HOUSTON 鈥?The Houston Texans are in a much different place

now than the first time they faced the Indianapolis Colts this season Reggie Wayne Color Rush Jersey , when they were 0-3 and desperate for a win.Ka’imi Fairbairn made a field goal as time expired in overtime to lead the Texans to a 37-34 victory in that game and they haven’t lost since, reeling off a franchise-record nine straight wins entering Sunday’s rematch.The Texans led 28-10 in the third quarter in that first meeting before Andrew Luck threw three second-half touchdowns to rally the Colts and set up the wild finish.The Colts failed to convert a fourth-and-4 with 24 seconds left in overtime to give Fairbairn a chance to win it.“Being up 28-10 … and then letting them come back and being down in overtime and pulling through the adversity, it kind of slingshot us to where we are now,” Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson said.聽“That was one game where we went through all types of phases and situations that put us through this nine-game win streak. It was the start of everything.”Defensive end J.J. Watt said that Sept. 30 game seems as if it was a long time ago and noted how difficult it has been for the Texans to win in Indy, where they’re just 3-14 all time.“We needed one to get started. That was the one to get us started on this streak,” Watt said. “Bit of an unorthodox way to get it, but we got it. So, here we are.”The Texans (9-3) are coming off a 29-13 win over the Cleveland Browns while the Colts (6-6) were shut out 6-0 by the Jaguars last week to end a five-game winning streak.“The Jacksonville game was tough,” Luck said. “They outplayed us. There’s not much else to say about it. As a defense against our offense, they just flat outplayed us. … We took a good look at it and we’ll improve. I know we will.”TOUCHDOWN THOMASHouston rookie tight end Jordan Thomas has a knack for scoring with four touchdown catches despite having just 14 receptions this season. His four touchdown receptions are tied with Andre Johnson for second-most TD receptions by a rookie in franchise history. The 6-foot-6, 277-pound Thomas has been a favorite target of Watson’s in the red zone; all of his scores聽have come on catches of 13 yards or less.NEW BALANCECoach Frank Reich has stressed the need to find balance since he took the Colts’ job in February.When these teams met previously, Luck set single-game franchise records with 40 completions and 62 attempts and became the 11th player in league history to throw for 450 yards and four TDs. He wound up with 464 yards, second in franchise history, and four scores.Since then, an improved ground game helped lessen the burden on Luck’s arm 鈥?until last week, when he threw 52 passes, including 14 straight during one stretch, in the loss to Jacksonville. Don’t expect the Colts to be so one-dimensional in Houston.“You never want to have to drop back and pass it 52 times,” offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said. “We always want to run it more. Just in that scenario, the way we were running it, we had some plays on our call sheet that we felt were going to be good to hit, some chunks in the pass game, and that’s the way we went.”THE BIG DHouston also will see a different defense.After allowing an average of 30 points over their first six games, the Colts cut that number to 16.8 points over the past six. Indy is the only team to have forced at least one turnover in every game this season and is second in the league in tackles for loss (71.0). Rookie linebacker Darius Leonard leads the league in tackles (122) and is tied for fourth in forced fumbles (four).First-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus sees it as a good start.“We feel we have set the standard of how we want to play in terms of the style. Now we just need to execute on a consistent basis and just keep doing that week in and week out,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we have to improve on www.coltsfanshop.com/Rigoberto-Sanchez-Jersey , but we have come a long way.”DEANDRE’S ARTOn a TV show this week, Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis said the way DeAndre Hopkins catches a football “is an art.” The Houston star agrees.“There’s more to it than just going out and catching a football,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go on before that. It’s for sure an art, and repetition makes perfect.”Hopkins routinely makes nearly impossible catches look run of the mill, and Watson has said he believes Hopkins will catch anything聽thrown his way. His latest nifty catch came last week against the Browns on a 24-yard reception near the sideline that came after T.J. Carrie grabbed his dreadlocks to try聽to slow him down.Hopkins knows that he makes it look easy, but wanted to make clear that it is not.