Colts Knock off the Seahawks, Texans Bench Schaub

The Indianapolis Colts (4-1) ended the Seattle Seahawks’ (4-1) perfect record and nine-game regular season win streak on Sunday with a 34-28 win.

With the victory, the Colts have played their way into the conversation as serious AFC contenders with their growing list of high-profile wins including not only the Seahawks but an earlier one against the San Francisco 49ers (3-2).

The Colts again got off to a slow start as they entered halftime behind 19-17. But they made adjustments and toward the end of the third quarter, they woke up and quarterback Andrew Luck led the team to three scores. For the second half, Luck went 11 for 16, 132 yards and one touchdown.

Andrew Luck

He said of the win via the Associated Press, “A win is a win, if it was ugly, if it was great. To come back, you hold on for dear life, but a chance to beat a good team in front of our home fans, to get back on track at home, we take a lot of pride in that.”

Along with Luck’s strong second half, Colts sophomore wide receiver Ty Hilton had five receptions for 140 yards–a career-high–with two touchdowns. In the game’s first half, Hilton grabbed a 73-yard touchdown pass from his quarterback. This gave him his fourth touchdowns of 60-plus yards–a feat that has him trailing behind the leader, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who has six since 2012.

On the defensive side, the Colts veteran linebacker Robert Mathis got his 100th sack, which put him one the NFL’s historical list at No. 30. For the game, Mathis had two sacks,which gives him 9.5 for the season to-date.

While the Colts got the win, it didn’t come without good play by the Seahawks sophomore quarterback Russell Wilson. He 15 for 31, 210 yards, two touchdowns and one pick. He also tied the team for top rushing yards with his 13 carries for 102 yards. This represented his first 100-yard rushing day of his NFL career.

For the Colts, this Sunday they’ll play the San Diego Chargers (2-3) and sit at 28/1 to win this year’s Super Bowl.

Texans Lose Again, QB Schaub Gets Benched

The Houston Texans (2-3) suffered their third straight loss on Sunday as the 49ers defeated them 34-3.

This time they thought they’d try something different and benched quarterback Matt Schaub in the fourth quarter. This came as the player threw three interceptions in the game and his coach Gary Kubiak had had enough by the game’s last 15 minutes of play.

Matt Schaub

But this may have been a temporary solution as Kubiak responded in the postgame press conference that yes Schaub is still his starting quarterback. Upon his exit, backup quarterback T.J. Yates entered and went 3 for 5 with 15 yards.

Kubiak said of the quarterback switch via ESPN, “I think it was time for him [Yates] to get some reps. Obviously, Matt took some hits and made some mistakes. And I just told him I was going to put T.J. in the game — and we’re going to go from there and talk about it after the game or throughout the course of the week and see where we’re at.”

For Schaub, Sunday’s benching was a first for him and in addition to his three picks, this extended his streak of a pick-six to four games. Sorry Matt, but this is a new NFL record.

The quarterback was open about getting past his current enemy–his head. He said on Sunday via ESPN, “Obviously, it’s tough right now. After what we’ve been through tonight, going back to last weekend and even the week before. I am very confident in my ability and everyone in this locker room.”

Both Kubiak and Schaub have said the team has hit rock bottom. The Texans sit in the third spot for the AFC South and to make a playoff run, change will need to come; it will start with Schaub. The Texans sit at 28/1 to win the 2014 Super Bowl.