Texans hit the road as they try to cut into Colts' division lead and get back in playoff mix | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Texans hit the road as they try to cut into Colts' division lead and get back in playoff mix

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) runs for a first down against the Kansas City Chiefs during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Houston (6-5) at Indianapolis (8-3)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS

BetMGM NFL odds: Colts by 4 1/2.

Against the spread: Texans 5-6, Colts 7-3-1.

Series record: Colts lead 33-13-1.

Last meeting: Colts beat Chiefs 20-17 on Sept. 25, 2022, in Indianapolis.

Last week: Texans beat Bills 23-19; Colts lost to Chiefs 23-20 in OT.

Texans offense: overall (18), rush (23), pass (16), scoring (21)

Texans defense: overall (1), rush (5), pass (3), scoring (2)

Colts offense: overall (2), rush (4), pass (7), scoring (1)

Colts defense: overall (23), rush (7), pass (28), scoring (9)

Turnover differential: Texans plus-10; Colts plus-4.

Texans player to watch

S Calen Bullock. He's coming off the best game of his career with a forced fumble and a career-high two interceptions, including one in the final seconds to seal the 23-19 victory over Buffalo. Bullock, a 2024 third-round draft pick, is the only NFL player this season with two interceptions and one forced fumble in a single game.

Colts player to watch

QB Daniel Jones. He has been under heavy pressure each of the last four games and it has shown. Despite winning two of those games, he had seven turnovers, neen sacked 15 times and produced two of his three worst passer ratings this season. He's likely to see even more pressure Sunday. And with a sore lower leg, the Colts need him to handle the pressure better against the Texans to win.

Key matchup

WR Nico Collins vs. CB Sauce Gardner. Collins enters with 52 catches and a team-best 697 yards receiving. And he has caused all sorts of problems for Indy over the past four seasons. The Colts' biggest weakness this season had been the secondary — until they acquired Gardner at the trade deadline. On Sunday, Gardner is expected to see plenty of action against Collins.

Key injuries

Texans: Starting QB C.J. Stroud was still in the concussion protocol Wednesday, but the Texans remain hopeful he'll play in this week's division contest after missing previous three games. ... S Jalen Pitre also has been in the concussion protocol since suffering his injury Nov. 2.

Colts: In addition to Jones' sore fibula, Indy placed receiver Ashton Dulin on injured reserve earlier this week with a hamstring injury. ... DT Neville Gallimore (knee), Gardner (back) and Jones all were limited participants in Wednesday's walkthrough. ... Pro Bowl DT DeForest Buckner remains on injured reserve with a neck injury and his absence has hurt the Colts' rushing defense.

Series notes

Houston has won three straight and four of the last five in this series. ... Indy was 4-0-1 in the five matchups before the current streak. ... These franchises played to a 20-20 tie in September 2022, seasons that went so poorly for both teams that each changed coaches and selected new quarterbacks in the top five selections of the 2023 draft. ... Indianapolis and Houston have squared off twice a year since league officials first created the AFC South in 2002.

Stats and stuff

The Texans have won three straight to move above .500 for the first time this season. ... Houston sacked Buffalo's Josh Allen a career-high eight times last week. ... Texans RB Woody Marks led the team with 74 yards rushing last week and ranks sixth among rookies with 422 yards rushing. ... WR Christian Kirk had his 30th career TD reception and first with the Texans last week. He had four receptions for 88 yards in his last game against Indianapolis last season when he was still playing for Jacksonville. ... Collins had six receptions for 117 yards in his only game against the Colts last year. ... DE Will Anderson Jr. had a season-high 2 1/2 sacks last week and now has at least one in six straight games, tying the franchise record. He ranks fourth in the NFL with 10 1/2 sacks this year. ... DE Danielle Hunter added two sacks against Buffalo to give him 11 this season, which ranks third in the league. He has at least two sacks in four games this season, tied with Cleveland's Myles Garrett and the New York Giants' Brian Burns for the league high. ... The Colts are 5-0 at Lucas Oil Stadium this season with four of those wins coming by double digits. Indy also was the designated home team in Berlin when it beat Atlanta in overtime. ... Coach Shane Steichen's first career win came at Houston in 2023, but he has not beaten the Texans since and is 0-2 all-time in the series at home. ... Indy has scored 20 points in all three losses this season, but still leads the NFL with 31.0 points per game and 3.04 points per drive. ... Jones needs 160 yards passing to log the third 3,000-yard season of his career and just his second since 2020. ... RB Jonathan Taylor leads the league with 1,197 yards rushing and 15 TD runs. He needs two more TD runs to surpass Hall of Famer Lenny Moore for the franchise's second-highest rushing total (16) in a single season. ... Tyler Warren's 55 receptions already have broken the franchise record for a rookie tight end, and he needs 65 yards receiving to break Hall of Famer John Mackey's rookie record (726). ... LB Germaine Pratt had 20 tackles, 15 of those solo, in last week's loss. ... The Colts punted on their final four possessions last week after entering the game with a league-low 19 through their first 10 games.

Fantasy tip

Houston has moved back into playoff contention largely because of a suffocating defense that has been ratcheting up the pressure on quarterbacks across the league. With Jones hurting and the Colts looking more susceptible to the pass rush over the last four games, expect more of the same from Houston — even against the league's top-scoring offense.

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