The Houston Texans battle an old nemesis this weekend in the Colts.  The Colts beat the Texans twice last season by a combined score of 55-44.  If the Texans are going to make the playoffs in 2010 they are going to have to start playing better in the division as they were only 1-5 in it last year.  Here is a look at the match-ups for Sunday:

When the Texans have the ball:  The Texans have to avoid turning this game into a straight firefight.  One way to do that is to establish a running game which is where Arian Foster fits in.  The Colts didn’t get a look at Foster last season but he came on late in the year.  He is a good fit in the Texans’ zone blocking scheme.  Look for him to challenge MLB Gary Brackett and SS Bob Sanders early and often.  That doesn’t mean that the Texans won’t throw the ball as they plan to do a lot of that especially with Colts’ CBs Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey hurting coming into this game.  I have a feeling that Jacoby Jones is going to have a huge game Sunday as he will likely have single coverage most, if not all of the game.  Matt Schaub will also be throwing the ball often to Andre Johnson who caught 15 passes for 170 yards (11.3 avg) against the Colts last year.  Andrew Walter will do the heavy lifting over the middle.

When the Colts have the ball:  The Colts will likely be daring the Texans to blitz them as Peyton Manning normally makes teams pay for that.  So the thought here is that the Texans should one rush the D-Line in passing situations so they can keep more players back in pass coverage.  That means that DeMeco Ryans will be counted on to chase Joseph Addai and Donald Brown all over the place.  The Texans will likely be forced at times to use OLBs Zach Diles or Xavier Adibi against TE Dallas Clark which is probably a very bad thing for them.  Young corners Kareem Jackson and Glover Quinn better be ready to handle Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie and Anthony Gonzalez.  Look for strong safety Bernard Pollard to hammer a few Colts WRs, TEs and RBs as he likes to drive through the offensive player on tackles.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 37, COLTS 34