but wanted to make clear that it is not.“It’s harde

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans are in a much different place now than the first time they faced the Indianapolis Colts this season Jose Altuve Jersey , when they were 0-3 and desperate for a win.Ka’imi Fairbairn made a field goal as time expired in overtime to lead the Texans to a 37-34 victory in that game and they haven’t lost since, reeling off a franchise-record nine straight wins entering Sunday’s rematch.The Texans led 28-10 in the third quarter in that first meeting before Andrew Luck threw three second-half touchdowns to rally the Colts and set up the wild finish.The Colts failed to convert a fourth-and-4 with 24 seconds left in overtime to give Fairbairn a chance to win it.“Being up 28-10 … and then letting them come back and being down in overtime and pulling through the adversity, it kind of slingshot us to where we are now,” Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson said. “That was one game where we went through all types of phases and situations that put us through this nine-game win streak. It was the start of everything.”Defensive end J.J. Watt said that Sept. 30 game seems as if it was a long time ago and noted how difficult it has been for the Texans to win in Indy, where they’re just 3-14 all time.“We needed one to get started. That was the one to get us started on this streak,” Watt said. “Bit of an unorthodox way to get it, but we got it. So, here we are.”The Texans (9-3) are coming off a 29-13 win over the Cleveland Browns while the Colts (6-6) were shut out 6-0 by the Jaguars last week to end a five-game winning streak.“The Jacksonville game was tough,” Luck said. “They outplayed us. There’s not much else to say about it. As a defense against our offense, they just flat outplayed us. … We took a good look at it and we’ll improve. I know we will.”TOUCHDOWN THOMASHouston rookie tight end Jordan Thomas has a knack for scoring with four touchdown catches despite having just 14 receptions this season. His four touchdown receptions are tied with Andre Johnson for second-most TD receptions by a rookie in franchise history. The 6-foot-6 Ryan Griffin Jersey , 277-pound Thomas has been a favorite target of Watson’s in the red zone; all of his scores have come on catches of 13 yards or less.NEW BALANCECoach Frank Reich has stressed the need to find balance since he took the Colts’ job in February.When these teams met previously, Luck set single-game franchise records with 40 completions and 62 attempts and became the 11th player in league history to throw for 450 yards and four TDs. He wound up with 464 yards, second in franchise history, and four scores.Since then, an improved ground game helped lessen the burden on Luck’s arm — until last week, when he threw 52 passes, including 14 straight during one stretch, in the loss to Jacksonville. Don’t expect the Colts to be so one-dimensional in Houston.“You never want to have to drop back and pass it 52 times,” offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said. “We always want to run it more. Just in that scenario, the way we were running it Arian Foster Jersey White , we had some plays on our call sheet that we felt were going to be good to hit, some chunks in the pass game, and that’s the way we went.”THE BIG DHouston also will see a different defense.After allowing an average of 30 points over their first six games, the Colts cut that number to 16.8 points over the past six. Indy is the only team to have forced at least one turnover in every game this season and is second in the league in tackles for loss (71.0). Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard leads the league in tackles (122) and is tied for fourth in forced fumbles (four).First-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus sees it as a good start.“We feel we have set the standard of how we want to play in terms of the style. Now we just need to execute on a consistent basis and just keep doing that week in and week out,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we have to improve on, but we have come a long way.”DEANDRE’S ARTOn a TV show this week, Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis said the way DeAndre Hopkins catches a football “is an art.” The Houston star agrees.“There’s more to it than just going out and catching a football,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go on before that. It’s for sure an art, and repetition makes perfect.”Hopkins routinely makes nearly impossible catches look run of the mill, and Watson has said he believes Hopkins will catch anything thrown his way. His latest nifty catch came last week against the Browns on a 24-yard reception near the sideline that came after T.J. Carrie grabbed his dreadlocks to try to slow him down.Hopkins knows that he makes it look easy Brandon Dunn Jersey White , but wanted to make clear that it is not.“It’s harder than people think,” he said. “Especially like me, I usually have a defender on me or close to me, so catching the football isn’t easy for me like it is for some people who are wide open. It’s a challenge for me to play through that and still catch it.”100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta Houston Texans NewsTexans QB Deshaun Watson named to first Pro Bowl (Houston Chronicle)Texans will play Jaguars in London in 2019 season (Houston Chronicle)NFL NewsOwner: Saints ‘unfairly deprived’ of SB opportunity (NFL.com)Multiple Eagles defend Wentz after sourced report (NFL.com)Chiefs are considering changes to defensive staff (NFL.com)Armstead: ‘Too late’ to admit ref erred on no-call (NFL.com)QB Smith spotted publicly for first time since injury (NFL.com)NFL announces matchups for international games (NFL.com)All 52 MVP seasons of the Super Bowl era ranked (NFL.com)Todd Gurley wasn’t hurt Sunday, just played ‘sorry’ (NFL.com)Houston & Collegiate SportsRockets fail to lift off against Sixers (The Dream Shake)Rockets trade Carmelo Anthony to Bulls (The Dream Shake)Rockets Roster Moves: Kenneth Faried officially signed, James Nunnally waived (The Dream Shake)New Faces from Old Places: Kenneth Faried (The Dream Shake)