Everything just seems right in the world again, huh? For the 16th time in 18 tries, the Colts beat the Houston Texans, this time in a 30 - 17 beat down. The Colts were never in any danger from the 2nd quarter on Monday night, as the Texans seemingly forgot how they beat the Colts in Week 1. I'm not quite sure why Arian Foster didn't get more carries in the first half, but I'm not really going to complain. Giving Peyton Manning a 2 TD lead makes coaches go a little crazy I guess.
Some notes from the game:
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From Elias: The Texans are the first team since the 1989 Cowboys to allow at least 24 points in each of their first seven games of a season. That Cowboys team finished 1 - 15. Yikes.
- Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday have now started more games as QB - C combo than anyone else in NFL history, with 161 games. When these 2 guys hang them up, their record will be untouchable.
- Colts.com: Reggie Wayne went over 10,000 Receiving yards in his career last night, becoming the 34th player in NFL history to do so. Still a long way to catch Marvin Harrison, though.
- Colts.com: Wayne also caught his 64th TD pass from Manning, which puts them at 2nd all time in Colts history, passing Johnny Unitas to Raymond Berry. It's also 5th best all time. Manning to Harrison is 112.
- From ESPN TV: Jacob Tamme became the 27th different player to catch his first TD pass from Peyton Manning. I hope some of you jumped on him in Fantasy Football before last night.
- This was the 11th straight primetime victory for the Colts. There's still two more games this season in primetime, against the Chargers at home, and the Titans in Nashville.
After the jump you'll see how the Colts had another dominating performance inside Lucas Oil Stadium...
Stats from Monday night - Non Adjusted:
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Defense | Rank | Off/Def Above | Off/Def Below | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 78.8% | 3 | 70.0% | 15 | N | N | 2-0 |
| ANPY/A | 6.500 | 11 | 3.854 | 6 | Y | N | 7-0 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | Y | N | 5-1 |
| Yds/Drive | 40.67 | 4 | 26.45 | 8 | Y | N | 6-0 |
| ToP/Drive | 4:02.8 | 1 | 2:08.6 | 7 | Y | N | 8-0 |
| Yds/Play | 4.946 | 16 | 4.932 | 10 | N | N | 3-2 |
| First Downs/Drive | 2.67 | 1 | 1.73 | 17 | N | N | 3-1 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 50.0% | 4 | 25.0% | 5 | Y | N | 4-3 |
| Avg Start Pos | 28.7 | 13 | 25.8 | 10 | N | N | 5-2 |
| 3 and Outs | 1 | 2 | 4 | 12 | Y | N | 3-1 |
| RZ Eff | 71.4% | 13 | 50.0% | 7 | Y | N | 5-3 |
| Plays/Drive | 8.222 | 1 | 5.364 | 15 | Y | N | 6-1 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.932 | 19 | 0.508 | 22 | N | Y | 0-4 |
| RB Success | 40.7% | 14 | 72.2% | 26 | N | Y | 2-2 |
| Yds/Carry | 3.82 | 17 | 6.00 | 24 | N | Y | 4-3 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 42.00 | 11 | 36.40 | 6 | Y | N | 3-4 |
| Ranking - Week (26) | 3 | 8 | 2 | ||||
| Ranking - Season (234) | 27 | 68 | 15 | ||||
And the Adjusted Stats:
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Defense | Rank | Off/Def Above | Off/Def Below | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 70.8% | 8 | 63.1% | 5 | N | N | 2-0 |
| ANPY/A | 4.803 | 14 | 3.481 | 4 | Y | N | 7-0 |
| Turnovers | 0.8 | 11 | 2 | 9 | Y | N | 5-1 |
| Yds/Drive | 33.57 | 7 | 19.27 | 5 | Y | N | 6-0 |
| ToP/Drive | 3:33.0 | 1 | 2:03.0 | 4 | Y | N | 8-0 |
| Yds/Play | 4.442 | 19 | 3.949 | 3 | N | N | 3-2 |
| First Downs/Drive | 2.16 | 2 | 1.28 | 6 | N | N | 3-1 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 47.6% | 7 | 19.1% | 3 | Y | N | 4-3 |
| Avg Start Pos | 30.3 | 10 | 29.1 | 13 | N | N | 5-2 |
| 3 and Outs | 2 | 3 | 6 | 3 | Y | N | 3-1 |
| RZ Eff | 47.6% | 22 | 36.6% | 4 | Y | N | 5-3 |
| Plays/Drive | 7.512 | 1 | 5.068 | 9 | Y | N | 6-1 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.915 | 18 | 0.639 | 17 | N | Y | 0-4 |
| RB Success | 36.9% | 13 | 64.3% | 26 | N | Y | 2-2 |
| Yds/Carry | 4.26 | 13 | 5.31 | 24 | N | Y | 4-3 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 39.53 | 15 | 37.01 | 9 | Y | N | 3-4 |
| Ranking - Week (26) | 5 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Ranking - Season (234) | 71 | 24 | 11 | ||||
Some thoughts:
- The Colts had the ball for over 4 minutes / drive. This includes the first drive of the game, where the Colts only held the ball for 25 seconds, thanks to 3 incomplete passes (6th time ever in regular season). Add to that that the Defense held the Texans to barely over 2:00 / drive, and that's the first sign of domination.
