The Colts move on to their first primetime game, on Sunday night against a familiar AFC South rival Houston Texans. The Colts could take the lead in the AFC South with a win. The Texans are without their star defender in J.J. Watt as he was placed on injured reserve after a back injury and subsequent surgery . Even without Watt, the Texans have a rising star in outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney that the Colts will need to watch for.
Recent Roster Moves
The Colts signed Chris Carter!! But not the long retired wide receiver, the free agent outside linebacker. In addition to Carter, they promoted cornerback Frankie Williams up to the active roster from the practice squad. To make room for these new additions, outside linebacker Trevor Bates and offensive tackle Jeremy Vujnovich were waived.
Carter comes with some prior NFL experience to the tune of 53 games. Spending time with the Bengals, Ravens and the Steelers with a stint with the Colts in 2014 inbetween.
Trending Up
With a strong(er) showing on the offensive side of the ball, albeit to a struggling Bears team, Colts are wanting to continue the success and do something they have yet to do this season, win back to back games.
In the first half against the Bears, the Colts started out with a higher pace than normal. Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski liked what he saw to start but claimed lack of execution altered their plans as the game wore on. “We were actually in it in the second half. We just weren’t effective in it at that particular time. Again, we’ve done it in some other games. It was effective in the first half, it was good for us in the first half. We’ll look at it again every game. There are times we’ll get into it. Times we’ll get out or not be in it. A lot of that is just game planning. I felt like last week that really presented some good opportunities for us.”
T.Y. Hilton has had some big games at the Texans expense. Hilton is already putting together a great season. Sunday he played one his best game yet this season and is starting to string some big games together. Chudzinski is happy with Hilton’s growth “we see the progress that he’s made. Whether you guys have seen this or not, you see him becoming a complete receiver. His route tree is expanding. A few years ago, it was a few routes that he was more likely to run or that were kind of his routes and you see that really expanding. He’s catching balls all over the field in different zones – short ones, long ones, medium ones. He’s really put his mind on improving his game and you see that show up.” Now being on a primetime stage at a place where Hilton is known to go off is a good sign for the Colts success this Sunday night.
Hilton isn’t the only one playing well. Tight end Dwayne Allen also had himself a nice outing this past Sunday and has been consistently been improving game by game this season. But to Chudzinski it’s not all about total receptions “I see him as doing a lot of the same things that he’s done in terms of as a jack of all trades for us. He does everything for us from blocking, catching, does all the little things and all the dirty jobs that we need as well and that’s important from my standpoint. He’s got more production.”
Although Andrew Luck takes the blame for the obscene amount of sacks this season, the offensive line has been far from great as well. So what’s been the problem? “They’ve gotten beat on one-on-ones as well as the twists. The twists are where the coordination between those guys and playing together over time. It’s different when you’re watching out at practice and we’re working twists in those games and those types of things that you see Jack and you see AC working and talking together, ‘Hey, I knew you were going to be there; I should’ve stayed a little bit longer on that.’ They’re having those conversations that they’ve been having for a couple of years and now you’ve got some guys that, I don’t even know if they’ve met each other yet, playing next to each other.” Lack of chemistry among new faces has also been a factor “It’s never just one thing. If it was simply one thing it would be really easy to solve. I think, obviously, you can start with the continuity that we’ve had. Or the lack of continuity up front and playing a number of different guys. We’ve had a lot of young guys and a lot of guys who haven’t played next to each other. I think that you can look at it as an example”
Things to Work On
Just when we thought this defensive backfield was getting healthier cornerbacks Darius Butler and Patrick Robinson found themselves on the injury report once again. Thankfully Vontae Davis is starting to ramp up his performances. Defensive Coordinator Ted Monachino is counting on Davis continuing improvement. “He has put together two very competitive weeks outside and that’s encouraging when your number one corner is getting better as the first quarter of the season ends. I think that Vontae is better now than any time since I’ve been here. Physically, I know he is and I know that from a competitive standpoint he’s excited for the opportunity to compete against three really good receivers.” Don’t expect him to strictly shadow Texans top wide out DeAndre Hopkins on Sunday. “It will be a great matchup. Those two guys will fight; they will fight for 60 minutes. The more often we can get those two guys matched the better just simply because we’re going to have to do that. But I will tell you that it’s not going to be the type of thing where Vontae trots out there and he’s following number 10 (Hopkins) around all day.” I am not sure who else in this Colts secondary would be up to the task of defending Hopkins but the Texans also have a promising rookie wide receiver in Will Fuller that will need looked after.
Much like Davis’ progression, Monachino is also hoping defensive end Henry Anderson follows suit. Anderson is starting to get his legs back under him and get his mind right. “Henry is a very cerebral young man as we all would expect so he over thinks some things sometimes and we just have to shove him out there and say, ‘Just go out there and play.’ He’s at that point now where we’ve crossed that barrier – we’ve made it past that. I would think that he would start to ramp up as we go. He’s healthy. He’s good to go. He’s excited about ball and he can’t wait to get out there Sunday and see if he can start making some plays to help our defense and help our team win.” Anderson and fellow defensive end Arthur Jones may play the same position but their styles are different “both those guys have a pass rush gene. Both those guys can do that. I know that Arthur is a little different than Henry. Henry is more of a guy that can get edgy and make guys miss and use his length where Arthur is kind of a hammer in the passing game as a pass rusher. Those guys can change us, Arthur especially in the run game and Henry especially in the pass game.” says Monachino, but the key will be getting them in the right position “If we can get those athletes singled with matchups that we think are favorable I think that you will see some production out of those guys. I know from an effectiveness standpoint we can be effective at those two spots. Those guys will help us.” so far that hasn’t happened but both players are coming back from injuries and could improve from week to week provided they remain healthy.
In a game that could go either way our quarterback is much better than theirs, Colts win 34-21.
All quotes courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts PR department
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