everything, he was talking to me, he called out to his teammates a couple times. He has a big cut under his right eye. He was in a big collision. That's about all I know right now. He's at Methodist (Hospital). We'll put him through a series of tests tonight. All indications appear to be real positive. We'll see how that comes out. (WR) Andre' Davis dislocated a finger. (WR) Jacoby Jones has an AC separation. He'll be evaluated in the next couple of days. I can tell he'll miss some time. (C) Steve McKinney has a knee sprain. It was thought to be pretty serious initially, but he actually did go back in the game, so that's a positive sign. We've got some guys beat up and I don't have a lot of answers for you. I'm sorry. We should have more for you tomorrow as we work through these guys tonight."

The injury to Killings during a kickoff collision stopped the game for a frighteningly long time as he didn't get up and didn't move much. Apparently, he has feeling in his extremities and has been taken to the hospital for tests. The entire Texans sideline stood near him, and many of the Colts players were praying for him as well. And I suppose a few prayers from us would probably help too.