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| ARI at SEA | BAL at NYG | CHI at GB | CLE at BUF | DAL at WAS | DEN at ATL | DET at CAR | HOU at IND |
| MIN at TB | NO at KC | NYJ at NE | OAK at MIA | PHI at CIN | SD at PIT | STL at SF | TEN at JAX |
Week 11 Game Recap: Houston Texans 27, Indianapolis Colts 33
What you need to know
| Houston Texans |
The Texans came into their week 11 meeting with the Colts on a two game losing streak and were seeking their first road win of the season. Their game plan was to keep the ball on the ground and try to keep the ball out of the hands of the Colt offense. In the first half the Texans ran the ball on two-thirds of the offensive plays, and ran the ball just less than sixty percent of the time the entire game. The game plan worked in the first half as they ran out to a four point lead at half time. They came out and scored their second touchdown on the third play of the second half as Steve Slaton found a small crease in the line and burst through on a 71 yard touchdown run, the longest in Texan history. That was their last score until midway through the fourth quarter as the Colts were able to hold onto the ball for over 19 minutes of the second half, limiting their scoring opportunities.
Starting his second consecutive game in relief of an injured Matt Schaub, Sage Rosenfels was not called upon to throw the ball a lot. He attempted a total of 18 passes, but was able to connect on most of them as his receivers were able to get open against the Colts secondary.
Leading the way for the receivers was Andre Johnson with four receptions. Johnson was limited in his targets by design, as they only threw the ball a total of eight times in the first half. In the second half, with the Texans trialing by as much as ten points, they began to move the ball through the air instead of the ground.
The ground game was led by Steve Slaton, who got the majority of the carries between the twenties. The Texans, in an effort to limit Slaton's workload, gave the ball to Ahman Green the majority of the time when they got down close to the goal line.
| Indianapolis Colts |
The Colts, winners of their last two games, were needing to win in order to stay in second place in their division and try to stay within four games of first place. The going was tough early as they had to settle for field goals on three of their four possessions in the first half. The Colts got the ball down close to the twenty yard line on their first two possessions, but were unable to get any closer as the receivers had trouble hanging onto the ball.
Peyton Manning was hindered by his receivers in the first half. Six of his ten incompletions in the opening period were the direct result his receivers dropping passes that they were able to get at least one hand on. Things were better in the second half as the receivers were able to hang on to the ball and the Colts maintained possession on a seven minute scoring drive in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Joseph Addai was the most effective offense player, gaining a total of 153 yards and two touchdowns. Addai managed to gain over 100 yards, even though his carries were limited by the substitution pattern with Dominic Rhodes in the second half as Tony Dungy rotated both backs in to keep them fresh.
What you ought to know
| QB Sage Rosenfels, Pass: 13 - 18 - 192 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 4 - 0 |
Rosenfels was not asked to do much through the air as the Texans kept the ball on the ground to try and limit the number of opportunities the Colts had to score. He was on target with the majority of his passes and was able to connect with his receivers as he did not face a lot of pressure from the Colt front four. Late in the game, with the Texans behind by ten points, he was forced to abandon the running game and move the offense through the air. He proved that he was more than up to the task by only throwing two incomplete passes the entire half, one of which was the result of him being hit just before he released the ball. The second incompletion will be the one that people remember because it occurred on the final play of the game. The pass was his only bad throw of the game, but it resulted in the game's only turnover as he threw the ball way short of its intended target and it was picked off on the Colt 35 yard line.
| RB Steve Slaton, Rush: 14 - 156 - 1 |
The Texans tried to limit Slaton's touches to keep him fresh for the entire game. The plan seemed to work, as he was clearly the most effective back in the lineup. In the first quarter he ripped off consecutive runs of seven and 23 yards to move the ball close to midfield on the opening drive. He hit his holes with quickness and assurance, sometimes only needing a small crease to run through for a five or six yard gain. His 71 yard run came on a third and one play in the third quarter as he slipped through a small hole in the line and got into the open field and simply outran the defenders on the way to the end zone.
| RB Ahman Green, Rush: 9 - 17 - 2, Rec: 1 - 7 - 0 (1 targets) |
Ahman Green saw limited action as he only saw a few carries in relief of Steve Slaton between the twenties. But Green was able to make the most of his touches as he scored two of the three touchdowns on short runs where he just bulled his way into the end zone on both runs, refusing to be stopped. He did not have as much success on his other short yardage carry as the Colts were able to penetrate through the line and stop him well short of the first down marker.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 4 - 55 - 0 (6 targets) |
Andre Johnson was the leading receiver for the Texans, catching four of the six passes thrown in his direction. He did drop one catchable pass, on a first and ten play that could have resulted in a first down on their third drive, which was the only non scoring drive of the first half.
| WR Kevin Walter, Rec: 3 - 79 - 0 (3 targets) |
Walter's yardage totals were inflated by the biggest play of the first half for either team. On the first play of their second offensive series Rosenfels rolled out to his left after executing a play fake and hit a wide open Walter down the left sideline for a 61 yard gain down to the Colts 11 yard line. Unfortunately they could not capitalize on the excellent field position and were only able to come away with a field goal.
| WR David Anderson, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (3 targets) |
Anderson did not see many passes thrown his direction as the Texan slot receiver. He was the target on the first incomplete pass thrown by Rosenfels, and managed to haul in his other two chances late in the fourth quarter as the Texans were marching down the field on their final drive.
