Colts vs Texans: 3 keys for the offense in Week 12

Keys for the offense in Week 12.

Hopefully, Indianapolis Colts fans get more beautiful touchdown celebrations like this often on Thursday night when they travel to face the Houston Texans.

Last week, the Colts offense took off and was able to get back to running the football. Indianapolis racked up 264 rushing yards on the day, and that’s after losing running back Marlon Mack early in the second half with a hand injury.

Week 7 against the Texans was a strong showing from the Colts’ passing offense. Jacoby Brissett had his best game of the season throwing for 326 yards and four touchdowns. Things are a little bit different this time around.

Let’s take a look at three keys for the offense in this pivotal AFC South matchup:

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1. Establish the run

It’s the mantra of the Indianapolis offense: “Run the damn ball.” On the season the Colts have the number four ranked rush offense, averaging 141 yards per game. The last few weeks though, the run offense hasn’t been there. But last week they got back to what they do best.

Against a lowly-ranked Jacksonville Jaguars run defense the Colts were able to run for 264 yards and average 7.3 yards per carry. Good news for Indianapolis, the Houston run defense isn’t any better than the one they saw last Sunday against Jacksonville.

Every since star defensive player J.J. Watt was put on season-ending injured reserve, the Texans run defense has been putrid to say the least. Since the Watt injury, the Texans are allowing 6.61 yards per carry, that’s 31st in the NFL, 32nd is the Jaguars.