For the fourth week in a row, the Houston Texans went into a football game that was framed as “the biggest game of the year.” The first couple were important because the Texans were flirting with a 3-6 or 4-6 record, if they lost. Add in that they were division games, versus Jacksonville and Tennessee.

Then came the win over Buffalo to creep above .500 for the first time all season, and this pleasant four game run was capped off two days ago with a 20-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. That win kept the Texans very much in the hunt for their third straight division title, as they sit a game back of the Colts and Jaguars. 

However, the win over the Colts was symbolic of so much more. Since the Texans entered the league, by and large, they and the Colts have been the linchpins of the division. From 2002 to 2010, the Colts won seven out of nine division titles. The Texans began making the postseason in 2011, and from 2011 through 2024, the Texans won eight division titles, more than half of the titles in that timeframe. 

Overall, the history of the AFC title lineage looks like this — Colts with nine, Texans with eight, Titans with four, and the Jags with just two. This division has been run by the Colts and Texans, but especially the Texans of late. To that end, on display on Sunday were three HUGE ways in which this rivalry has been flipped on its head. Here they are:

3. The Texans are quite comfortable in Lucas Oil Stadium 

It’s hard to believe, but when the Texans first arrived in the NFL, it took them over a decade to get off the schneid on the road, against the Colts. It didn’t matter if it was the RCA Dome from 2002 through 2007, or Lucas Oil Stadium from 2008 through 2014 — the Texans lost their first 13 games on the road versus Indy. Well, that trend has been flipped well onto its head, with the Texans going 7-4 in their last 11 games in Indy, including wins in their last four. There is zero intimidation factor for the Texans on the road against the Colts. 

2. The Texans are now the team with the franchise quarterback.

For the first nine seasons that the Texans existed, from 2002 through 2010, they faced a Colts team skippered by Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. The Texans were 2-16 against Manning in those nine seasons. From there, there was one 2-14 season to nowhere for the Colts, which handed them the first overall pick that became Andrew Luck. In other words, for the first 17 seasons the Texans were in the league, the Colts had a franchise QB for roughly 16 of those (Luck dealt with more injuries than Manning did). Since 2019, the Colts have started a different QB in Week 1 in all but one season. It’s been a carousel. The Texans now clearly have their guy in C.J. Stroud, who is 4-1 versus the Colts, and 3-0 in Indy. Keeps grab bagging with Daniel Jones, Colts!  

1. The new T.Y. Hilton is here, and his name is Nico Collins 

In 2012, the Colts did a nice job of not only bringing in Andrew Luck, but drafting a key weapon for him, with third round WR T.Y. Hilton. From there, Hilton tortured the Texans for the better part of a decade. In 20 games against the Texans, Hilton had 103 catches for 1,820 yards and 11 touchdowns. Watching Hilton eventually lose his fastball was delightful. Now, along comes Nico Collins for the Texans. Since partnering up with C.J. Stroud in 2023, here is what Collins has done in four games:

Week 2, 2023 –  7 catches,146 yards, 1 TD

Week 18, 2023 – 9 catches, 195 yards, 1 TD

Week 1, 2024 – 6 catches, 117 yards

Week 13, 2025 – 6 catches 95 yards, 1 rushing TD

If you’re scoring at home, that’s an average of seven catches and 138 yards per game. Hilton averaged 91 yards per game against the Texans, so in an admittedly smaller sample size, Collins has basically been Hilton on metaphorical steroids! 

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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