The Texans defense ended Sunday's win in fitting fashion: with a sack of Colts' quarterback Anthony Richardson.
Houston triumphed, 23-20, over Indianapolis in Week 8 at NRG Stadium. They did so, in large part, to a stifling pass defense.
The Texans rang up five sacks, hit Richardson nine times, broke up 10 of his passes and limited the second-year signal-caller to just 10 completions on 32 pass attempts.
Head Coach DeMeco Ryans was proud of his defense.
"If we play our defense the proper way, if we're where we're supposed to be and we make it difficult on the opposing quarterback, it doesn't matter who it is," Ryans said. "Really proud of our guys for the way they covered."
Houston took the ball away twice in the contest, benefitting from a Jalen Pitre pick near the end of the first half, and the strip-sack by Danielle Hunter on the game's final play. It was Hunter's second sack of the afternoon, and he was one of many in the Texans' front-7 who harried the Colts' quarterback all game long.
"Got five sacks," Ryans said. "I know Richardson wasn't sacked a lot before coming into this game. We had pressure on him. Credit goes to our D-line the way they got after it up front. Everybody was in on the action of applying pressure on the quarterback."
In addition to his interception, Pitre chipped in with four tackles, including one for a loss. But the pick with 0:23 remaining in the second quarter put the Texans offense in business with a 1st-and-Goal at the Colts' 7-yard line after Pitre's 10-yard return. Quarterback C.J. Stroud found Tank Dell for a touchdown pass on the next play, and gave Houston a 17-10 advantage. They led for the rest of the game.
"Coach dialed up a great play for me to go out there and get the interception," Pitre said. "It was just about execution and that's what happened. And shout out to Tank and C.J. for going to score right away. You know that was big for us going in the half."
Ryans loved what he saw from Pitre, who he described as the "sparkplug" for the Texans defense.
"He finds a way to be all over the field," Ryans said. "Whether he's in a blitz or just being active in coverage, for him to get that interception there when they were backed up, so we can get points. That was such a huge play. You talk about play of the game when we needed it most. These past three weeks I think Jalen is playing some of the best football he's played for us."
The Texans are now 6-2 in 2024, and will travel to New Jersey on Wednesday, where they'll face the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football.
