Texans Wire Player of the Game: DE Danielle Hunter

If Anthony Richardson had a clean pocket, perhaps he’s leading the Indianapolis Colts to an improbable comeback at NRG Stadium on Sunday.

If Richardson evades the sack on third down, perhaps the Colts are sitting atop the AFC South standings at 5-3.

Neither happened in the Houston Texans’ 23-20 win over the Colts. Richardson could get out of trouble, resulting in five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

Two takedowns came from Danielle Hunter, including the strip sack on the final play of the afternoon with one-second remaining.

“Multiple times we had pressure on him. Credit goes to our D-line the way they got after it up front,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. Danielle, Will [Anderson Jr.], [Tim] Settle, everybody was in on the action of applying pressure on the quarterback.”

Hunter headlined Houston’s defensive line Sunday. The front seven pressured Richardson on 60% of his drop-backs, tied for the highest pressure rate by a defense in a game this season, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

None of it mattered until the game’s final drive. Houston’s offense stalled on a three-and-out to waste the clock. The Colts wanted to march downfield and at least get into the field goal range to send the game to overtime.

Hunter wasn’t letting that happen. On the drive’s first play, he dipped past Bernhard Raimann and into the backfield opposite Anderson and Dencio Autry.

The quarterback looked confused about where the pressure was coming from. By the time Richardson evaded Autry’s initial takedown, it was too late.

There was Hunter forcing a strip-sack to secure the victory at home.

“We just wanted to leave no doubt today,” Anderson told reporters. “Let everyone know who the Texans D-line is. When they think about the Texans, they think about the d-line. That’s the message that we wanted to get out there.”

Hunter finished with two tackles, both coming on sacks that led to turnover drives. Without those two plays, the Texans could be sitting at 5-3 entering their matchup against the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football.

For that reason, Hunter is this Texans Wire’s Player of the Game. He joins running back Joe Mixon, kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, receiver Nico Collins, receiver Stefon Diggs and linebacker Neville Hewitt on the honor list for 2024.