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WR Anthony Gonzalez had arthroscopic knee surgery last Thursday and there is no timetable for his return. He has not played at all this season for the Colts but somehow they have kept on trucking on offense. They need Austin Collie (30 rec, 330 yards, 4 TDs) and Pierre Garcon (18 rec, 293 yards, 2 TDs) to keep up the good work in replacing Gonzalez if the offense is to continue to purr.
The Colts will be without cornerback Kelvin Hayden for at least the next four weeks with a knee injury. He has played in 4 games for the Colts this season and he has 18 tackles, 3 passes defensed and 1 interception. This really cripples the depth of the secondary after the Colts learned that Bob Sanders and Marlin Jackson were out for the year.
The Colts will be without safety Bob Sanders for the rest of the season due to a torn left triceps. He only played in 2 games for the Colts this season and he had 3 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he had 1 interception. This will sound kind of funny but the Colts won’t miss him too much the rest of the year because he didn’t really contribute much when he was healthy.
The Houston Texans have won three games in a row and they will be looking to keep that streak going against a Indianapolis Colts team that is 7-0. The Texans will likely try to run the ball a little more than usual against the Colts who are allowing 112.0 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry. Ryan Moats should get the start over Steve Slaton based on how well he played last week against the Bills. Without Owen Daniels the Texans will rely on WRs Kevin Walter and David Anderson to catch the short stuff. The Colts will be without a doubt be doubling Andre Johnson all day long on Sunday. That might not matter however if Matt Schaub has time to throw the football. That will only happen if the Texans’ O-Line can hold out DEs Dwight Freeney (8 sacks) and Robert Mathis (6 sacks) and that won’t be easy.
The Colts won’t stray from the usual plan as they will rely on Peyton Manning’s right arm to win this game. DE Mario Williams will have to get pressure on Manning or he will slice and dice the Texans’ secondary. The Texans will have problems slowing down Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie and Dallas Clark in this game. The Texans also don’t stop the run too well allowing 113.3 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry. Joseph Addai could have a big game here if the Colts get the lead and then decide to grind out a win on the ground.
PREDICTION: COLTS 38, TEXANS 20
Marlin Jackson tore his ACL in practice on Wednesday and it will end his season. Jackson played in 4 games for the Colts this season and he made 10 tackles, had 1 tackle for a loss, he defensed 1 pass and he had 1 interception. This injury will hurt the depth of the Colts’ secondary but he wasn’t playing that well this season when he was healthy so the Colts won’t miss him too much.
The Colts have lost linebacker Tyjuan Hagler for the year due to a torn triceps muscle. Hagler played in 7 games for the Colts this season and he made 26 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he defensed 3 passes. This will hurt the depth of a Colts’ D that has been very impressive so far this year.
The Colts were down 14-12 in this game before they dug deep in their bag of tricks and the result was a 22-yard TD pass from Joseph Addai to Reggie Wayne! Then the defense made it stand up. Peyton Manning was solid as usual completing 31 of 48 passes for 347 yards but he didn’t throw a TD or a pickoff. Joseph Addai didn’t do much in this game other than throwing the game winning TD pass. He carried the ball 20 times for 62 yards (3.1 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 4 yards (2.0 avg). Reggie Wayne had a monster game with a groin that was smarting as he caught 12 passes for 147 yards (12.3 avg) with 1 TD grab. Dallas Clark (8 rec, 99 yards), Austin Collie (6 rec, 66 yards) and Pierre Garcon (4 rec, 53 yards) all pitched in for the Colts in the passing game yesterday. The Colts rolled up 410 total yards on offense (61 rushing, 349 passing) in this game.
The defense was solid for the Colts again yesterday. Linebacker Clint Session led the way for the Colts in this game with 8 tackles. Safety Antoine Bethea pitched in with 7 tackles and linebacker Philip Wheeler who had six tackles, 1 sack and 1 QB hit helped out big time on the D yesterday. The Colts are now 7-0 on the season.