Sunday
NFL News, Opinion, Top PostsHo-hum, Colts remain unbeaten
EDDIE LEE
NFLPosts.com Editor
It used to be rather newsworthy when a team won 17 regular season games in a row. But thanks to the Patriots dynasty of this decade, these days, it’s treated as just another stepping stone.
Which may suit the 8-0 Colts just fine.
With a difficult 20-17 win over the Texans Sunday, the Colts enter Patriots week about as underrated as an undefeated team can be.
Maybe it’s because of the unusually large number of unbeatens that came out of the gate this year. Or maybe it’s because the Colts follow the steady pace of their leader, QB Peyton Manning.
Unlike Aaron Rodgers, who celebrated a TD run in a 38-28 loss to the Bucs with a title-belt crowning, or clowning, display, the most you’ll get out of a Manning score is a fist pump. Maybe.
Yet all he does is win. Especially against the Texans, who came into the game looking to make a statement within the division and left with the malignant taste of yet another tragic loss.
Kris Brown missed a game-tying 42-yard FG as time expired, wide left by about a foot and Houston has now lost all 8 games they’ve played in Indianapolis and 14 of 15 against the Colts.
Yes, Indy has been that good over the past decade, but eventually a break has to go your way, doesn’t it?
For the Texans, playing the Colts is like fighting a much bigger brother. No matter what they do, and how much stronger they get, they seemingly know that in the end, somehow, someway, the Colts will make the plays to win.
Prior to the missed FG, the Texans were driving and riding the momentum of having erased a 13-0 Colts lead when Colts LB Gary Brackett spilled in against Matt Schaub’s arm, making his pass flutter in the air and into the waiting arms of teammate Clint Sessions. Dagger delivered.
The Texans came into the game riding a 3-game winning streak and their best 8-game (5-3) start in their history.
“It’s time for us to go up there and beat them,” Texans owner Robert McNair told Houston media this week. “Last year we came very close to beating them twice, and this year we need to turn that around.”
The Texans were fortunate to only trail 13-3 at the half. Four Colts possessions in the red zone resulted in 1 TD, 2 FGs and a rare Manning interception. Otherwise, it was the Dallas Clark show.
The Colts TE caught a career-best 14 passes for 119 yards. At the half, he had 11 for 94 as Manning dinked and dunked his way down the field. Manning, who finished 34-of-50 for 318 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, took what the Texans gave him and attempted an incredible 40 passes in the first half alone.
Apparently, nobody sets up the run with the pass like the Colts.
Joseph Addai scored both TDs for Indianapolis, but carried the ball only 14 times for 63 yards and added 5 catches for 49 yards. Consider that Clark had 15 touches himself with a 4-yard end around in the first half.
The Texans, missing their Pro Bowl TE Owen Daniels, out for the season with a knee injury, must have looked longingly at Clark running free all over the field.
But Houston also did a good job of stopping itself. Driving for a TD late in the first half, RB Ryan Moats, who started in place of Steve Slaton because of the latter’s fumbling issues, coughed up the ball himself and the Colts recovered for a touchback.
The Texans tallied 13 penalties for 103 yards in the game and lost the turnover battle 3-2.
With the win, the Colts became the 4th team in the history of the league to win 17 consecutive games and the second this decade (Patriots twice — 21, 18). And Jim Caldwell tied Potsy Clark of the 1931 Portsmouth Spartans for the best start by a rookie coach.
Now about New England…
