A win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday would clinch a second straight AFC South title for the playoff-bound Houston Texans. A loss makes the division race much more interesting.
The Texans look to bounce back from a blowout loss and prevent the surging Colts from securing a playoff berth as these teams meet in Houston for the first of two meetings over the final three weeks.
Despite a 42-14 loss at New England on Monday, Houston (11-2) still has the AFC's best record and needs only a third straight home victory over Indianapolis to win the division.
"We still control our destiny," defensive end J.J. Watt said. "We control everything. We are going to go back and focus on winning the division and locking that up. Everything is still in front of us."
However, if Indianapolis (9-4) wins Sunday, it would wrap up a playoff spot and put a division crown very much within its grasp. If the Colts win their final three games, including at Kansas City next week and at home against the Texans in the regular-season finale, they would claim the South title.
"There is no doubt that (the Texans are) the top horse right now," interim coach Bruce Arians told the Colts' official website. "We've got to go in there and knock them off."
Indianapolis has won three straight and seven of eight, moving in position to join the 2008 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to lose at least 14 games one season and makethe playoffs the next.
Much of the turnaround has been attributed to Andrew Luck, whose six fourth-quarter comebacks are the highest single-season total by a rookie since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.A week after Luck's two TD passes in the final 2:39 - including one as time expired - resulted in a 35-33 win at Detroit, he helped rally the Colts from a 13-point halftime deficit in last Sunday's 27-23 victory over Tennessee.
All but one of their victories has come by seven or fewer points.
Texans will be cookin' up a big steamin' bowl of whoop azz for the colts
