This is the game of the year for both teams on Thursday Night Football. The Indianapolis Colts defense has been playing very well recently, but they haven’t faced a tough run of quarterbacks like they did at the beginning portions of the season. They will get a massive challenge on Thursday night.
This is the second matchup between the Colts and Houston Texans. They met back in Week 7 in Indianapolis, a game the Colts won 30-23. The defense as a whole didn’t put up amazing numbers, but they held a great red-zone offense in the Texans to 2/5 there and forced two fourth-quarter interceptions.
Let’s take a look at some keys for the Colts defense as they travel to Houston looking for a massive win:
1. Red-zone defense
In the previous matchup, the Colts defense held one of the better red-zone offenses in the NFL to just 2-5 in the red-zone. That was one of the deciding factors in the early-October game back in Week 7. The Colts will have to duplicate that effort in this game.
Interesting stat from the Colts: they didn’t allow a single red-zone snap in the Week 11 game versus the Jaguars. They did, however, give up a long touchdown to receiver DJ Chark that puts a skew in that stat.
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But, if you look over the last three games this Colts defense has only given up touchdowns on 33% of red-zone trips by the opponent. To add context, the Colts have turned the ball over seven times in the previous three games, four of those turnovers were on the opponent’s side of the field, so the defense was put in a bad spot.
2. Pressure on Watson
The Colts were able to get to Watson a few times in their first game, three times to be exact. With Watson having a bum ankle and the lack of protection in front of him, there’s no reason this Colts defensive line shouldn’t be all over the star quarterback.
Things can change over the course of the season, but the Houston offensive line hasn’t. They still are way below average. Good news for them, they’re getting their starting right tackle, Tytus Howard back. He actually left early in the first matchup.
With or without Howard, this offensive line still struggles to protect Watson. They give up a sack on nearly 9% of pass plays—good for 28th in the NFL. Just look back to last week, the Texans gave up seven sacks to a good Baltimore Ravens defense.
3. Third-down defense
Easier said than done, get the offense off the field on third down. The Colts have done a great job of that recently, only giving up a 39% completion rate on third down to opposing offenses. The Texans are one of the best third-down offenses, at 44%. One has to give Thursday night.
One reason for the beatdown in Baltimore from the Texans was their third-down offense, they were only 2-10 on third down. In Week 7, the Colts held the Texans to 4-12 on third down.
So the key is simple, get Houston off the field and you give yourself a chance to win on Thursday night.
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