The Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts are hooking up for a mid-October winner-take-all bout that commences their season series. A win gives the Texans a 5-2 record, an early head-to-head over their division rival, and pushes them halfway towards a sweep.
A loss would drop Houston to 4-3, elevate the Colts to 4-2, give them first place in the division, an early tiebreaker, and complete half of their work towards securing a series sweep.
Sounds like fun to Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“It’s going to be exciting,” said Watson, who has a 1-2 career record against the Colts, including playoffs. “It’s going to be an awesome challenge for us to be able to go on the road and try our best to get a W. We’ve got to make sure that we’re preparing each and every day to get ready for a great Colts team.”
The Colts defense only has 38 quarterback pressures on the year, 13 sacks, and a 108.0 opposing passer rating. The run defense gives up 5.1 yards per carry, the fourth-highest in the NFL. Even though the stats look bad, Watson knows how quickly things can turn around in division games, especially on the road as the Texans travel to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
“Going on the road in a divisional game against a great team and a team that’s going to be ready to play,” said Watson. “So, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to play and try to go up there and execute and do what we do.”
The last time the Colts and Texans played in Indianapolis in Week 4 of 2018, Houston prevailed 37-34 in overtime. The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Texans to start the season, and it begat a nine-game winning streak that helped the Texans win the AFC South.
However, the last time the Colts and Texans played in a consequential game, the 2018 AFC wild-card at NRG Stadium, Indianapolis bested Houston 21-7.
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