T.Y. Hilton Has Career Game as TNF Blowout Streak Comes to an End

By Walton Yeboah-Amoako @WaltYeboah on October 10, 2014

Thanks to the dueling offensive performances between T.Y. Hilton and Arian Foster, the debate that the short preparation week for the Thursday night NFL games are the primary reason for the blowouts that have eliminated any real completion in the game should finally be put to bed.

It’s true that throughout the first five weeks, these Thursday night contests have been decided by a ridiculous 27-point margin of victory, but with the Indianapolis Colts narrow win over the Houston Texans in Week 6, apparently parity has been restored to TNF; at least for now.

No doubt — the Colts were on a hot, three-game win-streak coming into Thursday Night’s contest because of Andrew Luck‘s absurd numbers over the past few weeks. However, as the road team, one would have expected Indianapolis to start slow, but the very opposite thing happened.

The Colts jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first quarter alone, and the early discrepancy in the scoreline was reminiscent of the Week 5, 28-point halftime deficit between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, where the Packers (the home team) jumped out in front with the huge lead and finished with the eventual lopsided victory.

However, the relentless play of Foster in the Texans’ ground game balanced out the Colts’ unstoppable air-attack highlighted by Hilton’s 223-yard receiving day. Thus, the game came down to the wire, as Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick fumbled Houston’s fourth-quarter comeback opportunity away.

Luck has now led the Colts to a fourth consecutive win, but he didn’t do it the easy way.

However, I’m not sure if next Thursday’s contest led by Tom Brady and the surging New England Patriots will get much resistance from Geno Smith and the horrific New York Jets.

Let’s just try to savor tonight’s close Thursday night contest while it’s still fresh in our memories.

Walton Yeboah-Amoako is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @WaltYeboah, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.