Indianapolis (2-3) at Houston (3-2)
When: Sunday, October 16th 2016
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, TX
Time: 8:30 ET | TV: NBC
The Houston Texans put their perfect home record on the line Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts and Andrew Luck. Houston couldn’t get anything going on the road in Minnesota last Sunday, falling to the Vikings 31-13. The Texans managed just 214 yards of total offense and didn’t score a touchdown until the last minutes of the fourth quarter. Houston’s big free agent acquisitions in quarterback Brock Osweiler and running back Lamar Miller aren’t panning out just yet. Osweiler, who replaced an injured Peyton Manning with Denver last season, has more interceptions (seven) than touchdown passes (six) while completing only 58% of his passes and posting a quarterback rating of 70.6. Miller has lifted teh running game with at least 80 yards in each of the first four games, but he was held to 20 yards last week and has yet to score a touchdown. Despite the loss of star lineman J.J. Watt, the Texans rank sixth overall in total defense (300.4) and are number one against the pass (181.0 yards per game). WR DeAndre Hopkins had 19 catches for 263 yards in two matchups versus the Colts last season.
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The Colts will look to tie Houston in the AFC South standings with a win Sunday night. Indy has beaten Houston six of the last seven meetings with the only loss coming last December without Luck. The Colts got a late 35-yard TD pass from Luck last week with under 4 minutes remaining to defeat the Chicago Bears 29-23. Luck has thrown for 10 touchdowns against only three interceptions while tying for fourth in the league with 1,469 yards passing, but he also has been sacked an NFL-high 20 times. WR T.Y. Hilton has a touchdown pass in each of the last three games, hauling in 25 of his 35 receptions during that span, including 10 for 171 yards last week. Hilton has 21 catches and four touchdowns in his last four games at Houston. Indianapolis’ poor defense ranks 30th overall (410.6 yards) and allows 29.6 points per game (31st). The Colts will travel to Tennessee next week before coming home to host Kansas City.
It’s not the best game for a Sunday night, but it is important for both of these team in the division. Houston should be able to get after Luck this week and hold him to under 300 yards. The Houston offense still needs to get going, but I think they bounce back from last week’s setback and beat the Colts here tonight.
Pick: Texans -3
