The Indianapolis Colts spent most of Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in control, then nearly let the game slip away before Spencer Shrader saved it at the buzzer.
Shrader drilled a 53-yard field goal with 16 seconds left, lifting the Colts to a 19-17 win over the Houston Texans after Indianapolis had surrendered a late lead and watched Houston go ahead 17-16 with 1:48 remaining. The Colts’ finish matched the team’s 2026 mantra to “find a way” to win each week, and this one took every second they had.
It also snapped a skid against Houston. The Colts had lost their previous five meetings with the Texans, dating back to Week 2 of the 2023 season.
Indianapolis set the tone early by getting stops that have not always come easily. Houston won the coin toss and took the opening kickoff, a logical choice against a defense that had already given up the second-most yards, 1,029, through its first two games in NFL history.
But the Colts forced a three-and-out. They then got another stop after Will Anderson Jr. sacked Daniel Jones, forced a fumble, and recovered it himself.
Houston’s next possession ended on downs as well, giving the Colts defense back-to-back first-quarter stops. Indianapolis turned that into points on a 13-play, 48-yard march.
Jones connected with Tyler Warren for 15 yards and Josh Downs for 24 more, then used his legs on a key third-down conversion before Shrader finished the drive with a 39-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Shrader had been listed questionable to return after pre-game warmups because of a groin injury.
The Colts kept building from there in the second quarter. Their best offensive stretch of the half came on a 12-play, 69-yard drive capped by a six-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Keenan Allen. Downs kept moving the chains on that series with catches of 12, 18 and 18 yards, and by the end of the drive Downs and Warren had combined for 114 yards on nine catches.
Indianapolis almost created another takeaway on the ensuing kickoff when Caden Curry stripped returner Tremon Smith and Jonathan Owens recovered. But review showed Smith’s knee was down before the ball came out. Houston used the reprieve to mount a 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown pass from CJ Stroud to Foster Moreau, trimming the Colts’ lead to 10-7 with 4:30 left in the first half.
Shrader answered with a career-long 58-yard field goal to push the lead back out. Houston then went three-and-out, and the Colts bled the rest of the clock to halftime.
The third quarter nearly turned the game in Houston’s favor. Indianapolis opened the half with a six-play drive that reached the Texans’ 28-yard line, but Jones was hit while throwing on third-and-4 and sent a bad ball toward the goal line that Reed Blankenship intercepted at Houston’s 1-yard line. The Texans escaped without a safety, but the possession ended in a punt, and the teams traded three straight three-and-outs as the quarter wound down.
The Colts added a little more cushion early in the fourth on a 15-play drive that went only 51 yards but still ended with a 37-yard Shrader field goal, making it 16-7 with 12:43 left.
Houston finally answered after going quiet since early in the second quarter. The Texans went 71 yards in 10 plays and got a 24-yard field goal from Ka’imi Fiarbairn to make it 16-10 with 7:33 remaining.
Then came the sequence that nearly buried Indianapolis. Anderson got Jones again for a sack-fumble in field-goal range, and Tommy Togiai recovered for Houston. The Texans made the Colts pay with a seven-play, 54-yard drive finished by a short Woody Marks touchdown run, and the extra point put Houston ahead 17-16 with 1:48 left.
That still left enough time for one more Colts answer. They got the ball back, pieced together the final drive, and Shrader lined up from 53 yards to win it. He drilled it, and Indianapolis walked away with a one-point escape.
In Other News...
Spencer Shrader Fought Through More Than Colts Fans Realized
Spencer Shrader gave Colts fans a performance worth remembering, drilling four field goals from 39, 58, 37, and 53 yards in a single game while carrying an injury he picked up during warmups. It was the kind of quiet, steady day that can change the shape of a game, and it also offered a reminder that kickers often spend just as much time managing pain and pressure as they do putting points on the board.
Shrader spoke about the mental side of kicking and the path that brought him here, including growing up near the Colts and working his way to the NFL. For Indianapolis, that background adds another layer to what looked like a clean outing on the scoreboard, because it turns out the success came with more behind-the-scenes grit than many in the stadium realized. [Read more 🡒]
Colts May Be Running Out Of Anthony Richardson Options
The quarterback market got a little more complicated with Minnesota sending J.J. McCarthy to the Giants for a 2027 fifth-round pick, a move that ripples beyond those two teams and into Indianapolis. For the Colts, it is another reminder that the value of young passers can shift quickly, even when the player in question is no longer in line to start. Anthony Richardson remains in a backup role, but his name still sits in the trade conversation because of his age, draft pedigree and the uncertainty around his long-term fit.
For Indianapolis, though, the bigger issue may be whether there is enough real interest to make a deal worthwhile. Richardson has been discussed as a potential trade candidate, but the pool of teams willing to make a meaningful offer could be thinning rather than growing. If that is the case, the Colts may end up doing what once seemed unlikely and simply holding onto him, even as the league keeps searching for the next quarterback bargain. [Read more 🡒]
Colts May Have Found A Defensive Answer At The Perfect Time
Adetomiwa Adebawore gave the Colts a timely jolt in Week 3, flashing the kind of interior pass-rush burst that can change a game in a hurry. In just 15 snaps against the Texans, he piled up four pressures and 1.5 sacks, a strong reminder that his growth as a disruptive force up front is no longer just a projection. For a defense looking for answers early in the season, that kind of production stands out.
The Colts are 1-2, and the schedule ahead figures to keep testing them in different ways, from offenses built on the pass to groups that lean on a more varied attack. Adebawores development, and the likelihood that his role keeps growing, gives Indianapolis a useful piece at exactly the right moment. If he keeps affecting quarterbacks the way he did last week, the Colts may have found a defensive spark they can lean on. [Read more 🡒]