Houston heads to Indy with first 5-3 record
By KRISTIE RIEKEN,
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Texans have won three straight and have their best record in franchise history at 5-3.
The season is half over and they remain firmly in the playoff hunt. But the road gets tougher as they face undefeated AFC South rival Indianapolis, a team they've beaten only once. Ever.
"Every game is going to get bigger and bigger every week," said Andre Johnson, in his seventh season in Houston. "We have the Colts on the road and that is going to be the biggest game of our life."
Coach Gary Kubiak wouldn't go as far as Johnson did, but didn't downplay the importance of Sunday's game either.
"When you get to where your football team is pretty good, they're all big," he said. "It's just nice that we're to the point now where we should play in some big football games here in the second half and none bigger than the first one."
Houston has never won four consecutive games in a season and is 1-13 against the Colts, with the victory coming on a last-second field goal in 2006.
The Texans know Sunday's game will be a challenge as the Colts look to extend their franchise-record streak of 16 straight regular-season wins.
"We're looking forward to it," Kubiak said. "We've got some confidence right now and we're going to have to dig deep because we've got some issues with our team from an injury standpoint, but I think our guys have learned to try to work through those things to be successful."
The Texans hope to keep their high-powered offense rolling without tight end Owen Daniels, who is out for the season with a knee injury. Peyton Manning and the Colts lead the league with 316.3 yards passing a game, but Matt Schaub and the Texans aren't far behind in third with 281.5.
Schaub is having his best season, but threw two interceptions before settling down to help Houston to a 31-10 win over the Bills on Sunday. Schaub's turnovers aren't Houston's biggest problem though with Steve Slaton tied for the NFL lead with five lost fumbles this season. His latest fumble, after a reception in the first quarter Sunday, got him benched in favor of Ryan Moats.
"The turnover issues still bother the heck out of me," Kubiak said. "We've still not improved offensively from that standpoint and we're not going to get away with that ... that is a big concern for me."
It's such a concern for Kubiak it has created a running back controversy. Moats ran for a career-high 126 yards and three touchdowns against the Bills to put Slaton's status as starter in jeopardy. Houston's other running back is Chris Brown.
Kubiak wouldn't say who will start against the Colts.
"I'm going to play them all," Kubiak said. "I'm in no hurry to make that decision but obviously we're going to need all three of them. We'll go to practice, we'll work them all and make a decision when we get to Indianapolis."
NOTES: Houston TE James Casey had arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday and should return Nov. 23. ... Dominique Barber has an ankle injury and is listed day to day. ... LB Xavier Adibi has an ankle injury that Kubiak said they should know more about later this week. ... DT DelJuan Robinson has a sprained MCL and is listed day to day.
Updated November 2, 2009
