Indianapolis at Houston
Time: 8:25 PM (ET)
Network: CBS / NFL Network
Before week 3, the Indianapolis Colts were on the verge of starting their season 0-3. Following consecutive blowout victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans, the Colts improved to 3-2 over the weekend against the Baltimore Ravens to move ahead of .500 in the record books. Tonight, they face one of the league’s most dangerous defenses in the Houston Texans on the road.
Much like past dominate defenses the league has seen in its history, Houston has the ability to control an entire game with pick 6’s and forced fumble recoveries (sometimes touchdowns). Led by J.J. Watt, this game will come down to the Texans defense trying to get to and/or contain the great Andrew Luck.
Over the past few weeks, Luck had led all QB’s with the most yards (1617) and TDs (14), to complete his impressive 100.0 rating each game. With veterans and Reggie Wayne and Ahmad Bradshaw contributing to balance their high-powered offense, we look for that trend to continue tonight, against Houston’s defense.
Luck may even be a frontrunner for early MVP runnings, depending on how his team finishes up the regular season. Houston’s fresh from their unfortunate overtime loss in a road game against the Dallas Cowboys, which gave them their 2nd loss of the season. We still have major questions surrounding the consistency of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, which the Texans will have to rely heavily on their ground game with Arian Foster, as well as Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins being super-efficient to remove less pressure from their defense.
The two first-place AFC South teams will hopefully end the trend of horrendous blowouts for Thursday Night Football, where we’ve seen an average loss margin by 30 points. If you’re all caught up with Fall TV Shows on your DVR or HULU-plus, this is one must-watch game to start your week 6 pigskin action.
FINAL: IND 33 | HOU 28