Battle Red Blog
Houston’s Week Eight game against Indianapolis is the team’s midseason Super Bowl
If the Week One matchup against the Colts can be classified as an instant classic, this upcoming Week Eight game is nothing short of pivotal. The Texans (5-2) and Colts (4-2) are unequivocally vying for the same AFC South divisional title... and they’re really the only teams in the running.
Houston comes in after a gut-wrenching loss to the Green Bay Packers. It was two teams with equivalent trajectories duking it out in a hostile environment for the Texans. They now enter the meat of their schedule where they only face two teams with winning records (Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions) in the next seven games.
The Colts have been sleep walking through an easy schedule; they’ve barely beaten the Dolphins and Titans while also losing to an awful Jaguars team recently. They made the switch back to QB Anthony Richardson last week which was a mixed bag of results. Anthony Richardson is a flight risk on the ground; his 14 carries for 54 yards led the team last week, but 22 of those came on one single play. The Colts actively live and die by AR15’s health. They’ve been able to cobble together several wins swapping through Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco.
When the Texans faced off against the Colts in Week One, the ground game took an unprecedented leap forward and racked up 213 yards. With Joe Mixon back in the fold, The Texans are anticipating another dominant day on the ground.
The Colts were able to trick the Texans offensive line for four sacks and 70 sack yards. They’ll look to continue to sack Stroud who has unfortunately totaled 20 sacks through seven games.
According to the good folks over at Tankathon who provide a weekly update to the NFL Draft order for those who enjoy tracking throughout the season, the Texans and Colts face an equal Strength of Schedule (SoS). The Texans face more top end opponents including the Ravens, Lions, and Chiefs, while the Colts have greater number of easy opponents including the Giants, Jets, and Patriots. Though to be a New York/New England fan this season.
With similar SoS and fairly similar opponents moving forward, plus one game separating the two teams in the AFC South, the winner of this game will solidify their spot in the AFC South. If the Texans can claim a victory, they’ll pull ahead of the Colts while they head into the easier part of their schedule.
This matchup has implications reaching far beyond this season too. The Colts went all-in on regenerating their roster from last season. They resigned almost every free agent they had and added talented DE Laiatu Latu to their defense. He only has two sacks thus far, but his consistent pressure per game places him in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.
Fortunately, the Texans are on the mend. If LB Henry To’oTo’o and CB Kamari Lassiter are limited in...
