Indianapolis
Colts

Moats, though, fumbled as he was going down after being tackled by free safety Antoine Bethea. Rookie cornerback Jerraud Powers -- who had rolled out of bounds on the play after being in on the tackle -- touched the ball before it went into the end zone.

After a somewhat lengthy review, the play was ruled as a touchback and Indianapolis took over at its own 20-yard line.

The play occurred just before the two-minute warning in the second quarter. But Caldwell waited until Houston was ready to snap the ball when play resumed before challenging the play.

"We'd established position in bounds and then recovered the ball. We initially thought that he was out of bounds with the ball as he possessed it, but it actually came loose prior to going out of bounds," the Colts coach said.

"We saw it upstairs first and talked through it. I guess where he touched the ball down, where he touched it was on the goal line. That's why they indicated the touchback."

--Jim Caldwell became the first Colts head coach to win his first eight games. Caldwell became the only rookie head coach in the Super Bowl era to start 8-0, and he became the only coach ever to start 8-0 when succeeding a head coach who won 100-plus games (Caldwell, Colts, 2009, succeeded Tony Dungy, 139 wins). He tied Potsy Clark (Portsmouth, 1931) for the best start by a rookie head coach in NFL history (8-0).

--Approximately 40 members of the Baltimore Colts' 1975 team, including former head coach Ted Marchibroda, were on hand to watch the Houston game.

Among those on hand were ex-Colts quarterback Bert Jones, who shared a private moment with Manning on the sidelines after the pre-game warm-up. Also there were running back Lydell Mitchell, wide receiver Roger Carr, offensive linemen George Kuntz, Ken Mendenhall and David Taylor, linebacker Mike Curtis, safety Bruce Laird, defensive tackle John Dutton and defensive end Fred Cook. Some of the former player attended Saturday's practice and everyone was present for a dinner Saturday evening at the Colts headquarters.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Huge win. Great effort. Great job kind of hanging in there. Obviously everything wasn't perfect, but great job of just kind of fighting and came up with the big win. Houston played well and they have an excellent team. Fortunate to win and certainly always want to win those divisional games, especially the ones at home. We'll definitely take it." -- Colts QB Peyton Manning on the win over Houston.

Collie is expected to be available for Sunday night's game with the New England Patriots, although a final determination won't be made until later in the week.

--OG Kyle DeVan got his first start for the Colts, replacing Mike Pollak at right offensive guard. DeVan and Pollak had shared the position the last several games, but DeVan has apparently won the job on a full-time basis for the present time.

He played for the Arena League2's Boise (Idaho) Burn this past spring.

--RB Donald Brown (shoulder) has been held out of the San Francisco and Houston games. Brown did practice two days last week. His availability for the New England game this Sunday night won't be determined until later in the week.

--DT Fili Moala (concussion) did not play against the Texans. His status for the New England game this week will be decided by Friday or Saturday.

--DE Josh Thomas was signed to the Colts' roster on Friday and was unofficially credited with one assisted tackle in the Houston game. Thomas was initially added to the team during training camp due to injuries at the position but was then released before the start of the regular season.

REPORT CARD VS. TEXANS

PASSING OFFENSE: A-minus -- The Colts came out in a no-huddle fast-break offense to start the Houston game. That lasted for most of the first half as Indianapolis had 50 total plays over the first two quarters. QB Peyton Manning hit on 34-of-50 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown. Manning had 40 first-half passing attempts. He also had one interception and was sacked twice. WR Reggie Wayne attempted his first-ever NFL pass on a trick play, but the throw was intercepted. TE Dallas Clark tied the franchise record with 14 receptions for 119 yards. Wayne had eight catches.

RUSHING OFFENSE: B-plus -- It's still not where the Colts coaching staff would like it to be, but the running game continues to display flashes of what it could be. Indianapolis had 72 yards in 18 carries, led by RB Joseph Addai's 63 yards in 14 rushing attempts. Addai had a bruising two-yard touchdown run, where he broke a tackle in the backfield before barreling into the end zone. He also had a 13-yard run late in the fourth quarter to get the Colts out of bad field position. Indianapolis played without rookie RB Donald Brown, who missed the game with a shoulder injury.

PASS DEFENSE: B -- Houston QB Matt Schaub completed 32-of-42 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown. He also had two passes intercepted (by CB Jerraud Powers and LB Clint Session) and was sacked twice. WR Andre Johnson caught 10 passes for 103 yards. The Colts defense manufactured six quarterback pressures as DE Dwight Freeney had 1.5 sacks and DE Robert Mathis had .5 of a sack. Indianapolis also had five pass broken up.

RUSH DEFENSE: A-minus -- The Colts limited Houston to 81 yards on the ground in 26 rushing attempts. RB Ryan Moats had 38 yards in 16 carries. QB Matt Schaub scrambled for 21 yards on three attempts. RB Steve Slaton added 17 yards in six carries and a touchdown. Indianapolis' rush defense has done a pretty good job over the first eight weeks of the season, allowing 4.3 yards per carry.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A -- Perhaps the biggest upgrade made by the Colts during the offseason was the addition of special teams coach Ray Rychelski. Indianapolis has struggled in recent years in kick and punt coverage, but that has become a plus so far this year. The Texans averaged 22.6 yards on five kickoff returns, including a long of 26 yards, and did not have any punt return yardage (three fair catches). Rookie P Pat McAfee had three kicks and averaged 32.7 yards, both overall and net averages. PK Matt Stover hit on two field goal attempts from 22 and 37 yards out. Rookie LB Cody Glenn partially blocked a field goal attempt by Houston's Kris Brown (although it didn't count because the Colts had called a time out before the kick attempt).

COACHING: A-minus -- Jim Caldwell is 8-0 as a rookie NFL head coach. He is pulling all the right strings and making all the right decisions so far. Caldwell has been forced to battle an injury-plagued lineup, especially on defense. He's even tried a few more trick plays (two) in eight games than his predecessor (Tony Dungy) may have attempted in his entire Colts head coaching career. Caldwell did a good job on the replay review on a fumble by Texans RB Ryan Moats, working the clock and the officials. The only blemish was the reverse-pass attempt by WR Reggie Wayne that was intercepted. Other than that, Caldwell has lived up to the shadow of Dungy.