NFL Preview - Houston (5-3) at Indianapolis (7-0)

By Tony Moss, Sports Network - The Sports Network

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There will be no hats and shirts declaring that the Indianapolis Colts are AFC South champions on the premises at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.

Should they prevail over the second-place Houston Texans, the Colts will not have officially clinched anything. The operative word there is "officially."

A win for Indianapolis - which has never lost to the Texans at home in seven all-time meetings - would give the Colts a cavernous four-game lead in the division with eight contests left to play, and only seven remaining for Houston.

Given the way Jim Caldwell's undefeated squad has played thus far in 2009, the notion of the Colts losing their grip on an advantage so large is far-fetched at best.

Indy didn't play its best game against a pesky San Francisco 49ers team last Sunday, but still managed to escape with an 18-14 victory.

The Colts put up their fewest points since Week 1 in the triumph, and had consistent trouble finishing off drives. Four Matt Stover field goals accounted for all of Indianapolis' points over the game's first three quarters, and Caldwell's crew found itself behind, 14-12, as the final frame began.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, a 22-yard trick-play touchdown pass from Joseph Addai to Reggie Wayne put Indianapolis ahead to stay, as an underrated defense flexed its muscles and finished off a second-half shutout.

Quarterback Peyton Manning was 31-of-48 for 347 yards in the win, the sixth time in seven outings he has gone over 300 yards, but did not throw a touchdown pass.

The Texans also had a happy Week 8 result, though following a theme that has been echoed throughout their eight-year history, they refused to do things the easy way.

On a day in which they gutted out a 31-10 road victory over a hard-nosed Buffalo Bills team to finish the first half of a season above .500 for the first time ever, the Texans (5-3) had their enthusiasm tempered by a couple of disconcerting elements.

The first was the continued plague befalling Steve Slaton. The Texans had made Slaton's fumbling issues a point of emphasis for several weeks, after the second-year back out of West Virginia coughed the ball up six times (four lost) during the team's first seven contests.

But, despite hope that Slaton was finally ready to put those problems behind him, the running back was stripped by linebacker Paul Posluzsny on just his third touch of the game, and was benched for the remainder of the contest.

Backup Ryan Moats carried the load the rest of the day, making the most of his opportunity with 23 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns.

And though the Texans didn't know it yet, the worst had already come, even before Slaton put the ball on the ground.

Following the team's second possession of the game, tight end Owen Daniels had left the contest after catching his foot in the Ralph Wilson Stadium turf. On Monday, the grim news was confirmed that the Pro Bowl tight end had suffered a torn right ACL, and would be lost for the season.

Daniels entered Week 8 Buffalo leading all NFL tight ends in receiving yards, and was second at his position in receptions and touchdowns.

Minus their star tight end, the Texans will be looking to build on their first three-game win streak of the year on Sunday. Houston is 10-4 in its last 14 games dating back to last season.

SERIES HISTORY

The Colts are 13-1 all-time against the Texans, with the only loss a 27-24 result at Reliant Stadium in 2006. Last season, Indianapolis won a pair of tight contests, a 31-27 final at Reliant Stadium in Week 5 and a 33-27 thriller at Lucas Oil Stadium in Week 11. In the former game, Indianapolis became the first team in NFL history to erase a 17-point deficit with less than four minutes to play to win in regulation. As mentioned, the Texans are 0-7 all-time in Indianapolis.