The Indianapolis Colts take on the Houston Texans in Week 13 of the NFL season.
On Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts will travel to Houston to play their second divisional matchup against the Texans. In the first meeting, Indianapolis dominated, winning 31-3.
As the teams prepare to meet for a second time, the Colts will enter the game 6-6 while Houston is just 2-9. While Indianapolis is fighting for a playoff spot, Texans fans are looking at draft prospects, but that doesn’t mean Houston will show up on Sunday and fold.
Despite both franchises being in drastically different spots, Houston will still compete, and the Colts must not underestimate them. Taking an underdog lightly is the first step to being upset, and Indy cannot afford that. While the team’s goal is the playoffs, their focus must be on the Texans. Here are three things they must do to avoid being upset:
3. Colts must keep their foot on the gas to avoid upset
When a team is playing an opponent that isn’t on their level, they usually jump out to an early lead, then let up. Before they know it, the inferior opponent has crawled back into the game and it’s a much tougher finish than it should be.
That is what happened when Indianapolis played the New York Jets and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Against the Jets, the Colts were up 35-10 but only won 45-30. In the Jaguars game, Indy got out to a 17-0 lead but only won 23-17.
Although the Texans are only 2-9, they’ve shown the ability to fight back into games. When they were going against the Rams, they were down 31-0 before eventually losing 38-22.
Indianapolis must not fall victim to getting a lead and putting the game in cruise control. They must be focused and dominate this game from start to finish and save Colts fans from unnecessary stress.