| TE Joel Dreessen, Rec: 2 - 11 - 0 (2 targets) |
Joel Dreessen was the recipient of two dump off passes where all of the other options were well covered.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (4 targets) |
Daniels was never able to get on track against the Colts as he was asked to help his linemen block. He did suffer from some bad luck as he was unable to come down with a high pass on his first target, but they came right back to him on the next play. He hauled that pass while running a crossing route, but was tripped up by the defender or else he would have had an excellent chance to score. His two targets in the second half were also both of Rosenfels incompletions.
| PK Kris Brown 2 - 2 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 9 points |
Brown benefited from the inability of the Texans to punch it into the end zone on two possessions in the opening half as they had to settle for short field goals.
| HOU Rush Defense |
The Texans rush defense did an average job as they were able to hold the Colts backs in check for the opening half. They were able to limit the Colts to 37 yards rushing as they were effective in pursuit and closed off the outside runs of Addai. However, in the second half they were unable to stop the Colts when the game was on the line as the Colts were able to move the ball on the ground on the final seven minute drive to put the game away.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The final numbers of the Texans pass defense look good, considering they were facing the high octane Colts offense. But the numbers are somewhat misleading as they were unable to get any type of pressure on Peyton Manning, and they were helped by six dropped passes in the first half.
| QB Peyton Manning, Pass: 30 - 46 - 320 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 1 - 0 |
Manning threw for over 300 yards, with almost 200 coming in the second half, as the Colts overcame a four point half time deficit to beat the Texans. He was limited in his ability to lead the offense in the first half by an uncharacteristic six dropped passes by his usually sure handed receivers. Each of the passes was catchable, and most of them would have resulted in first down plays that would have kept drives going. The dropped passes were partially responsible for the Colts having to settle for three field goals instead on touchdowns in the opening half. The second half started better as Manning opened up by completing 11 of his first 13 passes, including two touchdowns. The second touchdown pass would not have occurred if it was not for the second effort of Marvin Harrison, who somehow managed to keep his balance and forced his way into the end zone after appearing to be stopped on the two yard line.
| RB Joseph Addai, Rush: 22 - 105 - 1, Rec: 4 - 48 - 1 (8 targets) |
Joseph Addai saw a lot of work in the opening half, but had little to show for it as the Texans were able to shut down the outside running game. To compensate for the ineffectiveness of the running game, he became involved in the passing game as he saw six of his eight targets in the first half. As the second half opened the Colts made adjustments to open up the running lanes and Addai benefited by scoring touchdowns on the first two possessions. His first touchdown was on a route where Manning looked off the defensive backs and found him alone on the right side of the field and the defenders had no chance to get him before he made it to the end zone. His rushing touchdown, on the next series, was on a simple read play where he found a hole in the left side of the line and burst through it.
| RB Dominic Rhodes, Rush: 10 - 48 - 0, Rec: 3 - 26 - 0 (3 targets) |
Rhodes saw the majority of his action in the second half as the Colts were trying to keep Addai fresh. The two backs almost split their carries evenly in the second half as they rotated into the lineup in order to keep the offense on the field for over 18 minutes of the second half. Rhodes showed his versatility by catching passes by either lining up in the backfield or as a receiver.
| WR Marvin Harrison, Rec: 9 - 77 - 1 (13 targets) |
Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning showed that they are still on the same wave length even though he may have lost a step over the years. After only catching one pass in the first half, due to a pass interference penalty on the defense on one play and being overthrown in the end zone on another, they were able to light it up by catching eight passes in the second half. The most important reception of the game was not the game winning touchdown pass where he somehow managed to keep his balance and twist into the end zone, but on a third and nine play from the Texan 25 late in the fourth quarter. Harrison caught the ball just past the third down maker, but the official originally ruled that he was just short of the first down. Tony Dungy correctly challenged the ruling on the field and the Colts had a key first down deep in Texans territory and were able to run another minute off of the clock and kick a field goal with just under two minutes left in the game.
| WR Reggie Wayne, Rec: 7 - 90 - 0 (11 targets) |
Reggie Wayne led all Colts receivers in yardage gained with 90 yards, but could have had an even better game if it was not for two plays in the first half. On the first play he let a ball bounce off of his hands on a deep post route that would have been gone for a big gain. The second play came late in the second half when he had a 22 yard completion wiped out by a holding penalty. He was able to make corrections and step up his play in the second half as he not only was able to get open, but also gain some extra yards by putting moves on the defensive backs and breaking through tackles.
| WR Anthony Gonzalez, Rec: 2 - 35 - 0 (3 targets) |
Gonzalez saw limited action as the third wide receiver in the Colt offense. He was only able to catch two of the three passes thrown in his direction, but he did get one hand on the ball on his third target but was unable to bring it in.
| TE Dallas Clark, Rec: 5 - 44 - 0 (9 targets) |
Dallas Clark had a good game exploiting the middle of the middle of the field. He was able to make good catches in traffic, but will probably be remembered for pulling up short on a pass thrown to the middle of the field as he expected to get hit.
| PK Adam Vinatieri 4 - 4 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 15 points |
Vinatieri was busy in the first half with three field goals as the Colts were unable to punch the ball in during three trips deep into Texans territory.
| IND Rush Defense |
The rush defense did a good job of holding the Texans running backs in check, with the exception of a couple of long runs by Steve Slaton that totaled 94 yards. The linemen were able to get some penetration on short yardage carries and turn the ball carrier back into the heart of the defense.
| IND Pass Defense |
The pass defense only allowed a net of 179 yards passing as the Texans only attempted a total of 18 passes. They were able to get some pressure on Rosenfels, sacking him twice. Their only interception came on a poorly thrown pass on the final Texans offensive play.