T.Y. Hilton has done a very good job against the Texans in his career

The Indianapolis Colts have long been the class of the AFC South, but in recent years they’ve faced much more competition from the Houston Texans. Often, the matchups between the two go a long way in determining the AFC South race.

One Colts player in particular has risen to the occasion when facing the Texans, as T.Y. Hilton has had several great games against the Colts’ division rival. In eight games, Hilton has caught 43 passes for 778 yards and six touchdowns, racking up more receiving yards and touchdowns against the Texans than against any other opponent. His career high in single-game receiving yards also came against Houston, as he recorded 223 yards (along with nine catches and a touchdown) in 2014.

“Excellent player, very fast, runs a lot of different routes on the route tree,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said of Hilton this week. “They move him around a lot, hard to find and an excellent player.”

So far this season, Hilton is playing tremendous football too, as he has caught 35 passes for 507 yards and three touchdowns. He has had a terrific connection with his quarterback, Andrew Luck (who has also played well against Houston in the past, as he has a 14 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio in six career games).

“They’re playing at a very high level,” O’Brien said of the duo. “How they’ve played in the past, they’ve played at a high level in the past, but they’re playing great right now.”

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano is also pleased with the way Luck and Hilton are playing.

“There’s obviously a huge trust factor there,” he said. “They’ve played a lot of ball together over the last five years – chemistry, whatever you want to call it. I’m just glad it’s working the way it’s working and T.Y. had the day he had.”

With how Hilton has been playing so far this season, as well as his history against the Texans, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he has another big game this Sunday night.