[Hankie]

Houston (1-7, 0-4 away) at Houston (1-7, 0-4 away)

Why To Watch
Tony Dungy will be harping on the Colts not to have a letdown in a classic sandwich game. In between an impressive Monday Night Football win over the Patriots and a big intra-conference game with the Bengals, his team will take on the hapless Texans. The Colts will continue to play their no-huddle up tempo style with a good balance of run and pass against a Texans defense that is giving up 364.8 total yards per game. Defensive coordinator Ron Meeks will attack the Texans with an aggressive one-gap scheme and Cover 2 principles that have produced good results during the 2005 season. The Colts will look to start fast and keep the Texans from gaining any confidence.

For the Texans, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio must come up with creative ways to pressure and contain Peyton Manning & Co. Head coach Dom Capers must continue to find ways to get his team to play competitive and find ways to improve his team in the second half of the season. Texans offensive coordinator Joe Pendry will continue to attack on the ground and take pressure off their defense and QB David Carr.


When the Texans have the ball
Rushing: The Texans will continue to attack on the ground to control the time of possession and take the pressure off of Carr against a Colts defense that is allowing just 279.1 yards per game (fourth in the league). RB Domanick Davis missed last week due to a knee injury and he will be a game-time decision this week. Look for the combination of backup RB Jonathan Wells and Vernand Morency, who combined for 80 yards rushing in last week's loss to the Jaguars, to carry the load against a Colts interior of LDT Corey Simon and RDT Montae Reagor.

The Colts linebackers are fast and explosive and are led by MLB Gary Brackett and ROLB Cato June. Look for Pendry to attack between the tackles with a combination of zone blocking schemes that will stop the up-field penetration and allow Wells and Morency to make one cut as they press the hole and get downhill as north-south runners. However, the Colts are an aggressive, up-field, attacking defense that will be disruptive in gaps and confuse the Texans' blocking patterns based on their speed and quickness on a natural surface. The key for the Texans will be their offensive line as it continues to shuffle healthy bodies in and out of the starting lineup and has struggled to match up in the past with the Colts' aggressive one-gap defense. Meeks will use seven men in the box and utilize both his over and under defensive fronts to take away the Texans' running game and force Carr to attack through the air.

Passing: The Texans will put in a lot of sleepless night this week in designing max-protection schemes that protect Carr. The Texans have given up 43 sacks, while the Colts, who are led by the combination of Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, have 28 sacks on the year. The Texans again will have to use certain combinations on their offensive line due to injuries, which will cause certain mismatches, but its imperative that Wells and TE Mark Bruener help protect the edges of the pocket before releasing out and into their passing stems. However, this will give Carr fewer options working against a Colts secondary that relies on a four-man rush and a combination of six-to-seven men in coverage.

Despite not being at full strength, wide receiver Andre Johnson is back in the lineup and provided the Texans a boost in their passing attack last week against the Jaguars. Johnson finished with nine catches for 91 yards. It was his best outing in nine starts and gives Carr a dependable target in third-down situations. Look for the Texans to continue to rely on shorter and quicker drops when attacking the Colts' secondary. The Colts are not a big matchup team on the perimeter and do a good job of playing their responsibilities within the coverage. Carr must make good decisions and do a good job of taking what the defense is giving him in critical field position situations. MLB Gary Brackett has done a great job of getting depth in the middle of the field in the Colts Cover 2 schemes and ROLB Cato June has very good ball instincts and the ability to get underneath routes and make plays on the ball. He leads the team in interceptions with five.

When the Colts have the ball
Rushing: The Colts are averaging 134.5 yards per game rushing the ball while the Texans are allowing 156.8 yards on the ground per game. Offensive coordinator Tom Moore will continue to allow Manning to control the tempo of the offense and handle the play calling at the line of scrimmage in the Colts' no-huddle offensive attack. Manning continues to be at his best when the running game sets up the play-action pass and he can use his body gestures to keep opposing defenses off-balance.

Fangio will continue to utilize his different combinations in the Texans' sub defenses to slow down the Colts high-powered offense. RB Edgerrin James, who is third in the NFL in rushing yards with 905, will attack downhill off the Colts' unique zone running plays against a Texans front seven that has struggled to stop the run. However, the Texans were able to knock Fred Taylor out of the game early last week and held the Jaguars to only 98 total rushing yards. That's a huge feat after giving up an average of 227 rushing yards in their previous three games.

Fangio will have a hard time committing an extra defender in the box on early downs based on the Colts' passing game and their personnel groupings. Their will be a high emphasis this week and responsibility put on Texans safeties FS Marcus Coleman and SS C.C. Brown. Both will be ask to do a lot in coverage and the running game as the Texans look to slow down this explosive offense.

Passing: Manning & Co. will look to exploit a Texans secondary that is giving up an average of 208 yards per game. Manning was 28-of-37 for 321 yards and three touchdowns against the Patriots as the Colts scored on seven of eight possessions. Fangio must come with creative ways this week in order to pressure Manning, who has only been sacked five times for a total loss of 19 yards. The Colts will continue to attack with their spread offense of 11 and 12 personnel groupings to create mismatches against a Texans defense that will struggle to match up based on its personnel. If they can force the Texans into dime personnel (six defensive backs) versus their three-receiver sets (11 personnel) on first and second downs, the Colts' offense will attack with the run to set up their explosive play-action passing game.

Starting RCB Dunta Robinson is the Texans' most reliable player in the secondary and the Texans can isolate him one-on-one and roll the coverage the other way depending on the location and matchups of wide receiver Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. Harrison continues to have a Pro Bowl year and with the development of Wayne, TE Dallas Clark and the production of James in the passing game, the Texans must pick their poison when setting their defense and attacking the Colts offense. Another key to this game will be the Texans ability to stop the Colts in third-down situations and turnovers. When playing a superior team in this league, the margin of error is minimal at best, and the Texans must find a way to create turnovers to help their struggling offense.