- Here's what I said about 3rd/4th Downs in the preview:
In the Colts four Wins this season, the defense has held their opponent to 15/67 on 3rd/4th down. In the two losses? 16/25. That's a very easy stat to track, and very telling for the 2010 Colts. Get them off the field on 3rd/4th down, the Colts win. If not, the Colts lose.
The Texans were 3/12 on 3rd/4th down, and the Colts won easily. I've still got the touch. - With the Texans being so horrible in Red Zone Defense, the Colts offense took a big hit in the Adjusted numbers, even though the actual numbers weren't terrible. Settling for that FG after getting inside the 1 is the difference here. The Colts Defense was superb inside the Red Zone once again, including another strip-sack by Dwight Freeney to end the game.
- Once again, the Defense was spectacular at home. Foster still got his numbers, but most of it came with the Colts up 3 touchdowns already. I'll take that every time.
Season Stats (Adjusted):
| Statistic | Offense | Rank | Best | Defense | Rank | Best | Record | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSR | 76.2% | 2 | Patriots | 69.3% | 19 | Giants | 31-9 | 0.775 |
| ANPY/A | 7.026 | 2 | Chargers | 4.765 | 7 | Titans | 51-14 | 0.785 |
| Turnovers | 1.46 | 14 | Chiefs | 1.53 | 19 | Steelers | 54-12 | 0.818 |
| Yds/Drive | 38.05 | 1 | Colts | 28.35 | 13 | Giants | 35-16 | 0.686 |
| ToP/Drive | 3:06.0 | 2 | Saints | 2:37.0 | 12 | Giants | 43-12 | 0.782 |
| Yds/Play | 5.656 | 6 | Chargers | 4.811 | 8 | Giants | 32-26 | 0.552 |
| First Downs/Drive | 2.23 | 1 | Colts | 1.69 | 20 | Giants | 33-12 | 0.733 |
| 3rd/4th Down | 45.6% | 4 | Patriots | 38.1% | 15 | Giants | 41-16 | 0.719 |
| Avg Start Pos | 29.0 | 27 | Steelers | 30.2 | 17 | Falcons | 55-10 | 0.846 |
| 3 and Outs | 2.39 | 4 | Texans | 4.42 | 9 | Bears | 25-16 | 0.610 |
| RZ Eff | 65.4% | 17 | Texans | 52.1% | 4 | Falcons | 38-15 | 0.717 |
| Plays/Drive | 6.829 | 1 | Colts | 5.736 | 21 | Raiders | 32-16 | 0.667 |
| Penalty Yds / Play | 0.581 | 2 | Steelers | 0.705 | 24 | Ravens | 31-23 | 0.574 |
| RB Success | 47.0% | 15 | Texans | 54.1% | 31 | Steelers | 32-26 | 0.552 |
| Yds/Carry | 3.81 | 21 | Chiefs | 4.49 | 26 | Steelers | 36-26 | 0.581 |
| Net Punts Yds/Game | 40.54 | 9 | Steelers | 42.68 | 31 | Dolphins | 21-22 | 0.488 |
| Overall | 2 | Patriots | 15 | Giants | ||||
A couple things here:
- The Colts offense, as a whole, has faced a very easy schedule (ranked 28th), so the Adjusted numbers are mostly lower than the actual numbers. Even so, the Colts rank as the 2nd best Offense in the NFL. The two areas that need work are Turnovers (thanks to the Redskins game) and Red Zone Efficiency. These will need to get cleaned up as the season goes on.
- The Colts defense is clearly better than they have been the past 2 seasons, as they rank in the top 20 in the best 11 categories, which is all Colts fans have asked for. They don't need to be the '85 Bears, but they do need to be average, which they are accomplishing this season. And they played last night without 2/4 of their starters in the secondary.
- Field Position is still extremely strong this season, as is Turnovers. On the flip side, Yards / Play are not very strong at all. The Chargers and Cowboys have been very good this season in this stat, if that says anything about 2010.
Week to Week stats:
| Colts | Opponent | Non-Adjusted | Adjusted | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Offense | Defense | Total | Offense | Defense | Total | |
| 1 | Texans | 29 | 217 | 122 | 83 | 177 | 139 |
| 2 | Giants | 34 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| 3 | Broncos | 69 | 151 | 101 | 115 | 147 | 136 |
| 4 | Jaguars | 12 | 231 | 138 | 34 | 227 | 153 |
| 5 | Chiefs | 55 | 62 | 23 | 43 | 42 | 12 |
| 6 | Redskins | 97 | 78 | 69 | 74 | 133 | 97 |
| 7 | BYE | ||||||
| 8 | Texans | 27 | 68 | 15 | 71 | 24 | 11 |
Only one thing to say here - the 3 Colts home games are ranked 1st, 11th, and 12th best games in the NFL this season. This season, more than any other, home field advantage will be a necessity for the Colts. They've destroyed 3 teams at home this year that very well could end up in the Playoffs. I don't want to look too far ahead, but the Colts will have to win a game in Foxboro this year, whether it be in November or in January. Hopefully the former.