Houston Texans Vs. Indianapolis Colts: What To Look For

The Houston Texans continue to press on and make themselves quite relevant going into the 15th week of the NFL schedule.

The team has had a nice stretch, winning four out of their last six games and are in the hunt for a playoff berth.

Although the team wasn’t all that impressive out of the gate against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first half last week, but they turned it up a notch in the second half and got their running game going.

They put the pedal to the metal and impressively steamrolled the Jags 27-13.

Luckily, the Texans are beating teams that they’re supposed to defeat.

This week will be the ultimate test as they take field on the road in Indianapolis against the Colts to which they’ve never won there in their short franchise history.

This team knows what lies ahead of them and it’s up to the players to clear the racks and do battle with our best divisional foe.

The last time these teams faced other was back on Oct. 9th and it wasn’t pretty starting out.

The Texans spotted the Colts 24 points in the 1st quarter before finally turning on the switch and getting themselves back in the game.

The league’s No. 1 offense also produced 456 yards of offense against the Texans in that game as well. That’s not the kind of numbers one can expect when you’re trying to win the football game.

That simply cannot happen against Colts again as their home crowd will be energized and it may not be as easy to play catch up.

It will be one of the best match ups we’ve had all season and it’s certainly one I’m looking forward to.

This is another must-win scenario as they edge closer to attempt to clinch a postseason berth despite all odds against them.

Here are some things to look for position-wise as both teams take the field tomorrow afternoon.

Take a look:

Dec 7, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback

Andrew Luck

(12) throws a pass against the Cleveland Browns during the third quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Colts won 25-24. Mandatory Credit: Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

QUARTERBACK: Ryan Fitzpatrick has been wildly efficient under center since getting the starting job back after Ryan Mallett suffered a season-ending injury against the Cincinnati Bengals. He has not thrown a pick in these last two games which is quite remarkable for a guy that you can normally expect one or two from. He seems to have learned quite a bit while he was watching the game from the bench and knows that this may be one of his last starting opportunities as he heads toward the sunset of his career. He didn’t pass all that much against the Jaguars going 13-for-19 for 135 yards for an 88.7 QB rating but he really didn’t have to because their running game was just too dominant. The Colts are ranked in the bottom half of the pass rush — 21st giving up 248 yards per game — so this should be another gem of an opportunity for Fitz to shine. He had played well against the Colts against their last meeting all the way up to end, where he turned the ball over on a possible game-winning drive. He ended up going 15-for-23 for 212 yards and one touchdown. And as for Andrew Luck, what’s not to say about him? He continues to play at a high level, is the ultimate warrior/competitor and is the anchor to their offense. Destabilizing him will be difficult — he recently set a franchise-record by going eight consecutive games with passing over 300 yards. He beat the Cleveland Browns last week in the final seconds with a one-yard pass to defeat them 25-24. When the game is on the line, you can count on Luck to come through. He is a franchise quarterback in every resemblance of the phrase. The Texans’ pass rush still quite bad but they’ve moved up to 28th after allowing only 188 yards of passing last week against the Jags. I expect Luck to have another good game but it’s important the Texans worked as hard as they can to force him to make mistakes. He is quite accurate — passing for 36 touchdowns to 13 interceptions — a damn good ratio if you ask me. We’ll have to see.

Dec 7, 2014; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Houston Texans running back

Arian Foster

(23) runs for a first down past Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker J. T. Thomas III (52) late in the fourth quarter of their game at EverBank Field. The Houston Texans won 27-13. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

