The Baltimore Ravens defense shutdown the Houston Texans in Week 11.
Baltimore got to Deshaun Watson seven times, in turn, forcing him into two turnovers. They held the Texans offense to seven points, with the lone touchdown being a garbage time one. Houston was 20% on third-down, did not get to the red zone once and averaged 4.1 yards per gain against the Ravens.
By all intents and purposes, the Ravens’ defense ruled the day against the Texans. Houston has a chance to rebound from their poor offensive performance by facing the Indianapolis Colts on “Thursday Night Football.”
The Colts defense is not an easy task, however. A Matt Eberflus unit, they prioritize speed, physicality and chemistry and show a “me-first” mentality the front door. Texans coach Bill O’Brien sees carry over between the two defensive units.
“We’re going to see similar things,” said O’Brien on Monday. “Indianapolis plays a very disciplined defense, a very physical style of defense. They’re very well-coached by Matt Eberflus.”
Led by All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard, the Colts’ -2.4% DVOA, per Football Outsiders, ranks 13th in the NFL. Their pass-defense ranks 10th in the league in the same metric.
Indianapolis is 11th in passing yards allowed per game (228.8) and eighth in rushing yards per (96.8).
Eberflus and Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale do not run the same schemes. However, they present the same challenge in that their defenses are well-coached and compete.
“I’m not saying the schemes are the same, but there’s some carry over. So, we’ve got to — as coaches and players, we have to come together on a good game plan and we have to do a great job as coaches and players of executing that game plan in a disciplined manner,” O’Brien continued. “We’ve got to do, obviously, a better job, which we’re up to that challenge, but we’ve got to have a good couple of days here and be ready to go on Thursday night.”
The Colts defense isn’t going to be a cakewalk to play against. They know the Texans, play them tight and have beaten them three times out of four since the start of 2018. If Houston wants to show they are still a contender, they will have to best another tough defense.