NFL Football – Colts vs Texans

With Week 5 of the NFL 2015-16 Regular seasons upon us, this Thursday the 8th of October 2015, we have the Colts of Indianapolis 2-2 (AFC South) playing division rival the Texans of Houston’s 1-3 (AFC South) with the game being played at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas with the kick-off scheduled for 8:25 PM ET and seen on CBS TV.

The opening odds for those that Bet on NFL at an Offshore sportsbook, the opening Vegas odds have the Colts a slight favorite at PK-115 with the Over/under at 44 ½, while the Texans are Pk-105 and no Money Line available at this time.

The Colts played their last game without starting QB Luck but still managed to get a win in OT over the struggling Jaguars of Jacksonville. The team’s performance in that game indicated that they badly need QB Luck to return and play in this rivalry game with the Texans of Houston. Will the Colts or the Texans take the win in this match-up?

For the fans of the Colts of Indianapolis the news is that your team without star QB Luck, still managed to win as QB Hasselbeck at 40 years of age passed for 284 yards and 2 TD’s in their 16-13 OT win over the Jaguars of Jacksonville, while 42 year old place kicker made the game winning field goal for Indianapolis as the team moved to a 2 and 2 record for this season.

On the other hand the running game did not bring any good news as they still lack consistency with RB Robinson and Gore combining for 20 carries and 55 yards in total, while each had a fumble recovered by the Jaguars.

Adding to the struggle their defense against the run played a mediocre game, as they allowed Jaguar RB Yeldon to average some 4.9 yards each carry. Adding to their problems, LB Freeman was injured and may be out for this game on Thursday. That plus the secondary lost CB Brown to an injury and he joined CB’s Toker and Butler who are both on injured reserve. But they still have star CB Davis fit and healthy who is capable of eliminating the threat of Texans receiver Hopkins.

The Colts are hoping that QB Luck will be able to return to the roster for this game, as his record of 6 games against the Texans, QB Luck had 14 TD’s with only 3 intercepts for the 6 games. In that 6 games the Colts beat the Texans some 5 consecutive times.

The fans of the Texans of Houston, your team got beat this past Sunday in Week 4 in a big way, as the Falcons in the 1st 3 quarters led the game 42-0. Your QB Mallett who started was just 12 for 27 in pass completions for a mere 151 yards with 1 intercept, and then was replaced by QB Hoyer who finished completing 17 of his 30 passes for 233 yards and 2 TD’s, as the Texans scored all their losing 21 points in the 4th quarter.

The Texans running game also struggled as newly RB Foster had 8 carries for just 10 yards, and the team rushing game only accounted for a total of some 54 yards. Offensively WR Shorts had receptions for 87 yards and 1 TD against the Falcons and then left the game with a shoulder injury.

To date the only offensive contributor has been WR Hopkins who has had to date 31 receptions for some 359 yards and 3 TD’s. The Texans need RB Foster to return to his old ways, as last season in their 2 games with the Colts, RB Foster had 220 yards rushing and 2 TD’s in each game, and back in 2012 in his 2 games against the Colts he rushed for 262 yards and a TD in each game.

The Colts have struggled to date with teams whose defense can pressure QB Luck in to making mistakes, and the Texans have the players who can do just that, with DL J.J. Watt who may be the best pass rusher in the NFL, and J. Clowney can present problems for the weak offensive line of the Colts on the outside.

The prediction in this rivalry game is that the Colts see QB Luck return to the lineup and he sparks the offense into a win on the road with the final score the Colts 27 and the Texans 23!