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Brown kicks Texans to first win over Colts

Dec 24, 2006 - 11:41 PM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Kris Brown and the Houston Texans picked an opportune time to record their first win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Brown kicked two fourth-quarter field goals, including a game-winning 48-yarder as time expired, to lift the Texans to a 27-24 victory over the Colts.

Capturing its first win in 10 all-time meetings with its AFC South foe, Houston (5-10) also denied Indianapolis a chance to move closer to wrapping up a first-round bye in the playoffs.

"This was a character effort," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "You have one team that's going a lot of places this year and we're staring at two weeks left, two games, a bunch of players out, and a bunch of reasons to wait for something not to go right."

"I'd say this is one of the bigger disappointments we've had since I've been here," Colts coach Tony Dungy said. "I take the blame for it, for not having us ready to go and ready to play."

The Texans were able to keep the powerful Colts in check by taking advantage of an early turnover and controlling the clock with a career-best effort by journeyman running back Ron Dayne. They finished with nearly 36 minutes in possession.

In all, Houston finished with 354 yards of total offense and had 22 first downs, including 10 on 14 attempts on third down.

"They really made some plays on third down," Indianapolis defensive tackle Anthony McFarland said. "You just tip your hats off to them. It's just really disappointing to us to have an opportunity to control everything we want to control and then not do it."

Considered a major disappointment in his first six seasons in the league with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, Dayne displayed the tough between-the-tackles running the Giants thought they were getting when they drafted him 11th overall in 2000.

Filling in for injured starter Domanick Davis, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner rushed for a career-high 153 yards and two touchdowns.

"I really can't say enough about what he's done this year," Kubiak said of Dayne. "I would agree that when we first got him I was concerned. He told me during that time to have patience. I went to him the week before we played Oakland and told Ronnie, 'This is a big week for you.' And ever since that day he's been something else."

Since the start of December, the 28-year-old bruising back has run for 429 yards and five touchdowns on 89 carries.

"Being able to carry it like they've been giving it to me, it's just been fun," Dayne said. "It's not like I couldn't run the ball, I just never got the opportunity to run the ball this many times, week after week."

Despite leading, 14-7, after the first quarter and holding a 24-17 edge with just under seven minutes left, Houston saw the contest tied when Peyton Manning connected up with longtime receiver Marvin Harrison for a seven-yard TD pass with 2:41 remaining.

It was the second touchdown of the game and the NFL-best 105th between Manning and Harrison.

The Texans answered right back with David Carr, who completed a 17-yard pass to Andre Johnson to the Colts 33. Dayne added a three-yard run before Brown converted his 19th field goal on 25 attempts this season.

"I don't pay attention to where the ball is on the field," Brown said. "I just go through my routine, pick a target and kick it. When my foot hit the ball, I knew it was good."

Manning finished with 205 yards and three touchdowns for Indianapolis (10-4), which lost for the third time in its last four games.

"This is a critical time for us," Manning said. "This is the time when people on the outside will start pointing fingers. As a team, we need to stay together and guys just need to do their jobs a little bit better all across the board in all three phases of the game."

Unable to follow up on a dominant 43-24 victory over the Texans in Week Two, the Colts slipped behind Baltimore (12-3) in the race for a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Ravens, who pounded the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-7, simply need a win or a loss by the Colts next week to secure the bye.