HOUSTON — The AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts have perfected the art of the comeback in their undefeated march into the playoffs.

Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns and the Colts rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit yesterday for a 35-27 win over the Texans, their 20th straight regular-season victory. Indianapolis (11-0) is one win shy of the New England Patriots' NFL-record 21-game run from 2006-08. The Colts can tie the record if they beat Tennessee at home next weekend.

The Colts improved to 15-1 against Houston (5-6) in their fifth straight come-from-behind win. They became the first team to secure a playoff berth and gained the AFC South title yesterday when San Francisco beat Jacksonville, 20-3.

"That's our goal coming into training camp," safety Antoine Bethea said. "We wanted to win our division."

Manning and the Colts kept their cool after falling behind in the first half.

"We don't get overexcited certainly when things aren't going the way we want them to," Manning said. "We don't panic, we don't yell, we don't throw helmets. We just try to put the series behind us and move on to the next one. There was a lot of that (yesterday)."

Manning threw two first-half interceptions, but had a pair of second-half TD passes, including a 4-yarder to Dallas Clark that gave the Colts a 21-20 lead with about nine minutes left.

Clint Session stretched the lead to 28-20 when he returned an interception by Matt Schaub 26 yards for a touchdown seconds later.

"That's a good team over there, but we're the Colts," Session said. "We do things the right way and we try to get every win we can get."

Schaub fumbled on Houston's next possession and Chad Simpson's touchdown run put the game out of reach.

Houston, which has lost three straight, was all but unstoppable in the first half, scoring on its first four possessions. It was a different story after halftime, with the Texans unable to get anything going offensively until Schaub hit Jacoby Jones for a touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.

"This isn't the first time this has happened to us," receiver Andre Johnson said. "It's just real frustrating. I'm very upset with myself. It's kind of sounding like a broken record. We've just got to find a way to play for four quarters."

Manning finished 27 of 35 for 244 yards. Schaub was 31 of 42 for 284 yards with two TDs.