National Football League

Texans unable to complete comeback in loss to Colts

Published Oct. 10, 2014 2:11 a.m. ET

Shawn Ramsey

HOUSTON - Another week, another slow start for the Houston Texans as they lose to the Indianapolis Colts 33-28 on Thursday night.

While the offense once again struggled to move the ball early, the defense had it's share of issues on the field as well giving the Indianapolis Colts an early 24-0 lead, with one touchdown coming after a successful surprise on-side kick, as the first quarter ended.

"You give a team a 24 point lead right out the gate, you're going to have a difficult time," J.J. Watt said.

As the jeers began to rain down on the field from the home fans, the Texans flipped a switch in the second quarter, storming back to with two scoring plays, one of which came after linebacker Justin Tuggle's interception off Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, to cut the deficit to 27-14. The defense held Indianapolis to just a field goal in the quarter.

"To give some credit to our guys, they fought back," head coach Bill O'Brien said. "I am very proud of this locker room, I am very proud of these guys. They were down 24 nothing, it looked like it was going to be about 50 to nothing, but we finally got something going on offense and we were able to play some complimentary football."

Despite managing only two yards of total offense in the first quarter, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 212 yards and a touchdown to Andre Johnson while Arian Foster finished the day with 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

After the game, O'Brien, along with most of the locker room, was stumped as to why Houston has had trouble moving the ball early in games.

"I don't know, seriously. We've got a bye week and a couple days to figure things out, that's one of the things we've got to figure out," O'Brien said. "We haven't started well yet, so we've got to try to figure it out."

The Texans, who move to 3-3 on the season dropping to second place behind the Colts in the AFC South, got another highlight-reel play from defensive star Watt in the fourth quarter when he recovered a fumble from Luck, returning it 45 yards for a touchdown, his third scoring play of the season.

"You gotta score points anyway you can in this league and so when we go out there and put points up on defense, obviously we get ourselves back to a little bit closer and give ourselves a chance in the game, Watt said. "Big play, but at the end of the day, not enough. Gotta find a way to do more."

With Watt's touchdown, the Texans, who never gained a lead in the game, found themselves just five points shy of taking the lead late in the fourth quarter, however the team's final two offensive drives ended with fumbles by Johnson - his second of the game - and Fitzpatrick, securing the defeat.

"I didn't have the ball cleanly," Johnson said about his fourth quarter fumble. "Just try to make something happen before really protecting the ball and it cost my team. I accept full responsibility for it and that's probably why we lost tonight."

In back-to-back games, Houston has managed comebacks after facing early deficits only to come up short. The Texans, however, are remaining optimistic sitting at .500 with a long week ahead of them before their next game on the road Nov. 20 in Pittsburgh for Monday Night Football.

"The season is not over. We have a lot of football to play," Johnson said. " This is a good chance for us to see where we are as a team and what we need to fix as a team and as players to get us headed in the right direction and not have slow starts and stuff like that. Hopefully we can get that fixed over the next few days."

GAME NOTES

• Needing just 19 receiving yards prior to the game, finishing with 99 receiving yards Thursday against the Colts, Johnson became the 15th player in NFL history to surpass 13,000 career receiving yards. He current has 13,080 yards receiving heading into Week 7.

• Punter Shane Lechler set a Texans-franchise record with his 71-yard punt in the third quarter.

Follow Shawn Ramsey on Twitter: @ShawnPRamsey

MORE FROM FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST

- Watt strikes again, scores third touchdown on recovered fumble