Jacoby Brissett completed 26 of 39 passes for a career-high 326 yards and four touchdowns to lead the host Indianapolis Colts to a 30-23 win over the Houston Texans in a battle for first in the AFC South.
The Texans (4-3) closed within 28-23 on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins with 6:38 left.
With under three minutes left and forced to punt from its own end zone, Houston elected to take a safety, conceding two points when punter Bryan Anger ran out of the back of the end zone to make it 30-23 with 2:41 remaining.
Houston got the ball back at its own 36-yard line with 1:41 left, but Watson was intercepted by Darius Leonard with under a minute left.
Zach Pascal caught six passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns for the Colts (4-2).
Watson completed 23 of 34 passes for 308 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Colts opened the scoring with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brissett to Pascal, which capped off a 12-play, 94-yard drive.
After a field goal by Ka'imi Fairbairn helped Houston cut the Indianapolis lead to 7-3 with 8:59 left in the second quarter, the Texans had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Whitney Mercilus recovered a Colts fumble at the Indianapolis 6-yard line and returned it to the 4 to set up a first-and-goal.
But Houston went backward on its possession and had to settle for a 31-yard Fairbairn field goal to make it 7-6 Colts with 6:25 to go in the second quarter.
Indianapolis then took a 14-6 lead with 1:49 remaining in the second quarter on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brissett to T.Y. Hilton.
Indianapolis took a 21-9 lead with 10:34 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Brissett to Eric Ebron.
Houston then recorded its first touchdown of the game, going 75 yards in five plays and cutting the Indianapolis lead to 21-16 on a 4-yard touchdown run by Keke Coutee with 8:43 left in the third.
But the Colts went back up by two scores when Brissett hit Pascal for a 3-yard touchdown pass that gave Indianapolis a 28-16 lead with 1:14 remaining in the third.
--Field Level Media
Houston | Indianapolis | |
Carlos Hyde | Player | Marlon Mack |
12 | Attempts | 18 |
35 | Yards | 44 |
2.9 | Avg Yards | 2.4 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
10 | Long | 7 |
Houston | Indianapolis | |
DeAndre Hopkins | Player | Zach Pascal |
9 | Receptions | 6 |
106 | Yards | 106 |
11.8 | Avg Yards | 17.7 |
1 | Touchdowns | 2 |
21 | Long | 34 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Houston | 391 | 100 | 291 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 |
Indianapolis | 383 | 62 | 321 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3.0 | 0 |