The Indianapolis Colts lost starting quarterback Andrew Luck for 2-6 weeks due to a lacerated kidney and a partially torn abdominal muscle that he suffered on a fourth quarter scramble Sunday afternoon against the Denver Broncos. While this is obviously a huge blow to the Colts division and playoff aspirations, luckily they have the privilege of being in the worst division in the NFL. On top of that, the team that has seemingly the best chance of catching them, the Houston Texans at 3-5, and 0.5 games out of first, is about to hit an extremely difficult portion of their schedule coming out of the bye week.
First, Houston travels to face the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football in a game that will likely be a blowout, especially considering that the Texans have dominated the Bengals in recent years, and Cincy will want to inflict as much pain as possible on the team that beat them two years in a row in the playoffs, one of which was at the hands of a team with T.J. Yates at quarterback.
Then, the Texans face the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints, both of which could easily be losses, although New Orleans lost to the Titans and the Jets are a different team on the road, although they do have one of, if not the best, defenses in the NFL.
To finish off this tough stretch, the Texans face the Bills, in Buffalo, and then play the Patriots in Houston. While the Bills are not very consistent, and their defense has underperformed thus far, this is likely a loss, especially if the defense even has just a decent game and if LeSean McCoy is healthy. The Texans linebackers are the biggest weakness of this team, and their biggest weakness as a group is a lack of speed at the position in order to cover running backs and tight ends in the passing game, as well as keeping them contained in the running game. Lamar Miller, who was struggling before facing the Texans’ defense, and Devonta Freeman both had huge games against Houston due to horrendous play from the linebackers. The game against the Patriots is just another stop for New England on their revenge tour throughout the NFL. Tom Brady will once again torch the Texans’ defense like he has so many times in the past few years dating back to the letterman jacket game, which took place in 2012.
Sandwiched between all of this is a game in Indianapolis, where the Texans have still never won a game since their inception in 2002. Although Andrew Luck might not be playing in this game, that didn’t seem to matter the last time these two teams played in Houston and Matt Hasselbeck looked like he was in his prime again. The Colts will more than likely win this game barring an unforeseen miracle by Houston.
Houston’s last two games are against the Titans and Jaguars, the bottom feeders of the AFC South. Tennessee will be a different team when they host the Texans in Week 16. The Titans now have a new coach, and with that comes more energy, although that might fizzle out by the time this game comes around. Regardless, Marcus Mariota did not play in the team’s first meeting but barring an injury between now and then will likely suit up this time. Houston has never fared well against mobile quarterbacks, so this game scares me a bit.
The Jaguars have been improving throughout the season, and their previous game this season against Houston appeared much more lopsided on the scoreboard than it actually was. If it weren’t for a tipped pass touchdown to Deandre Hopkins and a late pick six in garbage time, Jacksonville would have been within striking distance of winning that game in the end.
I see the Texans winning, at most, two of their final eight games, and will likely finish towards the bottom of the NFL somewhere around 5-11. The Colts’ toughest games are against the Steelers and Falcons, but besides that the rest of their games are seemingly easy games that they should win. I could see Indianapolis winning 8 straight and finishing 12-4, but depending on their quarterback play, they could lose a couple of close ones and finish around 9-7, which will likely be more than enough to win the division.
On the bright side, the Texans could have a top 10 pick to use on any of the potentially game changing quarterbacks coming out this year.