INDIANAPOLIS — The Houston Texans invested heavily in the offseason in giving C.J. Stroud some additional scoring options.
It’s already paying big dividends.
Stefon Diggs caught two touchdown passes and Joe Mixon ran for 159 yards and another score in their Houston debuts to help the Texans close out a 29-27 victory against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
“It's everything for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said of his new tag-team tandem. “Those guys go out and make plays no matter what the situation is, like when you can count on those guys to make plays it's huge for our team, not just our offense but what they did for an entire team, providing the energy they did for our team, it's outstanding."
In some ways, it was more of the same for Houston (1-0).
C.J. Stroud was 24 of 32 with 234 yards and no turnovers as the defending AFC South champs won their ninth consecutive road game in division play — inside the same venue they clinched a playoff spot in Week 18 last season.
Still, Mixon, who was acquired in a trade from Cincinnati, and Diggs, who was acquired in a trade with Buffalo, gave Houston a more potent look.
Diggs caught six passes for 33 yards with two touchdowns — a 9-yard score to give Houston a 12-7 lead it never surrendered and a 2-yard TD reception on fourth-and-goal to essentially seal the victory with 4:42 to play.
Mixon carried a career-high 30 times, finished with his highest single-game rushing total since gaining a career-best 165 yards against Pittsburgh in November 2021 and scored on a 3-yard run early in the fourth quarter on the first play after a holding penalty erased a Colts interception.
“I’m just finally getting tapped into the player I know I am,” Mixon said. “The guys are encouraging me to make sure this thing is still up and going. I’m just glad I’m one of the forefront persons to really set the tone and let people know what it is like playing us.”
For the Colts (0-1), it was an all-too-familiar script.
They extended the NFL’s longest active opening day winless drought, three of the past four coming against division teams including a 20-20 tie at Houston in 2022.
And even though Anthony Richardson gave them a chance with two TD passes of more than 50 yards and a powerful 3-yard TD run with 2:14 to play, Indy’s weary defense couldn’t get the ball back to Richardson.
Houston's offense had the ball for 40 minutes.
“It’s going to be like this a lot, you know, there’s going to be a lot of one-score games,” Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “We’ve got to find ways at the end, offensively and defensively, to make the plays in critical situations.”
But Mixon, Diggs, Stroud and Nico Collins simply wouldn’t allow it.
Collins had his third consecutive big game against the Colts, catching six passes for 117 yards including a 55-yarder that set up Diggs’ first score and Ka’imi Fairbairn made three field goals from 50 or more yards.
It was simply too much for the Colts, who took a 7-3 lead when Richardson and Alec Pierce hooked up on a 60-yard TD pass in the first quarter.
Diggs’ first score made it 12-7 and when Fairbairn started the second half with another field goal, the Texans' lead expanded to 15-7.
The Colts capitalized on a blocked punt with Jonathan Taylor’s 5-yard TD run, but a failed 2-point conversion left Indy in a 15-13 deficit.
Mixon responded with his TD run and after Richardson found Ashton Dulin on a 54-yard score, Diggs extended the lead to 29-20 with less than five minutes to play.
Richardson was 9 of 19 with 212 yards and one interception and ran six times for 56 yards. Taylor rushed 16 times for 48 yards and Pierce finished with three catches for 125 yards as the Colts came up short again.
Strange ending
Houston won despite an unusual finish to the first half, which may have cost it at least three points with officials stopping the clock to review Dalton Schultz's 7-yard reception after a spike.
When referee John Hussey announced it was a catch and the clock would be reset to 15 seconds, Steichen called a timeout. Before play resumed, Hussey “apologized for the confusion,” rescinded the timeout and enforced a 10-second runoff for the review to reset the clock at 5 seconds while starting it on his signal. But with the offense still on the field, Houston didn't get the ball snapped before time expired.
“It's on us on the sideline,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We've got to be better.”
Turf trouble
Indianapolis installed new turf during the offseason and both teams struggled to stay upright. Stroud slipped on two consecutive plays on the Texans first series and when Colts rookie Adonai Mitchell slipped on a screen pass in the first half, it messed up the timing. And Kylen Granson's bad footing led to Calen Bullock's interception at the Texans 8-yard line late in the first half.
Up next
Texans: Host Chicago next Sunday night.
Colts: Visit Green Bay next Sunday.
