Houston @ Indianapolis preview
Lucas Oil Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jan 6, 2024 ) Houston 23, Indianapolis 19
Week 1 of the NFL season is always a big deal.
From the view of second-year Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen, it's a bigger deal when you open with a division rival.
That's what Indianapolis does Sunday as it welcomes the defending AFC South champion Houston Texans.
"You want to win division games, you want to win a division championship. It starts in the division and you got to win at home right off the bat," he said. "So it'll be an extra challenge. It's a good football team we're playing, but I know our guys are going to be geared up and ready to roll on Sunday."
If that's the case, the Colts will reverse a decade-long trend. They are 0-9-1 in their last 10 season openers, which includes a 20-20 tie two years ago in Houston and a loss to start 2020 in Jacksonville, which went on to drop the next 15 games.
Last year's season opener saw Indianapolis fall 31-21 to Jacksonville in 2023 first-round draft pick Anthony Richardson's NFL debut. The quarterback played just three more games before a season-ending shoulder injury thrust Gardner Minshew into the job.
With Minshew now starting in Las Vegas, the Colts tossed the keys back to Richardson. The game plan is to use former NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor and Richardson to pound away at defenses, then let Richardson take shots downfield off play-action.
"As he showed with the limited amount of snaps that he's had, he's shown that he could be a dynamic playmaker and running the ball," said Houston coach DeMeco Ryans. "Also throwing the football."
Despite Richardson's absence over the last 13 games, Indianapolis still pieced together a top-10 scoring offense, averaging 23.3 points per game. But its defense finished 28th at 24.4 ppg, helping to keep the Colts out of the postseason.
That unit will get an immediate test in Week 1.
Houston loaded up for a championship run behind second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud. He led the Texans to a surprise division title last year, showing not only talent but poise belying his youth.
Now Stroud has more veteran weapons around him. Houston added wide receiver Stefon Diggs and a workhorse running back in Joe Mixon who can also catch the ball. The Texans aim to do with Stroud what the Buffalo Bills have done with quarterback Josh Allen -- build the talent base around him and force their way to the front of the queue in the AFC.
Diggs is looking forward to a fresh start with Houston after his time ran out with the Bills. Diggs' production fell off sharply in the final two-thirds of 2023, even though he finished with 107 catches, and he freely admits that he was in the "worst mental space" since he jumped into the NFL.
"If I'm not in a good space, obviously that's not the best for me," he said. "That's when things had to start shaking out."
The Colts ruled out wide receiver Josh Downs (ankle) for the season opener. Kicker Matt Gay is questionable due to a hernia; undrafted rookie Spencer Shrader would step in if Gay is unavailable Sunday. Houston ruled out just one player, cornerback M.J. Stewart (knee).
The Colts own a 32-11-1 lead in the all-time series, but the Texans have won the last two matchups at Lucas Oil Stadium, including a 23-19 verdict in January that clinched a playoff berth.
--Field Level Media