The AFC South sets up the Houston Texans to have two rivalry games with each team in the division each season. The rest of the division consists of the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars and today's team of interest, Indianapolis Colts.
Houston is the newest franchise in the NFL, coming into the league in 2002. Since then, the Texans and Colts have played 45 games against each other. The two squads have played 44 times in the regular season and once in the playoffs.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Indianapolis holds a major lead in the series with a 33-11-1 record over the Texans. Again, this should not be much of a shock considering the Colts had a hall-of-fame quarterback, Peyton Manning leading the way for the first eight years of the rivalry, as Houston was only able to win twice during those years.
Since Manning left the Colts following the 2010 season, the rivalry has become more fair. The Colts still hold a 17-9-1 record over the Texans, but things have gotten much less lopsided in the feud.
The 2024 season kicks off for the Texans in a renewal of this feud.
That’s a whole lotta Texans football ‼️ pic.twitter.com/hJ55FN8yP7
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) May 16, 2024
While the two teams squaring off has largely been a one-sided affair. The Texans are the team with a budding superstar at quarterback, C.J. Stroud, while Anthony Richardson is still trying to get his feet wet in the league after an injury-laden rookie campaign.
The next installment of this feud looks to be an exciting one, with plenty of storylines to follow for the duration of the game.exciting
One of those stories is the last time these two teams met in Week 18 of last season. The Texans marched into Indianapolis, the host site of the Week 1 matchup, and eliminated the Colts from playoff contention with a 23-19 victory.
Another story is the return of Richardson. While the young quarterback is still getting his feet wet in the league, he took Indianapolis down to Houston last year and the Colts won 31-20.
The final story worth discussing heading into the game is that while the Colts have historically dominated this rivalry, Houston is on the upswing. The Texans are leading the feud over the last couple of seasons with a 2-1-1 record.
If there is any time for Houston to take control of this football rivalry with Indianapolis, it could start with Week 1 of the 2024 campaign in the next installment of the history of the Texans versus the Colts.