“It’s harder than people think,” he said. “Especially like me, I usually have a defender on me or close to me, so catching the football isn’t easy for me like it is for some people who are wide open. It’s a challenge for me to play through that and still catch it.”100View Gallery Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta If you’ve read anything I’ve written prior to now, you’ll notice I don’t pull punches and when I’m trying to pump up Colts fans. I don’t feel the need to tell them all the ways we could lose and give the one troll from the opposing team’s website something to look forward to. If you’re looking for film or game analysis, we have that elsewhere on this website. If you’re looking for fair and balanced reporting without any bias, hahaha you and me both, my friend.The Kansas City Chiefs are the top seed in the AFC and Arrowhead Stadium is one of the premier football venues in the United States. In fact, Arrowhead is so awesome that my wife and I are literally thinking about driving out there to just soak it all in. Bucket list stuff, you know how it is.The Chiefs bring to the table the NFL’s top offense in just about every category. They lead the league in total yards and touchdowns scored on offense, for example. Sure, the Colts are right behind them in offensive excellence and I’m sure mostly what you’ll hear from major media outlets is something along the lines of “H-h-how can the Colts beat the Chiefs?”Let me count the ways.First, if you pay attention to the little things (like time of possession), you’ll notice that lately, the Colts have spent the first half of games with the ball in their possession on long scoring drives. That’s one way to beat a great offense, right? Keep them cold on the sideline like teams used to try to do to Peyton Manning. My question would be, is time of possession relevant to the quality of defensive play for the team that possesses the football the majority of the game? I doubt it, because teams take different approaches to scoring. Some teams, like the Colts, are methodical and use the game clock Marlon Mack Jersey , meaning the defense is getting some rest. The Chiefs go for the quick strike and tend to have shorter bouts of possession on offense, leaving their defense on the field most of the game. You don’t have to eat clock when you can just score at will, right?Second, Colts GM Chris Ballard was once a chief of the Chiefs, so you’ve got to think he knows a thing or two about the team he helped build, right? One question I’d have about this game will be “How does familiarity help you plan for an opponent?” Much of the league has failed to deal with Patrick Mahomes’ unorthodox approach to playing quarterback up to this point and it’ll be interesting to see how this game unfolds. Andy Reid is also an offensive mastermind of a head coach, and it’ll be interesting to see who wins this battle of wits between he and our defensive coordinator Matt (Please don’t leave us!) Eberflus. Certainly, if Matt’s able to put together a gameplan that puts the Colts over the top, a head coaching opportunity will follow.Third, this Colts defensive secondary is making waves lately, and another important question coming in to this game will be “How effective will the Colts’ secondary be against the likes of Tyreek Hill, Damien Williams and Travis Kelce?” Frankly, I’m not sure. Lately, the Colts have struggled to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks up front via a consistent pass rush and have played bend-don’t-break defense in the secondary while allowing catches at a high rate.I’m not sure how this will play out on Saturday, but in order for the Colts to win, they’ll have to continue to put the Chiefs offense in 3rd down and long yardage situations and then win those downs. As we’ve seen this year, Andrew Luck is incredible on 3rd down. Mahomes and the Chiefs offense have been even better.The most important question that will ultimately determine the outcome of the game will be “Can this Chiefs defense stop the Colts on offense?” The Chiefs are 31st in yards allowed and 24th in takeaways, but are tied for the lead in the NFL in total sacks. There isn’t a defensive metric to sell the Chiefs on outside of the pressure they generate up front, and frankly Kansas City should worry that the Colts may very well be built to beat teams just like this and have no problem doing it in your back yard, either.Recent trends say the Colts are on the upswing and the Chiefs have leveled off based on the outcome of their recent games. Look back, the Colts are coming in to this game having gone 11-1 since Week 6 and have won their last 5 games in a row. The Chiefs are coming in to this game having gone 3-2 in their last 5 games (2 of those 3 wins were against the Raiders) and have also been sitting around waiting without playing a game in two weeks leading up to this contest, which makes me wonder if the long layoff will have a negative impact on Kansas City’s offensive continuity.Much of what you’ve read here is basic data backed up with questions that will be answered on the field Saturday. That said, what questions do you have about the game? Let me know in the comments below!