The first time these two teams met in the regular season opener, Houston left Indianapolis with the 29-27 win over the Colts.
Even after this game is over, there are still nine games left in the season for both Houston and Indianapolis. However, despite there still being over half the season remaining, this game comes with massive playoff implications when it comes to the AFC South face.
There aren’t many must-win scenarios in play at this stage of the season very often, but this game for the Colts is teetering on the edge of being just that.
So in order for the Colts not to have a similar fate here in Week 8, what has to go differently this time around?
Don’t let Joe Mixon control the game
The first time around, Joe Mixon and the Houston run game pretty much did whatever they wanted. Mixon would rush for 159 yards on 30 carries at 5.3 yards per attempt. As a team, the Texans totaled 213 rushing yards.
When an offense is having success on the ground, it often results in them staying ahead of the sticks regularly, which means short down-and-distances, and it becomes really difficult for defenses in those situations, who now have to defend both the run and the passing games.
In addition to that, moving the ball in the run game with ease will wear the defense down and can lead to a massive discrepancy in time of possession–which leads us to point No. 2.
The offense has to sustain drives
That aforementioned time of possession discrepancy was a huge in this Week 1 game. The Texans held the ball for 40 minutes compared to the Colts’ 20 minutes of possession. The end result was Houston running 76 plays to Indianapolis’ 43–a massive difference in what was ultimately a two point loss.
The Texans’ ability to control the clock was two-fold. As mentioned, success in the run game will often lead to long drives. On the flip side, the Colts’ offense was very boom-or-bust, either generating big plays–which did lead to points–or short drives with quick punts.
The Colts own struggles in the run game didn’t help, but the passing game has to find more consistency in short to intermediate game this second time around.
The Colts can’t lose the turnover battle
In Week 1, the Colts lost the turnover battle 1-0. The ball is life, as they say, and that one interception thrown by Anthony Richardson late in the second quarter ended up being magnified in what was only a two point loss.
With the Colts in the red zone, the Richardson interception took at least three points off the board with the team in field goal range. Fortunately for the Colts, Houston would have their own blunder with the clock running out on the second quarter before they could attempt a field goal. However, that very easily could have been anywhere from a six to 10 point swing.
Against a good Houston team and in games between these two that are often close, losing the turnover battle by even one can be the difference in a win and a loss.
