HOUSTON ??The Houston Texans are in a much different place now than the first time they faced the Indianapolis Colts this season
Trevor Daniel Jersey , when they were 0-3 and desperate for a win.Ka’imi Fairbairn made a field goal as time expired in overtime to lead the Texans to a
37-34 victory in that game and they haven’t lost since, reeling off a
franchise-record nine straight wins entering Sunday’s rematch.The Texans led
28-10 in the third quarter in that first meeting before Andrew Luck threw three
second-half touchdowns to rally the Colts and set up the wild finish.The Colts
failed to convert a fourth-and-4 with 24 seconds left in overtime to give
Fairbairn a chance to win it.“Being up 28-10 … and then letting them come back
and being down in overtime and pulling through the adversity, it kind of
slingshot us to where we are now,” Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson
said.?“That was one game where we went through all types of phases and
situations that put us through this nine-game win streak. It was the start of
everything.”Defensive end J.J. Watt said that Sept. 30 game seems as if it was a
long time ago and noted how difficult it has been for the Texans to win in Indy,
where they’re just 3-14 all time.“We needed one to get started. That was the one
to get us started on this streak,” Watt said. “Bit of an unorthodox way to get
it, but we got it. So, here we are.”The Texans (9-3) are coming off a 29-13 win
over the Cleveland Browns while the Colts (6-6) were shut out 6-0 by the Jaguars
last week to end a five-game winning streak.“The Jacksonville game was
tough
Natrell Jamerson Jersey ,” Luck said. “They outplayed us. There’s not much else to say about it. As a defense against our offense, they just flat outplayed
us. … We took a good look at it and we’ll improve. I know we will.”TOUCHDOWN
THOMASHouston rookie tight end Jordan Thomas has a knack for scoring with four
touchdown catches despite having just 14 receptions this season. His four
touchdown receptions are tied with Andre Johnson for second-most TD receptions
by a rookie in franchise history. The 6-foot-6, 277-pound Thomas has been a
favorite target of Watson’s in the red zone; all of his scores?have come on
catches of 13 yards or less.NEW BALANCECoach Frank Reich has stressed the need
to find balance since he took the Colts’ job in February.When these teams met
previously, Luck set single-game franchise records with 40 completions and 62
attempts and became the 11th player in league history to throw for 450 yards and
four TDs. He wound up with 464 yards, second in franchise history, and four
scores.Since then, an improved ground game helped lessen the burden on Luck’s
arm ??until last week, when he threw 52 passes
Sammie Coates Jersey , including 14 straight during one stretch, in the loss to Jacksonville. Don’t expect the Colts to be so one-dimensional in Houston.“You
never want to have to drop back and pass it 52 times,” offensive coordinator
Nick Sirianni said. “We always want to run it more. Just in that scenario, the
way we were running it, we had some plays on our call sheet that we felt were
going to be good to hit, some chunks in the pass game, and that’s the way we
went.”THE BIG DHouston also will see a different defense.After allowing an
average of 30 points over their first six games, the Colts cut that number to
16.8 points over the past six. Indy is the only team to have forced at least one
turnover in every game this season and is second in the league in tackles for
loss (71.0). Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard leads the league in tackles (122)
and is tied for fourth in forced fumbles (four).First-year defensive coordinator
Matt Eberflus sees it as a good start.“We feel we have set the standard of how
we want to play in terms of the style. Now we just need to execute on a
consistent basis and just keep doing that week in and week out
Aaron Colvin Jersey ,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we have to improve on, but we have come a long way.”DEANDRE’S ARTOn a TV show this week,
Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis said the way DeAndre Hopkins catches a
football “is an art.” The Houston star agrees.“There’s more to it than just
going out and catching a football,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go
on before that. It’s for sure an art, and repetition makes perfect.”Hopkins
routinely makes nearly impossible catches look run of the mill, and Watson has
said he believes Hopkins will catch anything?thrown his way. His latest nifty
catch came last week against the Browns on a 24-yard reception near the sideline
that came after T.J. Carrie grabbed his dreadlocks to try?to slow him
down.Hopkins knows that he makes it look easy, but wanted to make clear that it
is not.“It’s harder than people think,” he said. “Especially like me
Ka’imi Fairbairn Jersey , I usually have a defender on me or close to me, so catching the football isn’t easy for me like it is for some people who are
wide open. It’s a challenge for me to play through that and still catch
it.”100View Gallery Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta Your
one-stop shop for Houston Texans, local sports, and news from around the league
for Wednesday, April 10, 2019."Houston Texans NewsTexans work out Florida safety
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (Houston Chronicle)Texans’ preseason includes game,
joint practices with Packers (Houston Chronicle)Central Florida DT Trysten Hill
to visit Texans (Houston Chronicle)Details revealed for Texans’ NFL Draft party
at NRG (Houston Chronicle)NFL NewsBrown: ‘Not giving you media fakes no more
ammo’NFL releases 65-game 2019 preseason scheduleKyler Murray among 23 prospects
attending draftGostkowski re-signs with Patriots on 2-year dealLawrence not like
Bell: ‘I ain’t skipping $20 million’Rodgers says he suffered tibial fracture in
Week 1Eagles sign WR Johnson, who led AAF in receivingCasserly mock draft 2.0:
Giants
Kendall Lamm Jersey , Bolts, Pats go QBDraft guide: One burning question for all 32 teamsHouston & Collegiate SportsRockets blow another lead to Thunder,
flub chance to clinch two-seed (The Dream Shake)Game Recap: Comeback Mojo
Strikes Again. Astros Top Yanks 6-3 on Springer Double for 5th Straight Win
(Crawfish Boxes)
