That’s when disaster struck twice. The first time Matt Schaub threw a pick to the Colts Clint Session. The second as even tougher to swallow, as kicker Kris Brown missed on a 42-yard field goal as time expired that would have sent the game into overtime. “We played hard, but once again, we came up short,” said receiver Andre Johnson, who had 10 catches for 103 yards.

It could have never gotten to that point if the Texans would have been able to take advantage of their chances. They took a lead in the third quarter after trailing early 13-0. They scored 17 straight points with a third quarter to remember, as they outgained the Colts in the third quarter 169 to 9.

Indy though rallied, as Peyton Manning and the offense put together a drive that ended with a 2-yard Joseph Addai score to make it 20-17. Houston still had plenty of time, but the two chances they had to tie the game or go-ahead failed, and the team left Indy with a heartbreaking setback. “Fluke things seem to keep happening to us,” offensive tackle Eric Winston said.

“This is definitely the No. 1 toughest loss we’ve had since I’ve been here,” cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we can’t dwell on it.” The Texans are now a lifetime 1-14 against the Colts, including 0-8 in Indianapolis. This may have been their best chance to win there.

The team now sits at 5-4, and they will have two weeks to think about this loss with the bye upon them in week 10, before getting back on the field Monday night November 23rd vs the Titans.

Indianapolis: PK Adam Vinatieri, WR Anthony Gonzalez, QB Curtis Painter, RB Donald Brown, DL Fili Moala, CB Kelvin Hayden, TE Tom Santi, OL Tony Ugoh.

Now coach Gary Kubiak is faced with a decision to bench Slaton or not, and Fox Sports reports that it looks like Moats could get a chance to carry the load for Houston.

Steve Slaton became a key to Houston’s offense as a rookie last year when he ran for a franchise-record 1,282 yards. This season he’s tied for the NFL lead in lost fumbles with five and his job as a starter is in jeopardy after Ryan Moats had a huge day filling in for him. Moats, a career backup, ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns after Slaton was benched in the first quarter of Houston’s 31-10 win over the Bills. “They know they’re all going to play and they know they’re all going to be a part of what we’re doing, so I just think we keep working them,” Kubiak said. “Obviously, Ryan earned some time on the football field the way he played. But we’ve got to get all three of them ready to play.”

“O.D. tore his ACL,” coach Kubiak said today. “I visited here with him about an hour ago, before he left. They’re going to let the swelling go down over the course of the next 10-12 days and then schedule surgery, so surgery will probably be in about two weeks.

“Obviously, he’s done for the season and [that's] a big blow to our football team. I just feel bad for him. Boy, he was having a tremendous season — a special football season and we’re going to miss him big time. He’ll get well. He’ll be back. He’s a worker. He’ll be back better than ever.”

Daniels this season had 40 catches for 519 yards and five touchdowns. He was the teams biggest target outside of Andre Johnson, and he will be missed by Matt Schaub and the teams offense.

No decision on who will start at running back yet for the Texans. Head coach Gary Kubiak said all three backs will play. Ryan Moats is hot right now although Steve Slaton is the big play guy but his fumbles haven’t helped moving himself up the ladder.

He was the first player in franchise player to score three TD’s in a game. “I wasn’t thinking about that,” Moats said, referring to setting personal and team records. “I was thinking about the time that I would get and try to do the best that I could.”

The game turned when Slaton was shown the bench, and the steady hands of Moats entered the game. Gary Kubiak didn’t say after the game if Slaton had lost his starting job or not. What he did talk about was the loss of star tight end Owen Daniels, who was lost for the season with a knee injury. “It doesn’t look good,” he said.

The Texans though did enough to get a big win to move to 5-3 on the season. They took advantage of a great day on defense where they held Buffalo to just 204 yards on offense, and three second half first downs. “It was easy,” LB DeMeco Ryans said. “They kind of had the same formations, they didn’t give us a lot of motions and things. So it was a simple offense to go against.”

It wasn’t that easy on the scoreboard for awhile, as Terrell Owens put the Bills up 7-0 on a WR reverse in the first quarter. While the Texans were able to move the ball, they had to settle for three Kris Brown field goals to cut the deficit to 7-6 in the second quarter, then after a Bills field goal it was 10-6 Buffalo at the half.

The Texans got another field goal from Brown in the third quarter to make it 10-9, then finally went nuts on offense in the fourth. It started with a Moats 11-yard run to make it 17-10 after a two-point conversion to Andre Johnson. Later on in the quarter Moats went in from a yard out to make it 24-10, then a final three-yard TD from Moats with 3:34 left put the finishing touches on the win at 31-10.

The offense piled up 439 yards and 24 first downs in the win. Matt Schaub went 25-for-34 for 268 yards with two picks. Johnson had 6 grabs for 63 yards. The Texans defense laid a beating on the Bills, wrapping it up with a big showing in the second half. “We were really focusing for four quarters,” Brian Cushing said. “We were in a dogfight that first half, but we played through adversity by being smart and disciplined.”