Colts win on late FG to get first win of the season as London calls

8 hours ago

3 min read

October 8, 2026 - JR McHenry, On-Air Talent/Field Reporter

INDIANAPOLIS -- On a sunny, fall day in Indiana's state capitol, with the roof open at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans faced off in an AFC South battle of 0-2 teams looking to get their seasons on track. These teams came into the season with high expectations and starting off 0-2 was not in the cards. As I stated in a previous article, with teams not playing their starters, the first quarter of the season is like an extended preseason, as teams work through the kinks and find their identities since they did not play that much or if any in the preseason.

The Colts defense really looked more cohesive in this game, after two weeks getting gashed in the run game and shredded in the pass game. The Texans were only allowed 223 yards offensively throughout the entire game. The Colts held the Texans to 7 points through 3 quarters before the Texans offense woke up in the 4th Quarter as the game became a do or die scenario for them. The Texans scored a touchdown with 1:48 to go in the 4th Quarter to take a 17-16 lead over the Colts late.

Daniel Jones and the Colts took the field after the Texans late score coming out guns blazing hitting a 20 yard pass to the Texans 45 yard line. Surprisingly after this play, Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans did not use a timeout to preserve the time ticking down. Play calling by Colts Head Coach Shane Steichen after hitting that explosive seemed like he was taking it conservatively playing for a game winning field goal. The Colts gained 9 yards in the next 3 plays forcing the Texans to use all 3 of their timeouts to set up a 53 yard field goal attempt by K Spencer Shrader.

The fly in the ointment here was that Colts K Spencer Shrader was reported to have a groin injury in pregame warmups, so having kick long field goals throughout the game gave the fans and media alike pause. This is why Shane Steichen's conservative playing was a bit baffling knowing his kicker has a bum groin. Steichen did state in his postgame press conference that he would've liked to get Shrader closer. Ultimately, in the end it did not matter as Spencer Shrader knocked in the 53 yard field goal with 16 seconds left in the 4th Quarter to give the Colts their first win of the season.

The Colts won this game despite losing the turnover battle 3 to 0. All 3 of the turnovers were by Quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones stated in his postgame comments that he needs to be better about taking care of the ball. The Colts dominated time of possession by over 10 minutes despite the turnovers. On possession downs the Colts were 9 of 17 which allowed them to keep drives going and churn the clock. Overall, the Colts will be pleased to end the 9 game losing streak they were on dating back to last season, improving to 1-2 as they head to London to face the Washington Commanders, who got their first win of the season as well in Week 3 at home against the Seahawks.

Here's postgame video and sound from the Colts win over the Texans: