INDIANAPOLIS — T.Y. Hilton made the catch, stepped between a Dontrelle Inman block on the outside and a pair of interior linemen on the inside and raced into the open field, five Titans defenders frantically trying to make up ground.

A healthy Hilton would have raced away from the entire Tennessee defense for a back-breaking 90-yard touchdown.

This time he just couldn’t find that extra gear.

“I was waiting for it, too,” Hilton said. “That’s why I kept looking back, like ‘Why am I not pulling away?’”

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Hilton’s ankle hasn’t been the same since he hauled in a 60-yard bomb from Andrew Luck in a brilliant performance against the Texans in early December. Already dealing with a shoulder injury at the time, the Colts’ leading receiver returned to the game and torched Houston for a nine-catch, 199-yard performance at NRG Stadium, Hilton’s own personal playground.

After that game, Hilton acknowledged his history of heroics in Houston, saying, “This is my second home.” In seven career games at NRG Stadium, Hilton has caught 41 passes for 933 yards and seven touchdowns, numbers that would make him the NFL’s MVP if extrapolated over 16 games.

And as fate would have it, Hilton gets a chance to go back this season. The win over the Titans gave the Colts the AFC’s sixth seed, sending Indianapolis back to NRG Stadium this Saturday to take on the third-seeded Texans in the playoffs.

Hilton, who could barely hide his excitement in the post-game locker room on Sunday night, played it a little more low-key on Tuesday.

“That’s part of why I’m starting to feel better,” Hilton joked.

Another vintage Hilton performance in Houston could hinge on how his ankle responds this week, although the veteran wide receiver is confident he’ll be able to play.

He left the field in Tennessee limping after trying to change direction on his first catch against the Titans. While Hilton has been playing hurt for four games now, he’d largely been able to hide the effects of the injury on the field.

This time it was different. Colts coach Frank Reich has tried to let Hilton manage his own injury for most of the month of December, but Hilton’s gait after that early catch in Tennessee forced him to check on his best playmaker in his own understated way.

“I love T.Y.,” Reich said. “I look back over at him, right? I just want to make eye contact with him to see how he is doing. I look back and I just kind of give him the look like a thumbs up or thumbs down – are you good? Are you going? He just looks at me with a smile and nods his head. Man, it just gives me comfort.”

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A hurting Hilton still played 64 of the Colts’ 79 offensive snaps, more than any player on the team outside of Luck and the five starters on the offensive line.

Even when he doesn’t have his fifth gear, Hilton brings a presence that draws a defense’s attention and opens up opportunities for the rest of the Colts offense.

“We could feel (Hilton’s pain), sense it on the sideline,” Reich said. “But still, even limited, we want him out there, and he’s willing to do that.”

Hilton admits he’s never dealt with an injury like this before.

What his ankle really needs is rest. That’s why he’s missed 75 percent of the Colts’ practices over the final four weeks of the season, why the NFL’s decision to put Colts-Texans on Saturday makes his preparation for the playoff game even tougher this week.

“I’ve just got to push through it,” Hilton said. “It’s getting better, it’s working with me. Certain stuff gets it really bad. It’s something I’ve got to deal with, but I’ll be alright.”

Houston is going to treat Hilton like he’s healthy.

By now, the Texans have seen him put on a Superman cape in their own backyard too many times to do anything else. Houston has tried just about everything in seven years against Hilton; the Texans put just about every member of their secondary on him in the Dec. 9 meeting, and he came up with big plays against all of them.

Making matters worse, the Colts have seen a full season’s worth of game plans designed to take away Hilton, and Indianapolis is getting pretty good at ruining those plans.

“(Offensive coordinator) Nick (Sirianni) and Frank do a great job of scheming me up, continuing to constantly move me around and not let the defense get a bead,” Hilton said.

Hurting or not, this is a tailor-made situation for Hilton.

A playoff game in his second-favorite stadium in the NFL, a place that holds mostly good memories for him.

The only question is how many gears Hilton will have at his disposal.