taught Anthony Castonzo some valuable lessons about playoff football.The Indianapolis Colts left tackle hopes his teammates find an easier way to learn."Basically John Simon Color Rush Jersey , my advice is not to take it any differently," Castonzo said Wednesday as the Colts prepare for Saturday's wild-card game in Houston. "Practice the same way, work the same way, play the same way. You have to not make it more than it is." It's a mantra coaches and players in Indy have stuck to since the Tony Dungy era.The Hall of Fame coach, who brought Indy its first football title, often talked about how most playoff games were lost rather than won because of the natural temptation to try and do too much — and the ensuing mistakes.Young players, the Colts know, tend to be the most vulnerable and Indianapolis (10-6) has one of the league's least-experienced teams.Twenty-four of the 53 players on the active roster are in their first or second NFL seasons and only 15 have participated in a playoff game.Castonzo, T.Y. Hilton, Andrew Luck and Adam Vinatieri are the only remaining active players from Indy's previous playoff team, which lost in the AFC championship game at New England in the 2014 season.Of the seven who own Super Bowl rings only three — linebacker Najee Goode, defensive end Jabaal Sheard and Vinatieri — have actually been on the field for those title runs.The other 47 players on Indy's roster have won a total of six postseason games, with midseason acquisition Mike Mitchell accounting for half.So first-year coach Frank Reich recruited some help this week."I was sitting around thinking, ‘OK, how many playoff games has (Vinatieri) played?'" Reich said, noting the answer was 30. "So I said, ‘All right, tell me Vinny what have you learned?' The (text) message he sent me, I thought, was vintage and we shared that with the team (Tuesday) morning and we had Vinny share a few extra thoughts on that. A lot of wisdom in what he was saying."Vinatieri didn't need a handful of Super Bowl rings to provide credibility for his message.The league's oldest active player, at age 46 https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Chester-Rogers-Jersey , became the NFL's career scoring leader earlier this season and heads into his 31st playoff game already holding the title of career postseason scoring leader."I told them it's a playoff game but it's the Houston Texans we're playing," Vinatieri said. "There are a lot of ebbs and flows and you've got to stay focused on your job."His words appear to have resonated.Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard, the league's top tackler with a franchise-record 163, said he's sticking to his regular routine and Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson, another rookie, isn't making any changes either. Both are eager to get started.Reich acknowledges there is one significant difference between the regular season and postseason: Mistakes are magnified.So the Colts will spend the rest of this week on cleanup duty after having two turnovers and 12 penalties in Sunday's 33-17 playoff-clinching victory at Tennessee."I would say the needles adjust slightly. For instance, the importance of running and stopping the run, the importance of the turnover battle, the importance of penalties or lack thereof," said Reich, who played on all four of Buffalo's AFC championship teams in the 1990s."I think we have proven we can win a game throwing it 50 times, but in my experience that gets harder to do in playoff football. You can do it if you have to, but you want to establish dominance."Being young also has an advantage."They have no idea how big a moment it is and if they go on a run they'll have no idea how special it is," former punter Pat McAfee said after doing his first NFL broadcast for Fox Sports last weekend. "My rookie year we didn't lose until we chose to lose in the Super Bowl and I thought, we'd be back the next year."Instead, McAfee never made it back and Castonzo missed out on the playoffs each of the past three years.But this time feels different to Castonzo, who believes the young guys such as Leonard and Nelson have changed this team. They didn't crack under the pressure all season and none of the Colts expect them to start now."They bring a lot of energy and are playing at a high level," he said. "That's one of the big reasons we're here."Notes: Center Ryan Kelly (stinger), safety Clayton Geathers (knee), linebacker Anthony Walker (shoulder) and running back Jordan Wilkins (knee and ankle) were full participants at practice Wednesday. Geathers and Kelly were inactive last week, but Kelly said Wednesday he expects to start Saturday. … Pro Bowl tight end Eric Ebron took the day off while four-time Pro Bowl receiver T.Y. Hilton missed another workout because of his injured ankle. HOUSTON (AP) — Saturday’s wild-card game between the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts is a matchup that seemed improbable early this season after Houston dropped its first three games and the Colts limped to a 1-5 start.Instead of letting their tough starts lead to disappointing years Antonio Morrison Jersey , these teams which both finished 4-12 last season turned things around to lead the AFC South and charge into the postseason.Houston’s rebound began at the expense of the Colts (10-6) and it was thanks in part to a controversial call by Indianapolis coach Frank Reich in overtime. The game was tied 34-34 when, instead of punting on fourth-and-4 from his 43-yard line and likely settling for a tie, Reich called for a short pass from Andrew Luck to Chester Rogers. Luck’s pass fell incomplete, Houston got a 24-yard completion on the next play, and Ka’imi Fairbairn made a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give the Texans (11-5) a 37-34 victory.Article continues below ...