Indianapolis Colts players seem slightly amused by the "inflamed" Houston Texans

A little penicillin will clear that right up…

But that game is going to be a beatdown. You’ve gotten close the past few years but couldn’t finish the job. Not happening this year. This Colts team is off the hook!

Didn’t we hear this same thing last year? Like, four or five teams in a row had us as “their Super Bowl”? I get that it’s motivational, but the Texans are going to feel really let down if Hurricane Peyton and the Category Five Colts come ashore and blows the roof off Reliant Stadium.

You never hear the Colts talk about any game being “their Super Bowl”. Mostly because “their Super Bowl” is, you know, the Super Bowl.

Born & raised in Indiana, I moved to Houston in 2008. I’ll be there on Sept. 12th, in the first row on the 30-yard line in my new Pierre Garçon jersey.

From listening to a lot of my friends (many of whom are Texans fans), they are putting all of their eggs in one basket on this first game. Win, and they take the early lead against their division rivals and potentially move them toward their first playoff berth in, well, ever. Lose, and it’s potentially more of the same – something around a .500 record, and watch the playoffs from home again.

Many local sports talk show celebrities are saying the same. This is a make-or-break year for this team, and it begins (this time, literally) with beating the Colts. I’m sure the team feels similarly, as being able to take the top team in the AFC in their season opener would do great things to 1, boost team confidence, and 2, give them a more realistic chance of taking the AFC South this year.

Sorry, but I don’t see it. My homerism may be shining through, but I’ve been following both teams heavily this offseason (Colts through SB, Texans through local news/BRB) and I simply can’t see this happening this year. Good luck to the Texans in the other 14 games this season, but the season opener and MNF game will belong to Indy.

Look, I’d be the first to admit that we Indy fans have had a complex about New England in the past. But I truly do not believe that we’ve ever judged the entirety of the franchise’s self worth on that one game (or two, counting playoff meetings). I feel we’ve always thought of the Colts as being excellent, regardless of whether we won or lost against New England. I realize that every team has it’s nemesis. But as BBS pointed out, it’s the entirety of the schedule that counts. Your win-loss record is much more important than an individual matchup.

Indy fans understand complexes; I honestly believe there are only a handful of meetings in the NFL that play on fans collective psyches as much as the Indy/NE game (Dallas-Philly, perhaps?). But the complex never, ever led anyone that I’ve seen or read to think of one regular season matchup as being season-defining. I believe this is so because the fellow Colts fans I’ve associated with (here and elsewhere) seemed to have the proper perspective on what a regular season matchup game meant in the overall picture. It’s important in increasing standing, but it doesn’t automatically mean Do-or-Die until it’s a playoff game. And it certainly is not the only indicator of a season’s worth.

My two cents; spend it as you want.

That’s about the only new thing I got from this, the Texans say the same thing every stinking year. The AFC South Hype has begun!

I hope the Colts aren’t overlooking the Texans. They play in the NFL, too.

I’ve expected the Texans to split with us. Then crazy crap happens and we manage to pull out of both games with a W. So this year I’m again going to expect a split in hopes that the Colts prove me wrong. More than anything I feel like I’d be jinxing it if I finally said, “Screw it. We’re winning both for sure.” You do have to feel bad for those Houston fans, though. They’re probably as passionate as any fans in the division (about 10x more passionte than Jax) and don’t have a whole lot to show for it. Hope they make the playoffs this year. I think Kubiak deserves to stick around.

I actually tend to agree with BBS on this (nerver thought I would say that) but I’m actually a little worried about the over emphasis on the Colts, I think the frustration comes form playing the Colts tough both games the last 2 years then loosing in the end. In addition the AFC south record of thhe texans was 1-5 last year vs 8-2 with the rest of the teams, so there is a feeling that they have to do better in the division this year. There was a similar focus last year with the Jets, and that was the only game they got crushed in all year.

Most of the schemes they came up w/ I didn’t think would work but w/ so many injuries on the O-Line, those types of schemes might be more effective for Houston.

Not like the Colts, of course. However, I respect their team and am expecting them to break into the playoffs this year. Never mind that I’ve been expecting that for three seasons now, but I think they will soon. They are full of players that I like. Having said that, I hope that they lose both games against us.

Oh, and I’m looking forward to being at training camp tomorrow. Over a two and a half hour drive in the morning though, and I’m losing an hour to time change!