The Houston Texans have long been a
team on the cusp of greatness in the NFL. They have steadily improved each
season and last season made its biggest leap forward.
A playoff berth may have just
slipped out of their grasp last season at 9-7 but based on their current play
Houston is set to take the next step. To do that they’ll need to do something
the side has never done in its brief history: beat the Indianapolis Colts twice
in a season. The Texans get that chance on Monday as they face the Colts at
7.30pm Cayman time on ESPN.
Houston’s offence has been electric
behind the decision-making of Matt Schaub. The quarterback has already tallied
1,538 yards this season to go with nine touchdowns. Balance has been a big
theme for Houston this season as Arian Foster has emerged as a star running out
of the backfield. His six TDs off of 635 rushing yards makes it easy to forget
the combination of Steve Slaton and Ryan Moats that once existed in that spot.
Defensively former top draft pick
Mario Williams is every bit as good as projected. Williams has been on the ball
tallying five sacks and 15 tackles and looks to set to keep both numbers
increasing. Helping shoulder the load is troubled but talented linebacker Brian
Cushing. In spite of being caught up in steroid use Cushing has 17 tackles.
However both of those aspects will
be pushed to keep the Colts in check. For all the talk of Indy looking sluggish
and Peyton Manning being overworked the numbers don’t bear that out. Manning in
fact has been brilliant with 13 TDs already to go with 1913 passing yards. Sure
two of his biggest targets in Dallas Clark and Austin Collie are out this week
and the run game, featuring a battered Joseph Addai, is below-average. But like
Drew Brees Peyton is not afraid to spray the ball over the field, which should
be welcome news to wide-outs Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garçon.
Dallas Cowboys fans are
broken-hearted for the most part but at least they can see a Texas pro football
team on winning ways. Look for Houston to win by two touchdowns in a dominant display.
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