Texans vs. Colts: Indy Proves That Winning Means More Than Draft Position

There will be those who criticize the Indianapolis Colts for beating the Houston Texans on Thursday night, 19-16. There will be those who say the Colts should've rolled over to nab the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft and rolled out the red carpet for Andrew Luck.

The Colts, it seems, would beg to differ. The 53 guys on the sideline and the thousands of rabid fans at Lucas Oil Stadium would tell you otherwise.

Andrew Luck can wait. The Colts don't mind a bit of happiness and success in the interim.

The Texans certainly seemed happy enough to oblige. Houston looked uncertain of its newfound status as the AFC South champ, playing as though it half expected Peyton Manning to throw on some pads and carve up its defense like the good ol' days.

Of course, Peyton wasn't in his usual place, unless anyone thinks he's forever doomed and damned to stand on the sidelines with a headset. Instead, it was Dan Orlovsky running the two-minute drill, albeit with the help of three flags on the Texans' defense.

You think Jim Caldwell was going to tell the kid to screw it up? You think GM Bill Polian was about to send smoke signals down to the field to tell his team it'd be better served playing dead?

You think the players would've even listened had anyone tried a stunt like that?

Of course not! The guys on the Colts roster had spent the last decade winning football games like it was their birthright. Going to the playoffs with Manning calling the shots was about as easy to predict as the rising of the sun in the morning and it's setting at night.

Today's players don't play for tomorrow's prospects. If nothing else, they play for personal and professional pride, because they're competitive down to the very last moment of the game.

The same goes for the Colts. As sorry a team as the've been all season, they were never prepared to be the butt-end of some joke for the football history books. If anything, Indy was out to rewrite the books, becoming the first 10-loss team in NFL history to defeat a 10-win team.

As for the fans? Sure, they'd love to see Andrew Luck in a Colts uniform.

But you know what they'd love even more? Peyton Manning in a Colts uniform. Peyton Manning healthy, doing what he does best.

Leading Indy to victory.

Beating the Texans doesn't necessarily knock the Colts out of the running for the No. 1 pick. Indy will get the top choice in the draft even if they finish with the same win-loss record as the St. Louis Rams and the Minnesota Vikings.

For now, though, you can bet most of the folks in Indy don't much care. They'll take the "W," consequences be damned.

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