Sunday Night Football: Must Win for Texans
Houston, TX - Head Coach Bill O’Brien and his staff are facing their first must win game of the 2016 NFL season. The Texans are coming off of a horrific 31-13 beat down administered by the Minnesota Vikings in week 5 and now must face a Colts team that has really struggled to find its footing this season.
Since becoming the Head Coach of the Texans in 2014, O’Brien has found wins hard to come by when facing the Colts as he enters Sunday Night’s contest with a 1-3 record against Indianapolis and that one win came away from NRG Stadium in Houston. Comparing this to his 5-0 record versus the other two AFC South division opponents (Tennessee Titans & Jacksonville Jaguars), it’s time that O’Brien proves that his group can compete with the team that has been the class of the division since its inception in 2002 and not just one that preys on weaker competition.
Troubling enough, Houston ranks 21st in total offense and 8th in total defense, according to ESPN.com. These rankings are actually both downgrades from a year ago as the Texans were rated as the 19th best on offense and 3rd best on defense. Luckily for the Texans, the Colts have only been mediocre on offense ranking 13th and horrific as the 30th ranked defense.
The Texans’ statistics seemed unimaginable in the offseason as the team signed top free agent Quarterback Brock Osweiler away from the defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos, used four draft picks on offensive players, and signed one of the prized free agent running backs in Lamar Miller. However, the Texans and their fans are now getting first-hand experience at the realization that bringing in big time free agents doesn’t always lead to success.
Thankfully for O’Brien and the newly acquired players, many people gave them a pass for the team’s poor play since the season was still young. A loss to the Colts in week 6 will not be overlooked or chalked up as a team struggling to get acclimated and accustom to playing together. Which leads to the question, how do the Texans beat the Colts on Sunday Night Football?
The simple answer would be that the offense has to exploit the Colts terrible pass defense and ineffective pass rush. The Colts allow 301 pass yards per game and have only sacked opposing quarterbacks on 7 occasions. Problem is, the Texans enter the game as the fourth worst passing team in the NFL, only ahead of San Francisco, Buffalo, and Los Angeles.
Quarterback Brock Osweiler and his offensive weapons need to generate big plays in the passing game, this means allowing rookie Will Fuller and star receiver DeAndre Hopkins to get down field. Fuller currently has 7 catches of 20 or more yards which ranks tied for 7th in the NFL. Last season, DeAndre Hopkins finished ranked 7th in that same category and this season isn’t even in the top 50.
If Bill O’Brien and the Texans want to prove that they’re the team to beat in the AFC South and have aspirations of being the first team to play in and host the Super Bowl in the same year, they must secure a win against Indianapolis in this early October showdown. Failure to do so wouldn’t just result in falling to 3-3 in the win/loss standings, it will affirm that the Texans remain that team that can be just good enough to create buzz but not good enough to sting.
