The Texans defeated the Colts 23:20 and won the season series with their division rivals

The Texans have a penchant for shooting themselves in the foot. They tried again on Sunday, but repeatedly failed to defeat the Colts.

However, the Colts couldn't get out of the way either.

Houston earned a 23-20 win in the AFC South showdown. At 6-2, the Texans now have a two-game lead over the Colts (4-4) and hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series.

The Colts began their final drive at their own 9 after an illegal block by Kelvin Joseph on the Texans' punt. They started the drive with 54 seconds and Anthony Richardson ran 26 yards, but he even tried to get the Colts out of bounds after timeouts. Her next snapshot came after 28 seconds.

The Colts faced a fourth-and-10 at their own 35 with 14 seconds left when Richardson completed a 14-yard pass to Trey Sermon. Indianapolis rushed to the line and Richardson shot the ball up front. TV replay showed the clock expired before the ball hit the ground, but the replay assistant ruled there was one second left.

It didn't matter: Richardson never got the pass. He was sacked and fumbled by Danielle Hunter, ending the game.

Richardson was right at his 48.5 percent completion average, going 10 of 32 for 175 yards with a 69-yard touchdown toss to Josh Downs. But the interception he threw to Jalen Pitre was a killer before halftime, and the safety returned it 10 yards to the Indianapolis 7 with 23 seconds left in the half.

CJ Stroud threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Tank Dell on the next play for a 17-10 halftime lead.

The Texans never trailed after that, leading 23-13 in the fourth quarter despite a huge offsides penalty on defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi on a Colts punt that led to a first down and a Colts touchdown. They then had a chance to convert the ball at the Indianapolis 8 with three minutes left, but Stroud fumbled a pitch to Joe Mixon and Dayo Odeyingbo recovered for the Colts.

Stroud finished 25 of 37 for 285 yards and a touchdown, and Mixon ran for 102 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Stefon Diggs caught five passes for 81 yards before suffering a knee injury on a non-contact play.

The Texans had five sacks, including two by Hunter and one by Will Anderson.

Jonathan Taylor rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries for the Colts, and Downs caught four passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.