The Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead Monday night against the Texans and never looked back on their way to a 30-17 win, and after the game Texans defensive end Mario Williams summed up the situation the Texans find themselves in.
“We dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t get out of it,” Williams said. “They’re a team that’s built on having a lead. Once they got it, we were in a hole, and we couldn’t climb out.”
Williams was talking about the start of Monday night’s game when he said the Texans dug themselves a hole, but he also could have been describing what the game did to the Texans’ chances of winning the AFC South. If the Texans had won, they’d be in first place, a game ahead of the Colts, and they’d have a season sweep of the Colts that would assure them of winning a potential playoff tiebreaker.
Instead, the Texans are 4-3, a game behind the Colts and half a game behind the Titans in the very competitive AFC South. With nine games left, it’s a hole the Texans still have time to climb out of, but after Monday night Houston finds itself in the same place it’s been every year the franchise has existed: Looking up at the Colts.