Can the Colts Bring Revenge To the Texans On Monday Night?

Peyton Manning, unsurprisingly, was very frustrated when the Indianapolis Colts lost to the Houston Texans an embarrassing 34-24 blowout. All eyes were on Arian Foster, who ran for a team-record of 231 rushing yards which has helped him become the league’s leading-rusher so far.

Foster was unstoppable as the Colts couldn’t stop the running back’s combination of size and speed. He was too big for cornerbacks to tackle and too fast for linebackers get a hand on. Not only did the defense have a problem, but so did the offense.

The running game never got clicking. Manning arguably had one of the best passing performances of his career, however, he had way too much pressure coming to him where sometimes he just couldn’t make a play. This led to a lot of three-and-outs.

For the Colts to win, they need to start get things going fast and get touchdowns as fast as possible, or else the Texans will keep piling on the scoreboard and waste time like they did back in Week One.

The Colts know what is coming for them. This is a must-win game when you think about it. Trailing behind Houston and the Tennessee Titans in the AFC South, the Colts need to win the rest of the games in the division to get ahead of the pack and make at least a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.

Houston is 2-15 all-time against the Colts and have never won a game at RCA Dome/Lucas Oil Stadium. Manning is 8-0 at home versus Houston.

“We know what kind of game plan we have to put together,” Foster said. “But the execution is going to be different, because the atmosphere of the game is going to be different. It’s a whole different animal.”

The Colts haven’t improved much in the rush defense, ranking 26th in the league, allowing over 137 yards per game.

“You’re going to see some of it at least, some of the game plan that they had put together for us in that first game, I would assume,” Indianapolis coach Jim Caldwell said.

The Colts are going to have to make the most of this game. They will be out with key offensive weapons like Austin Collie, Dallas Clark, and Joseph Addai. Jacob Tamme will fill in for Clark. Tamme hasn’t had any receptions at all this season and only has six for his career compared to Clark’s reception total, which is close to about 400. Losing Addai won’t be all that bad since Donald Brown and Mike Hart are there. But the Colts could really use that elusive weapon Addai is. With Collie gone, the Colts will rely a bit more on Blair White, but mostly towards Pierre Garcon and Reggie Wayne.

“As a group, I think we will all be working together to fill that void,” Tamme said. “Whatever position we get put in, we will go out there and do our best.”

The Colts have won seven of the nine AFC South division titles. With three teams that have only two losses so far in the division, the Colts need to win every game. Having two more losses to AFC South opponents would mean the Colts’ season could go down the drain.

“Obviously, we have our work cut out for us after losing two division games already,” center Jeff Saturday said. “(Houston) coming in here, it’s a home division game. Those are the ones that you have to win and secure to keep yourself on track.”

Duane Brown is back at tackle for the Texans, and did great holding off Dwight Freeney. Freeney knows what is coming and I expect him to do better on the pass rush, along with Robert Mathis, too. But Brown knows he is going to see a different No. 93 and a different Colts defense. .

“You can’t expect to just go out there and just show up, and think it’s going to happen again,” Brown said. “We still have to work for every yard we get. They’re not going to give us anything easily. It’s all about just going out there and getting it done.”

Peyton Manning hopes to get things clicking with his targets right away.

“We’re pretty familiar with them,” Manning said. “We know how important a game it will be.”

I see the Colts losing only one more game for the rest of the season, in my opinion. My record for them is 13-3 now at the end of the season. They will beat the Houston Texans. When you look at it, the Texans have the worst defense in the NFL. Literally. Almost every single team has scored on the Texans when they are in the red zone. Count that 80-percent of the time teams are able to score a touchdown when in the red zone against the Texans.

Manning is going to destroy this defense today and show that the Colts are the best team in the AFC South, not the Titans or the Texans.

I wouldn’t be surprised of a blowout, but then again, it could be a shootout as both teams will finish out close because of Foster. But the Colts will win due to that the Texans will probably need to score while passing towards the end of the game, which they will not succeed at.

Come on Indianapolis, win this one.