Colts tie Texans after comeback falls short, leading to huge survivor pool blow
The Indianapolis Colts’ season-opening non-winning streak is alive and well.
The Colts and Houston Texans tied 20-20 on Sunday at NRG Stadium, marking a ninth straight season that the Colts have failed to win a season-opener. That’s the longest active streak in the NFL, and tied for the second-longest in league history.
The Philadelphia Eagles also lost nine straight season-openers from 1968-76. The Cleveland Browns hold the NFL record at 13 games when it lost from 2005-17.
The Colts’ tie also hit survivor pools hard. About 14% of all survivor pool entries run through Yahoo Sports picked the Colts, making them the second-most picked team this weekend. Only the Tennessee Titans drew more picks at about 18%. Since the game tied, people who picked the Texans and Colts have been knocked out.
The Colts nearly rallied to win on Sunday. They mounted a 17-point run in the fourth quarter after a Jonathan Taylor 2-yard score and then a 15-yard touchdown grab from Michael Pittman.
They put themselves in great position to grab the win in overtime after getting a quick stop and then setting up a 42-yard field goal for Rodrigo Blankenship.
Blankenship, however, sailed the kick wide right of the goal post with less than two minutes left.
Afterward, the Texans drove only to midfield and had to punt with 20 seconds left. That wasn't enough time to get Indy back into field-goal range, which led to the first tie of the season.
In his Colts debut, quarterback Matt Ryan went 32-of-50 for 352 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss. Taylor had 161 rushing yards on 31 carries. Davis Mills threw for 240 yards and had two touchdowns for the Texans, both of which went to O.J. Howard.
The result was one of nearly two ties on the day, which would have been the first time since 1973 the NFL had seen two draws in the same week. The Steelers narrowly beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in overtime after Chris Boswell hit a 53-yard field goal to seal the win.
