There was one and only one in the Texans' 33-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Most weeks, that would be cause for celebration for the Texans. It was only the fourth time in 10 games this season that they had fewer than two turnovers.

With just one interception, the Texans put together one of their best all-around offensive performances of the season. The Texans had 177 yards rushing behind a season-high 156-yard outing by rookie running back Steve Slaton.

The offense couldn't match the second-half effort by the Colts, however. Still, the Texans had one final chance late in the fourth quarter, but with 32 seconds left, a Sage Rosenfels pass intended for tight end Owen Daniels landed in the hands of former Texas A&M safety Melvin Bullitt.

"I saw Owen Daniels flash," Rosenfels said. "I think he was open enough. I just made a bad throw, threw it behind him. I probably should have just checked the ball down or something else. I really just made a bad throw. We had a chance."

No one in the locker room was pointing fingers at Rosenfels, however. When the Texans got the ball back with 1:47 to play, they had no timeouts and were trailing by six.

"He's got to take chances," right tackle Eric Winston said. "I'm not going to second-guess Sage. We have to get the ball down the field. With no timeouts, he can't just check it down, check it down and hope you're going to be in a spot where he'll end up throwing a 50-yard bomb with five seconds left on the clock.

"He had to take some chances, and he just tried to fit one in. And it just didn't quite get in there. I don't blame him."

More TDs needed

The Texans finished the game 2-for-4 in trips into the red zone. They kicked field goals on their first two red-zone visits.

Winston said that's more where the problem lies: The team cannot settle for field goals.

After 10 games, the Texans are averaging 23.6 points. Their defense is among the worst in the NFL, giving up an average of 28.7 points.

"I think we have to do a better job on offense of just continuously scoring," Winston said. "That's kind of where we're at. We have to score touchdowns, and we have to get to that point where we're a 30-point team, not mid-20s or low 20s.

"We have to get to where we're scoring 28, 34, 35 to be consistently successful."

The Texans also know they must keep running the ball. After rushing for a total of 137 yards in the previous two games combined, they were able to get three rushing touchdowns against the Colts.

Rushing picks up

"That was the whole reason we were in that game - because of our running game," Rosenfels said. "You just don't want to throw the ball 43 times against them with the way they pass rush. Because that's really all their defensive line does is pass rush. They totally sell out. It's what they get paid a lot of money to do. And they are great at it.

"You want to run the ball, and that's what we did. Our offensive line and our backs did a great job."

...

HOLDING ON

Despite the loss, the Texans had one of their best games of the season protecting the ball, with just one turnover:

Wk. .. Opp. .. TO .. Res.

1 .. at Pitt. .. 3 .. L 38-17

2 .. Open

3 .. at Tenn. .. 3 .. L 31-12

4 .. at Jac. .. 0 .. L 30-27

5 .. vs. Ind. .. 3L 31-27

6 .. vs. Mia. .. 4 .. W 29-28

7 .. vs. Det. .. 1 .. W 28-21

8 .. vs. Cin. .. 0 .. W 35-6

9 .. at Minn. .. 3 .. L 28-21

10 .. vs. Balt. .. 4 .. L 41-13

11 .. at Ind. .. 1 .. L 33-27