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Colts rally from 17 points down to stun Texans

Oct 5, 2008 - 11:07 PM By Jeremy Rakes PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- A stunning collapse by the Houston Texans may have enabled the Indianapolis Colts to get their season back on track.

The Colts took advantage of two fumbles by Sage Rosenfels to score 21 points in the final four minutes and stun the Texans, 31-27, on Sunday.

Indianapolis (2-2) trailed, 27-10, with just over four minutes remaining, but Peyton Manning capped the comeback with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne with 1:54 left.

"It didn't look good," Manning said. "We came here wanting to take the crowd out of it. Houston did a good job of fighting back. We put ourselves in a hole. We can't afford to be behind right now because teams are doing a good job of running the clock.

"We were sitting there, saying we needed three scores and wondering if we would have enough time to score."

The shocking turnaround spoiled the home opener of the Texans (0-4), who had a scheduled Week Two home game against Baltimore postponed due to the damage Hurricane Ike caused to Reliant Stadium.

Rosenfels was a last-minute starter in place of Matt Schaub, who spent the previous night in a hospital with a viral infection. Rosenfels seemed to have the Texans in position for their first win of the season, leading the team to 27 straight points after the Colts grabbed a 10-0 lead in the first period.

But after Manning threw a 7-yard TD pass to Tom Santi with 4:04 remaining, Rosenfels made an inexplicable gaffe. Instead of protecting the ball on third down, he ill-advisedly tried to dive for a first down and was jarred in mid-air.

"I made mistakes today," Rosenfels said. "All of our team played great football today, played winning football and I made those mistakes that cost football games. There is no reason we should have lost that game."

Rosenfels lost control of the ball and linebacker Gary Brackett returned the fumble 68 yards for a touchdown, giving the Colts their second score within 28 seconds and pulling them within a field goal.

"We were down (two) touchdowns, and we needed a big play," Brackett said. "He went airborne, and the ball came loose. I remember everybody saying jump on the ball. At that point, I knew we needed to make a big play, so after I got the ball in my hands I hoped I had enough gas to make it to the end zone."

On Houston 's next possession, defensive end Robert Mathis stripped Rosenfels and the Colts recovered at the Texans' 20. Joseph Addai ripped off a 15-yard gain and Manning hit Wayne for the winning score on the next play.

"I was just trying to make a play," Wayne said. "They threw me the ball, and I did my job and that was to catch it. I hope we can build on the last five minutes of the game. That is the way we are supposed to play."

To complete the meltdown, Rosenfels threw an interception on the Texans' final possession, and Manning took a knee three times to close out the win.

In a span of about 20 minutes, the Colts went from a seemingly certain 1-3 record - and a tie for last place in the AFC South - to back to .500. Indianapolis had been 1-2 for the first time since 1998, Manning's rookie season.

"It's a big range of emotions," Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. "I knew we needed to make a big play on defense, and then we would have a chance to win it. There is a big difference between 1-3 and 2-2. There is a big difference between being 1-1 in the division and 0-2.

"I told our team in the locker room to take this passion and intensity that we had over the last four minutes and continue to play that way over 60 minutes."

Rosenfels finished 21-of-33 passing for 246 yards. Rookie Steve Slaton rushed 16 times for 93 yards and two touchdowns and Andre Johnson caught nine passes for 131 yards and a score for the Texans.

After falling behind, 10-0, Houston answered by scoring 17 points in the second quarter. Slaton cut the lead to 10-7 on a 1-yard touchdown run with 12:06 left in the second quarter. Rosenfels was 4-for-4 on the drive for 48 yards.

Kris Brown connected on a 37-yard field goal with 7:09 remaining in the half and the Texans took the lead with 27 seconds remaining on Rosenfels' 5-yard touchdown pass to Johnson.

"They just made plays at the end of the game," said Texans linebacker Zac Diles, who had an interception. "It's a four-quarter game, and we just have to play four quarters. They were able to come up with some plays at the end of the game.