The Houston Texans are likely feeling pretty confident going up against the Indianapolis Colts who they already beat this year in Week 1. The stakes in this game are just about as high as they can get for Week 8, however. The Colts are only a game behind Houston, so a Colts win would have them tied for the AFC South. The Houston Texans might want to take great care to hold on to the division lead they’ve worked so hard to earn.
Try To Stop Jonathan Taylor
This is impossible by any standard, but the Houston Texans have to try anyway. They may not need to stop Taylor completely, but they should try to hold him under 70 yards. Anthony Richardson hasn’t looked great since his return from injury (only completed ten passes against the Dolphins), so a simple game plan for Houston would be to try and get them to throw as much as possible.
The issue is that Houston is a little banged up at linebacker at the moment. Azeez Al-Shaair is still out as well as Henry To’oTo’o. This is why the team signed former Super Bowl winner Devin White to the squad. If he can chase down Taylor during this game, his coaching staff will be very happy.
Get Tank Dell Involved
Tank Dell can still play in this league, plain and simple. He is only two weeks removed from his big game against the Patriots where had 57 yards and a touchdown. The fact that he didn’t catch anything against the Packers doesn’t mean he should be counted out, and he is due for a comeback game for the Houston Texans.
It’s important to target Dell in this game because the Colts will probably throw some heavy coverage on Stefon Diggs, who caught five of his targets in the loss to Green Bay. It’s clear that without a secondary option in the passing game, the Houston Texans become one-dimensional. The good news is that C.J. Stroud likely won’t have another bad game like he did against Green Bay, so there will be more pass volume for Dell to take advantage of.
Stay Out Of Obvious Third Down Situations
A big stat from the loss to the Packers was that the Houston Texans only completed four of 14 third downs. That’s important because it shows why Stroud was under pressure for most of the game. Much attention has been brought to the fact that the offensive line needs to pass block better, but being in third and long meant that the Packers pass rushers were after Stroud during the game.
The simple remedy to this issue is mixing up pass and run. There is no question that Joe Mixon will have himself a solid game tomorrow. That should open up opportunities in the play action game. The Houston Texans just need to stay out of third and long, whether that’s with the running game, screens, or check down passes.
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