Texans at Colts: what a difference a year makes

Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, left, talks with Peyton Manning during the Colts win over the 49ers last week   (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Just for grins, I went back and took a look at the gamebook from the Texans 33-27 loss at Indy last season. 

I also dredged up my post-game writeup from that game and it's funny how when I read it, I started recollecting Hurricane Ike stuff in my brain.  Even though we were two months removed from the storm we were still putting things back together in my little corner of Southeast Harris.

The other thing I noticed when going back and re-reading some of these year-old records is how different that Texans team was from the current version.

The differences aren't that noticeable on offense, except for the fact that Sage Rosenfels, Chester Pitts, Mike Brisiel, and Owen Daniels were in the starting lineup that day - a day the Texans record dropped to 3-7,

But what stood out to me was the players that started on defense for the Texans, especially the front seven.  That and my headline from my post-game writeup: "Texans offense fights while defense disappears."

The Texans starting defensive line that day was Anthony Weaver, Travis Johnson, Earl Cochran, and Mario Williams.  Weaver and Cochran are out of the league and Johnson has yet to see his first regular season start with the Chargers.  DeMeco Ryans and Xavier Adibi were the starting linebackers and Petey Faggins (now a reserve with the Lions) started at nickel.

Add in a new coordinator and names like Brian Cushing and Antonio Smith in the front seven, Bernard Pollard and Glover Quin (who's been doing great at nickel corner) at the back end, and yeah, I'd say things are a little different - and that's what I see as a wild card entering this game. 

The Texans defense has been playing very well over the past five weeks and the main reason for the Texans loss at Indy last year was the defense.  And we all know the Texans offense can move it as long as Matt Schaub has three Mississippi's to get rid of it.

Looking back, I'm shocked that the Texans kept it so close last year. 

The Texans led at halftime and were down by 3 with nine minutes remaining.  But the Colts ran 80 plays to the Texans 45.  It's amazing that the Texans put 27 on the board while running only 45 plays and getting dominated by nearly 10 minutes in time of possession.

The Colts had no turnovers and scored on seven of their eight drives, but the one thing the Texans defense was able to do was hold the Colts to field goals on four of those drives.

That's one of the keys that I see this week.  So many times the Texans have played at Indy and have found themselves in a 14-0 hole in the middle of the first quarter.  That can't happen if the Texans want to shock the NFL and win their first game there..

The other thing that happened that day was that Steve Slaton had 156 yards rushing including a 71 yard TD run.   The Texans will need to run the ball well on Sunday in order to have a chance.

Mike Chappell of IndyStar.com had some interesting tidbits in his aritcle today about the Colts trying to seek balance on offense.

Chappel wrote that "in terms of pass-run balance, Manning is throwing 62 percent of the time. Only Arizona, with quarterback Kurt Warner and the league's No. 32-ranked running game, is more pass-dependent (69 percent)."  The Colts are ranked 30th in rushing offense this season.

Chappell also reminded his readers that Joseph Addai's only 100-yard rushing game in his past 27 starts came when the Texans visisted Indy last season.

For the record, the Texans have a 57-43 percent split on pass vs. run.  The Texans have run 521 offensive plays and 225 have been running plays.