Indianapolis Colts Lose to Houston Texans, 34-7 : Quick Reaction

The Indianapolis Colts lost their 2011 season opener to the Houston Texans this afternoon, falling 34-7.   The Texans scored 14 points off of Colts turnovers, and Jacoby Jones returned a punt for a touchdown.    Overall, the Texans out-gained the Colts 167 yard to 64 yards on the ground and 217-to-127 through the air.    The Texans’ offense held the ball for nearly 37 minutes.

That’s a quick overview of the action on the field.  Read my take on this game after the jump.

There is simply no way to spin this game as anything other than it was, which was an ugly loss.  Kerry Collins and the offense couldn’t hold onto the ball in the first half, the secondary gave Houston lots of room to work early and special teams remains a problem area.  The offensive line was overpowered several times and seemed to miss their assignments at others (Dallas Clark blocking Mario Williams?).     Even without Arian Foster, Houston displayed a stout running game.

The second half was more palatable for Colts fans, but then the Texans really didn’t have to do much by that point.    Both teams pretty much left their starters in, though, so it’s good that the Colts didn’t let the bleeding get any worse.   Pat Angerer led all defenders with 13 tackles, nine of them solo, and Melvin Bullitt picked off a tipped pass on Houston’s first drive.

In all, this game felt very much like a pre-season game from the Colts perspective, so we’ll see if having all of their starting units together for a full game will help yield better results in the weeks to come.   Next up will be a pissed-off Cleveland Browns team.

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We’ll talk more about this game in the coming days, but what do you think of the Colts’  2011 season-opener, the first they’ve played without Peyton Manning in more than 13 years?   What positives are you taking away from the contest?   What do the Colts most need to work on?   Let us know in the comments below.