KA'IMI FAIRBAIRN

Rookie Trey Lance threw two touchdown passes in the second half of his second career start, and the San Francisco 49ers closed in on a playoff berth with a 23-7 victory over the Houston Texans.

Rookie Zach Wilson threw for 145 yards and ran for a touchdown to help the New York Jets snap a three-game skid by rallying for a 21-14 win over the Houston Texans.

Houston had Kyler Murray holding his head after big hits, shaking it after tripping him up several times.

Tyrod Taylor went 4 of 4 for 40 yards in his lone series and rookie quarterback Davis Mills led a couple of scoring drives for the Houston Texans in a 26-7 preseason victory over the Packers.

To summarize, the offense has a chance to be really, really good, and the defense has a lot of work to do to become really, really average. Then there are the Texans' special teams, which for years was this team's silent killer. That all changed in 2018 with the hire of Brad Seely as the assistant coach in charge of special teams. Let's get to the final set of burning questions on the Houston Texans' 202 offseason, focusing on the special teams:Will Ka'imi Fairbairn live up to his new deal? Prior to Seely, the Texans would just throw their dozen or so worst position players out there on special teams, label them as "special teams players," and have Bill O'Brien tell us how valuable so-and-so is on special teams.

So now, the offseason is here, and it will soon be time for the Texans to make decisions on pending free agents, and for the good players among those free agents to decide if they want to be Houston Texans going forward. Odds of Returning in 2020: 75 percentRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS (2):Dylan Cole, ILBCole tore his ACL in the first half of the 2019 season, continuing his unfortunate injury luck. Odds of Returning in 2020: 65 percentBradley Roby, CBAnother player who, when healthy, performed at a high level in 2019. Odds of Returning in 2020: 50 percentJon Weeks, LSJon Weeks is the only Houston Texan to do his job perfectly every season. Odds of Returning in 2020: 95 percentListen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays.

All of a sudden, the Colts game on Thursday is massive. Related Stories NFL Week 11: Head Coaches Hot Seat RankingsLet's start this week's winners and loser with Fairbairn.... They'd have been 7-3 and tied with the Ravens, while owning the head to head tie breaker, and trailing only the 9-1 Patriots. The Colts own a three game winning streak over the Texans, including two games in NRG Stadium. Jackson made the Texans look foolish all afternoon, with nine carries for 86 yards and adding 222 yards passing with four touchdowns.

Ironically, the day after the Astros clinched that World Series, news came down that Watson's season was over. In the standings, the Texans now sit at 5-3, a half game back of the Colts. These are the times that test a head coach, and test a general manager, and for the Texans, that is the same guy. The Texans have the Jags in London this week, and then the Colts and Titans a total of three times in Weeks 12 through 17. This play was J.J. Watt's last one of the 2019 season.

Ironically, the one game they lost in Lucas Oil Stadium was in 2017 to this coming Sunday's Colts starter Jacoby Brissett. The Colts enter the game as a small favorite, the Texans enter the game riding a two game winning streak and the momentum of that win last week in Kansas City. In other words, in about the equivalent of an NFL regular season, Hilton has put up All-Pro numbers against the Texans. On third down defensively, the Colts rank 26th in the league, while the Texans are the best offense in the NFL on third down (51.4 percent). SPREAD: Texans +1PREDICTION: Texans 27, Colts 20SEASON RECORD: 4-2 SU, 4-2 ATSListen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays.