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Rapid Reaction: Texans fall 26-20 in heartbreaker to Colts

The Houston Texans saw their two-game winning streak snapped with a 26-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

Deshaun Watson and the Texans were at the two-yard line with less than two minutes remaining and looking to take the lead. However, Watson was unable to corral a low snap and the Colts recovered it. The Texans were out of timeouts, and Indianapolis ran out the clock for the victory.

"Well, it was an unfortunate play, ball came out a little low and Deshaun couldn't get a handle on it," interim head coach Romeo Crennel said after the game. "They were able to fall on it before we could fall on it, because we still had some time and another down, but they were able to come up with it and so that kind of basically ended the game at that point."

Watson completed 26-of-38 for 341 yards. He was picked off once, and also rushed for 38 yards and a touchdown in the loss. In his first game without Will Fuller V this season, Watson had two 100-yard receivers in Keke Coutee and Chad Hansen. Coutee led the team with eight catches for 141 yards while Hansen, who was elevated from the practice squad late this week, caught five passes for 101 yards. In his first game off injured reserve, David Johnson rushed for 44 yards and touchdown.

J.J. Watt, A.J. Moore and Jacob Martin each sacked Philip Rivers. Tyrell Adams led the defense with 12 tackles while Watt finished with six tackles, one sack, a quarterback hit and four tackles for loss. Houston's defense also held the Colts to 3-of-11 on third down and kept the Indy offense scoreless in the second half.

"I thought we did well for most of the day," Watt said. "Fourth quarter, we kind of let the run game get us a little bit, but we held them to zero points in the second half. So that was big for us. I thought overall it was a pretty good job all day, not great, but obviously not good enough to win."

After an opening drive touchdown catch by T.Y. Hilton, the Texans fired back with a four-play, 75-yard scoring drive of their own. Watson threw a 64-yard pass to Coutee to move the offense downfield. On the next play, Watson found the endzone on an 11-yard keeper to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter.

Houston's defense forced a three-and-out on Rivers and the Colts. On their next possession, the Texans took a 10-7 lead with Fairbairn's 52-yard field goal.

Nyheim Hines scored on a five-yard touchdown run to cap an eight-play scoring drive for the Colts who took a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Later in the quarter, the Texans defense came up with a third-down stop after Justin Reid's tackle for loss DeMichael Harris on the Houston 36-yard line. But on fourth-and-4, Rivers found Jonathan Taylor for a 39-yard touchdown. The Colts took a 21-10 lead.

Watson threw a 28-yard pass to Hansen to extend the next series and the Texans then converted two more first downs on back-to-back plays with a 13-yard reception by Brandin Cooks and a 19-yard run by David Johnson. Four plays later, David Johnson scored on a six-yard touchdown run.

After each team made a field goal, the Colts led 24-21 at halftime.

Watt came up with big plays on the opening drive of the second half. After a tackle for loss on Hines, Watt sacked Rivers for a loss of seven. The Colts would punt after failing to convert on third-and-18 on the series.

Watson's six-games without an interception streak was snapped late in the third quarter. Cooks caught a pass for first down, but it was wrestled away by Colts cornerback Kenny Moore.

"What we saw was that he hit the ground, he had control and he hit the ground, and that's when the guy pulled it out," Watson said. "They went with I guess on the field with the refs, that call, but I don't know, that's a bang-bang, and of course with that it's hard to overturn when they go with Indy on the interception. The way it looked like on the film and on the replay that he caught it, secured it, hit the ground, and that's when the guy was pulling it out. Yeah, it is what it is, I guess."

The Texans took over at their own five-yard line following a fourth-down stop by the defense, but the drive ended in a safety after Watson was sacked in the endzone by Justin Houston. The Colts took a 26-20 lead with 6:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Houston's defense stopped Rivers and the Colts at midfield, giving Watson and the offense the ball with less than three minutes remaining and a chance at a game-winning drive. Watson threw a pass down the sideline to Cooks for a 23-yard gain on third-and-1. He followed it up with a deep pass to Coutee for 16 yards. The Texans moved the ball down to the two-yard line following a four-yard run by Duke Johnson. On second-and-goal, Watson fumbled a low snap and the Colts recovered ending the drive.

The Texans fall to 4-8 on the season and will head to Chicago to face the Bears in Week 14.

Check out some photos from the Houston Texans Week 13 game against the Indianapolis Colts on Battle Red Day presented by Mattress Firm.

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