The Houston Texans aren’t going to play the tackle duo they would have liked against the Indianapolis Colts when the AFC South foes meet Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time at Lucas Oil Stadium.
For Houston, the availability issues at tackle started the day before their 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 5 when they placed right tackle Marcus Cannon on injured reserve with a back injury.
After the loss to the Patriots, the Texans discovered that left tackle Laremy Tunsil had a thumb injury and would be sidelined for at least the next four weeks as he needed surgery.
The Texans will have to turn to reserve tackles Geron Christian and Charlie Heck to fill out the left and right sides, and offensive coordinator Tim Kelly has confidence they can get the job done.
“I’m expecting them to come out and do their job,” Kelly said. “Charlie had a really good preseason. Unfortunately, he got sick at the end so it kind of derailed him a little bit, but he was on track and he was playing really well and he’s picked up right where he left off.”
Where Heck picked up was against the Patriots, filling in for Cannon. Kelly believes that Heck will “execute at a high level.”
As for Christian, Kelly says that he hardly notices the former Washington 2018 third-round pick in the game.
Said Kelly: “When he’s in there you don’t notice him, as an offensive lineman we all know that’s one of the highest compliments you can get. We are looking for them to come in and play well and play physical and make sure we can get moving the running game and protect us in the pass game.”
The Colts have generated 27 pressures, the fewest in the NFL. Indianapolis’ pass rush has also generated just 10 sacks, tied for the 10th-fewest in the league.