Houston Texans Games by Difficulty: No. 2
By Josh McSwain
The number two game on the list gets its spot because it will likely carry the most weight in the division race. The Texans won in Indy for the first time last season, but may have to do so again to win the division:
Last season in week 15 with Brandon Weeden as the starting quarterback, the Texans went into Indianapolis and won there for the first time in team history. As tumultuous as the Texans quarterback situation was, the Colts had almost as bad as Andrew Luck was out and Matt Hasselbeck was pretty well worn down at that point in the season. As you might expect with two backup quarterbacks in, there wasn’t a whole lot of offense as the Texans pulled out a 16-10 victory.
Hopefully we will see some starting quarterbacks in this game. This week 14 showdown in the middle of December figures to carry huge weight in determining the AFC South champion, which gets it ranked as high as it does.
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As has been written before, Luck has torched the Texans throughout his career, winning five of six games and looked stellar doing so. Even with the weak offensive line, he has been able to get the job done. Much has been said about the Colts having a weak offensive line, but he still got the job done even with J.J. Watt and company bearing down on him.
That is why it will be crucial for Watt and fellow rushers Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus to get pressure on Luck. Of course for that to be happen Clowney has to be healthy, and Mercilus needs to show that he can show up in the big games too and not just inflate his numbers against bad teams.
Offensively, Lamar Miller will be the key. He had very little impact in the Dolphins loss to the Colts last season, but ball control his historically been the way to defeat the Colts. So the Texans must not give up on the run game and get pressure on Luck in order to win the game.