RUNNING BACK: Arian Foster seems to be in top form as this team heads toward the final stretch of the season. He recently just eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in rushing yards for the fourth time in his career and there appears to be no stopping him now. He rushed for 127 yards off 24 carries including 21 receiving yards off two catches against the Jags. Foster has 1,028 yards on the season. Both the Colts and the Texans are in the middle of the pack in terms of rush defense so it will be interesting to see how both teams get their respective running action going. The Colts have been solid at stopping the run all season but that doesn’t seem to matter to Foster and his bag of tricks to fool defenses alike — he had 109 yards off 20 carries including 32 yards off three catches! I expect the same from Foster and I’m sure he asked Bill O’Brien and Fitz to feed him the ball to help this team have a chance at winning this football game. Ahmad Bradshaw and Trent Richardson continue to be the Colts’ top backs and used based on who is the flavor of the moment on offense. The Texans limited the Colts to 93 rushing yards in the last contest and I don’t see why they can’t do it this time around. But watch out for Luck, who can move the football just as effectively with his legs than with his arm. He has 250 yards rushing on the season with three touchdowns.

Nov 30, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans receiver

DeAndre Hopkins

(10) celebrates his third quarter touchdown with receiver

Andre Johnson

(80) against the Tennessee Titans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

WIDE RECEIVER: This IS the match up that matters. DeAndre Hopkins will take the lead by being the wide out targeted the most as he has done exceptionally well for the season. After a 238-yard receiving performance against the Titans, his follow up against Jags wasn’t as pronounced with a four-catch, 49-yard performance but he didn’t have to — Foster was the man in charge of pushing the offense. Andre Johnson’s availability has been up in the air since taking a chilling helmet-to-helmet hit last week from Telvin Smith that knocked him out the game. However, after not practicing all week, Johnson did practice yesterday albeit limited as he is still is going through the NFL’s concussion protocols. He will be a game-time decision. It will be great to have him on board if he is ready to go as he had 99 yards receiving off seven catches to be the 15th player to surpass 13,000 receiving yards in his career. But if he is not ready, DeVier Posey will likely be activated in his stead for the first time this season. The third-round pick out of 2012 hasn’t seen any action so far this season and it’s apparent that O’Brien has found something peculiar about Posey by saying Wednesday he “hasn’t fit in with the gameday roster to this point.” With limited bodies being able to reinforce the injuries sustained, O’Brien may have no choice but to activate him. As for the Colts, T.Y. Hilton has a huge target on his back and has been the ultimate Texans’ killer! He received a career-high 223 yards off just nine catches against the Texans and simply could not be stopped. He had not been playing all that well at that time but the Texans’ became his ultimate slump buster and he has been full steam ahead ever since. Although he will be the primary focus, the Texans must be careful to see an eye on Reggie Wayne, Hakeem Nicks and Dwayne Allen, all possible threats as receiving targets. I can’t wait to see this one!

Dec 7, 2014; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback

Blake Bortles

(5) looks for a receiver as Houston Texans defensive end

J.J. Watt

(99) closes in during the fourth quarter of their game at EverBank Field. The Houston Texans won 27-13. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

DEFENSE (FRONT 7 & SECONDARY): J.J. Watt has that look in his eye and I’m not sure what to expect from him but I know it’s going to be groundbreaking and great! Although it will depend on how the Texans perform this season to get votes for MVP, he is the City of Houston’s personal MVP and is a lock for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. Whether he will offer Luck a bone-crunching sack, force a turnover, make a touchdown catch, he seems to be prepared to do whatever is needed to help his team win. Heck, he has done everything just short of being inserted at quarterback! With as bad as the quarterback play had been earlier in the season, I was humorously hoping O’Brien would give him shot, it couldn’t be any worse than what I had seen. Whitney Mercilus will be out for tomorrow’s contest as he heals from ailing back injury. He will be missed as he has filled in nicely for Jadeveon Clowney, being the team’s second-best pass rusher behind Watt with 44 tackles, 4.0 sacks and one forced fumble. The defense seemed to terrorize Blake Bortles last week with Watt getting three sacks on him in addition to Brooks Reed joining in the fun with one. D.J. Swearinger was able to pick him off once too. We can only hope that this unit continues to perform at high level against the Colts — it will certainly be needed. Although the Colts’ is slightly better than ours as a whole — ranked 18th versus 25th — there’s nothing about them that concerns me and the Texans definitely have the weapons to beat them.