This is a statement game for the Texans.  The Texans pushed the Colts around the first time they played this year and this game is for first place in the tough AFC South.  The Texans have been good on the road this year as they are 2-0 outscoring the opposition 61-51.  The Colts are a different team at home this year as they are 2-0 outscoring the opposition 57-23 as they tend to play some D at home.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  Arian Foster has to be licking his chops right now (and his Fantasy owners’ too) as he rushed for 231 yards and 3 TDs the first time these two teams met this year.  I see no reason for the Texans not to come out running in this game against a Colts’ D that is allowing 137.3 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  The Texans’ O-Line must keep Matt Schaub clean in this game.  If they do he’s going to also have a big game throwing the ball to Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Jacoby Jones and Owen Daniels. 

When the Colts have the ball:  The Colts won’t have Dallas Clark, Austin Collie or Joseph Addai in this game and that’s going to hurt the offense.  Donald Brown & Mike Hart will handle the running game for the Colts and they will likely do a decent job against a Texans’ D that is allowing 104.3 yards rushing and 4.2 yards per carry this year.  The Texans better hope that DE Mario Williams gets into Peyton Manning’s grill a few times this week because if he’s feeling good in the pocket, they are in trouble.  The Texans are giving up 306.2 yards passing per game so it’s a nice week to break in TE Jacob Tamme and WRs Blair White & Anthony Gonzalez.  Reggie Wayne & Pierre Garcon will be Manning’s top targets in this game.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 34, COLTS 30

The Texans have signed 32-year old DT Damione Lewis.  Lewis played in all 16 games for the Panthers last season and he had 41 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  Lewis has now played in 131 games in his NFL career and he has 245 tackles, 14 passes defensed, 22.5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles.  I think this has the potential to be a good pick up for the Texans who need some help along the D-Line.

The Texans have signed 25-year old linebacker Stanford Keglar.  Keglar played in 12 games for the Titans last season and he had 6 tackles.  Keglar has now played in 25 games in his first two years in the NFL and he has 18 tackles.  The Texans signed Keglar for depth at linebacker and to help out on special teams which is two areas where they do need help.

The Texans have released 25-year old DT Frank Okam.  Okam played in 5 games for the Texans this year and he had 1 whopping tackle.  Okam played in 10 games in three years with the Texans and he could only muster 5 tackles.  This is absolutely no loss for the Texans despite all of the troubles they have had on D this year.

The plan was to lessen Jones’ responsibilites on special teams so he could focus more on offense.  It hasn’t really worked out that way so far this year.  Jones has returned 3 kickoffs for 76 yards (25.3 avg) and he has also returned 10 punts for 97 yards (9.7 avg) so far this year.  Jones has caught 18 passes for 190 yards (10.6 avg) with 1 TD grab in his first five games of the year for the Texans.  So in five games so far this year, Jacoby Jones has touched the ball 31 times overall and he has 363 yards total yards (11.7 yards per touch). 

25-year old strong safety Bernard Pollard has been a tackling machine for the Texans so far this year.  He has played in all six games for the Texans so far this season and he has 59 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 passes defensed and 1 forced fumble.  The Texans hope that he gets back to making the big impact plays that he did in 2009 with them.  Pollard played in 13 games for the Texans last season and he had 102 tackles, 7 passes defensed, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 4 interceptions (121 return yards) with a TD return.  Pollard is leading the way for the Texans in tackles this season and that explains why they are giving up 410.5 yards per game this year.

The Texans have released 25-year old linebacker David Nixon and 34-year old OT Ephraim Salaam.  Nixon played in 3 games for the Texans this year and he had 10 tackles.  Salaam has played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Texans this year.  He played in 48 games (30 starts) in his five years with the Texans.  The Texans have players coming back from injuries which led to the release of these two players.

The Texans have lost 26-year old linebacker DeMeco Ryans for the rest of the season due to a torn Achillies tendon.  This is a big blow to the Texans already porous defensed as Ryans is the best defensive player on the team.  Ryans played in 6 games for the Texans this year and he had 54 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 2 passes defensed.  He has now played in 70 games in his five years with the Texans and he has 573 tackles, 21 passes defensed, 8.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions.  Ryans is impossible for the Texans to replace.

The Texans really stepped up on offense in the 4th quarter scoring 2 TDs in the last 3:30 of the game.  Matt Schaub hit Andre Johnson with a 11-yard TD pass with only 28 seconds left in the game to help the Texans prevail today.  Schaub completed 25 of 33 passes for 305 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs.  Arian Foster led the way on the ground for the Texans in this game with 18 carries for 71 yards (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 6 passes for 26 yards (4.3 avg) today.  Derrick Ward pitched in with 58 yards rushing on 3 carries (19.3 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 1 pass for 12 yards.   Andre Johnson led the way for the Texans today through the air with 8 grabs for 138 yards (17.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Owen Daniels (5 rec, 79 yards), Jacoby Jones (4 rec, 45 yards) and Joel Dreessen (1 rec, 5 yards, TD) also pitched in for the Texans today in the passing game.  The Texans finished up with 132 yards rushing on 22 carries (6.0 ypc) and they also completed 25 of 33 passes for 289 yards despite only having the ball for 26:32 today.

The defense got pushed around a lot today by the Chiefs’ offense.  Safety Eugene Wilson (10 tackles), LB David Nixon (9 tackles), DT Shaun Cody (9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and LB Brian Cushing (8 tackles, 1 QB hit) led the way for the Texans on “D”.  The Chiefs finished up with 228 yards rushing on 38 carries (6.0 ypc) and they also completed 20 of 29 passes for 189 yards.  The Texans are now 4-2 on the year.

The Texans have lost their last two home games by a combined score of 61-23!  They will look to get back on track against a Chiefs team that lost their first game of the year last weekend in Indianapolis.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  I have a feeling that the Texans are going to come out throwing the ball against the Chiefs even though it didn’t work so good for the Colts last weekend.  Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter will likely get most of the passes thrown there way with Jacoby Jones & Owen Daniels a tad gimpy right now.  Matt Schaub has been sacked 14 times already this year so the Chiefs will likely be blitzing a lot.  The Chiefs’ are only giving up 80.5 yards rushing (3.2 ypc) per game this year but that won’t stop the Texans from feeding the ball a lot to Arian Foster (562 yards rushing, 5.9 ypc,  4 TD runs). 

When the Chiefs have the ball:  The Chiefs will likely come out running the ball with Thomas Jones & Jamaal Charles despite the Texans having a solid run D (79.6 rushing yards per game, 3.9 ypc).  The Chiefs are one of the worst throwing teams in the NFL as Matt Cassel has been pretty brutal so far this year.  But, the Texans’ D is giving up 329.6 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a 102.6 rating against them.  Rookie TE Tony Moeaki is Cassel’s favorite target but WRs Dwyane Bowe and Chris Chambers have solid track records in the past despite not playing too well yet this year. 

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 24, CHIEFS 17