Hey guys, it’s Ari Alexander in Indianapolis where the Colts beat the Texans 31-3. Houston has now been outscored 71-3 in its past two road games. Oof.
BAD FOOTBALL
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Brandin Cooks admitted the Texans are undisciplined. Mark Ingram II called much of everything they did “bad football” in the postgame press conference. Davis Mills wishes he had his 3rd quarter interception thrown to Darius Leonard back. Darius Leonard, the Colts’ star linebacker was celebrating not 5 seconds into the game as Houston opened with a 5 yard penalty.
Somehow, despite having no offensive movement, the Texans had the ball in the 3rd quarter just down 10-3. From there, Mills threw an interception which led to a Colts touchdown. 17-3. After Indianapolis oddly didn’t feed their standout running back in the first half, Jonathan Taylor broke an 83-yard run before punching it in several plays later. 24-3, and basically game.
DEEP BALL BREAKDOWNS
Look, we know T.Y. Hilton owns the Texans, but a T.Y. Hilton coming off an injury and making his season debut? Yeah, still. Hilton caught 4 passes for 80 yards - which is relatively tame by his standards vs. Houston, but it included a 52 yard bomb where he beat Texans coverage. Parris Campbell caught the first score of the game for 51 yards on another deep ball. Mo-Alie Cox, an athletic ex-basketball player tight end caught a 28 yarder for a score. Houston’s longest pass? 20 yards. The Texans, whose run game has struggled all year, had two longer runs than that.
FROM HERE?
Literally? To Arizona, where a 6-0 Cardinals team awaits. Philosophically? Who knows. Houston is likely to get starting QB Tyrod Taylor back within the next few weeks, but rookie Davis Mills has played decently enough the past two games that it might help the Texans long term to see what they have in Mills. Defensively, there aren’t many standouts other than 2nd year pass rusher Jonathan Greenard, who has been excellent.
Next week and the week after might be bloodbaths. Houston was an 11.5 underdog against a 1-4 Colts team. Imagine what Vegas will say about next week’s tilt? 16.5? 18.5? 20.5? Arizona dominated a solid Browns team without half of its coaching staff due to COVID. Then there’s the business of a potential J.J. Watt revenge game against a Texans offensive line missing 3 starters, AND there’s the even juicier business of a potential DeAndre Hopkins revenge game against a bad Texans secondary.
Houston is likely to be 1-7 heading into a game against a disappointing Miami Dolphins team. Like I said up top...oof.