Texans-Colts Week 3 Preview: AFC South Rivals Will Bring Urgency to Indianapolis

The Houston Texans will visit the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Sept. 27, for a Week 3 AFC South matchup scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT on CBS. Both clubs will enter at 0-2 after Houston’s 20-6 loss to Cincinnati and Indianapolis’ 33-30 overtime defeat against Kansas City. Houston will carry a five-game winning streak in the series, including a 38-30 victory on Jan. 4, while Indianapolis will retain the overall series edge at 33-15-1.

The line of scrimmage will loom over the matchup. Indianapolis has allowed 74 points and more than 500 yards in each of its first two games, including 144 rushing yards and three touchdowns to Derrick Henry in Week 1 and 132 rushing yards to Kansas City’s Kenneth Walker III and Emmett Johnson in Week 2. Houston’s David Montgomery and Woody Marks, meanwhile, will arrive averaging a combined 60 rushing yards per game, with each below 3.0 yards per carry.

Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud will bring 627 passing yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions through two games, and he will face a familiar division opponent: he is 5-1 against Indianapolis with eight touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown and one interception. Stroud will also have tight end Dalton Schultz, who set Texans single-game tight end records last week with 12 catches and 140 yards; Schultz has 16 receptions for 175 yards through two games. Houston has yet to force a turnover after recording 29 takeaways in 2025.

Indianapolis will lean on Jonathan Taylor, who has produced 190 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 43 carries, while quarterback Daniel Jones has totaled 376 passing yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Colts will be without wide receiver Alec Pierce, who has been placed on injured reserve with a heel injury, and newly signed receiver Darius Slayton will reunite with Jones after their time together with the New York Giants. Colts coach Shane Steichen framed the division stakes plainly: “If you want to win the division, you’ve got to win division games.”