“We knew that to be able to come out on the winning end of that game was a big thing for us, but that’s a long time ago,” Houston coach Bill O’Brien said. “The teams have evolved over time, so it’s a new ballgame now.”The win was the first of nine straight for Houston. The Texans didn’t lose again until a visit from the Colts on Dec. 9, a 24-21 Indy victory. Houston then won two of its last three games, capped by a 20-3 victory over the Jaguars on Sunday to clinch the division — and become the sixth team since 1980 and first since 1998 to make the playoffs after a 0-3 start.The Colts’ loss to Houston in Week 4 was the second of four straight that dropped them to 1-5. Indianapolis then won its next five and nine of its last 10 to make its first playoff appearance since a 2014 AFC championship game loss at New England. Yes, the “Deflategate” game.The Colts are the third team in NFL history to reach the postseason after losing five of the first six games.These teams have more in common than their difficult starts. They’re both led by a player making a comeback after an injury.Luck returned after missing the 2017 season with a shoulder injury to throw for 4,593 yards and rank second in the NFL with 39 touchdown passes. His best games this season have come against Houston, piling up 863 yards passing with six touchdowns.Trying to slow him down on Saturday will be Houston’s comeback star J.J. Watt, who played all 16 games after starting just eight games combined in the previous two years because of back surgeries and a broken leg. Watt led the AFC with 16 sacks, had 25 quarterback hits, 18 tackles for losses and forced a career-high seven fumbles, which tied for most in the NFL.Watt said Luck has been getting rid of the ball quicker this season, which makes his job as a pass rusher much more difficult.“You try and do different things, but at the end of the day, you try and get there, and if you can get your hands up Kenny Moore Color Rush Jersey , you get your hands up,” he said. “You just try and get there. You can’t really let it affect you, and you hope maybe he holds it for an extra second.”Some things to know about Houston’s game against Indianapolis:HILTON’S INSome of T.Y. Hilton’s most memorable moments have come against the Texans — especially when he visits Houston.The Colts’ top receiver has caught 41 passes for 933 yards with seven TDs in seven games at NRG Stadium, and in the last two trips to Houston Hilton has 14 receptions for 374 yards and two TDs. So even though he’s been hobbled by a bad ankle, which he initially injured at Houston on Dec. 9, Hilton insists he’ll be fine Sunday.“That’s probably why it’s starting to feel better,” Hilton joked earlier this week when asked about playing in Houston for the second time in a month.DESHAUN’S DEBUTHouston quarterback Deshaun Watson will make his playoff debut in his second year in the NFL. Don’t expect the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft to be daunted by the challenge after he played plenty of huge games at Clemson, highlighted by leading his team to the national title game twice. The Tigers lost to Alabama when Watson was a sophomore before he helped Clemson beat Alabama 35-31 for the 2016 national championship.“It’s just another opportunity for myself and this whole team to be able to show what we’ve got and put in the work,” Watson said. “I’ve played in a lot of big games before in college and stuff, but you can’t really pit college playoffs with the NFL. This is the hardest business, top-notch. It’s a whole new season, a whole new speed of game. So it’s going to be new for me (and) it’s going to be a lot of fun.”TURNAROUND TIMEIndy didn’t just rebound from a 1-5 start to make the playoffs. It rewrote the book.While the oft-criticized offensive line allowed a league-low 18 sacks after giving up a league-high 56 in 2017, the biggest change came on defense, where the Colts were ranked No. 11. They had the league’s leading tackler, 26 takeaways, allowed only 16.4 points over the final eight games, and were one of three teams that didn’t allow a 100-yard rusher all season.The Colts know it will take more of the same to advance.“The last time we did a good job, that was great for us, but this is a new challenge this week,” Reich said when asked about defending Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins. “I’m sure they are going to try to get him going.”