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There wasn't anything special about the Indianapolis Colts offense in today's 16-10 loss to the Houston Texans, nor was there anything special about T.Y. Hilton's 3 catch, 29 yard performance.
But with those 29 yards, Hilton reached a significant milestone: he topped 1,000 yards receiving for the third straight season. Through 14 games (half of them with a backup quarterback), Hilton has caught 61 passes for 1,016 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 16.7 yards per reception. Even in a year that has seen no consistency from the Colts' quarterback position and has seen Hilton dealing with injuries, he has managed to top 1,000 yards.
It's the third straight year for Hilton reaching the milestone, joining only Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne to do so with the Colts. In fact, Hilton ranks third in Colts franchise history in 1,000-yard seasons behind only Harrison and Wayne (who each have eight), and no one else has more than one. So Hilton's achievements are noteworthy, and after a Pro Bowl season a year ago, what he has done this year is also impressive (though it almost certainly won't end up in Hawaii). For a receiver playing with a backup quarterback for half of the season, to produce like Hilton has done on a bad offense is noteworthy.
Through four seasons (with two games left to go in his fourth), Hilton has caught 275 passes for 4,305 yards and 24 touchdowns, averaging 15.7 yards per catch. It has been a down year for the Colts offense, but the good news is that they have pieces in place for the future. With Andrew Luck at quarterback and T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief at receiver, the Colts' passing game does have weapons to work with moving forward.
Most Colts fans probably don't want to focus on any positives at the moment after the ugly loss the team suffered earlier today, and that's fair - but Hilton deserves some credit for his play this year. It hasn't been his best season, but in a year with almost no consistency from the Colts' offense, Hilton has once again topped 1,000 yards.