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With the Colts facing the Houston Texans this Sunday, Stampede Blue's Josh Wilson talked with Battle Red Blog's Brett Kollmann about the Texans and this Sunday's matchup. The questions are in bold and then Brett's responses follow.
1. There has been quite a bit of quarterback shuffling in Houston this season, as it started with Ryan Fitzpatrick, then went to Ryan Mallet, and then after he was injured it went back to Fitzpatrick - who then proceed to have a six-touchdown game. So it'll be Fitzpatrick starting this Sunday against the Colts again - what should we know about him and how Texans fans feel about him?
Fitzpatrick may have been "Fitzmagic" for a week with his six touchdown performance against Tennessee, but he is still not the answer at quarterback for this team. Ryan Mallett will get a shot to be our future next season, and until then Fitzpatrick is just the guy that Andre Johnson and DeAndre Hopkins have to put up with under center. He's a stop gap, and will always be a stop gap as far as I'm concerned.
2. I think we can all see just how dominant J.J. Watt is. I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on the "Watt for MVP" talk that has been going on - what are your thoughts on that?
If any defensive player in the last decade has deserved the MVP award, it's Watt. He single handedly shuts down opposing drives, scores on offense, scores on defense, and is the super star role model that this league desperately needs right now. In many ways Watt is the most grossly underpaid 100 million dollar player in NFL history. He might not get it because the Texans are still just a 7-6 team, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is a four, three, or even just a two win ball club without him. At the end of the day, the MVP award will almost always go to quarterbacks because they are the most objectively "valuable" part of any team, but Watt is still probably the best player in the NFL relative to position. At least we have that.
3. We know that Andre Johnson is dealing with a concussion and might not be ready for Sunday's game - if he can't play, how does that impact the Texans?
Well, for one that takes one of the only receivers that can seemingly beat Vontae Davis off the board. I don't know what it is about Johnson, but he has Davis' number in every game he plays against him, similarly to how Andre himself can never seem to get past Antonio Cromartie. It's just weird like that. DeAndre Hopkins is a fine receiver himself, but with Davis playing like a top three corner this season, my hopes for him to have a monster game out of nowhere are a bit tempered. Unless Arian Foster has himself another monster game against Indy, the Houston offense will severely miss Andre's ability to burn the "other" Davis brother.
4. Knowing what you do about Houston, how would you expect them to attack the Colts on Sunday?
Run, run, and then run again. With the possibility of no Andre Johnson and Ryan Fitzpatrick still just being Ryan Fitzpatrick, this offense will run through Arian Foster and Alfred Blue on nearly every single down.
5. On the flip side, how would you expect the Colts to attack the Texans?
I predicted T.Y. Hilton to have a big game against the Texans (as is tradition) in our last exchange, so I'll go with that prediction again. He's pretty much an automatic 150 receiving yards against Houston at this point anyway, so I might as well ride that streak until the wheels fall off.
Bonus: what's your prediction for the game?
Houston has never won in Indianapolis, and with the best player in franchise history on the sidelines and no real quarterback, I expect that trend to continue. Bill O'Brien is a fantastic head coach, and I believe he will win in Lucas Oil eventually, but this isn't the year.
Colts 27 - Texans 20
Thanks again to Brett Kollmann of Battle Red Blog for taking the time to answer these questions!
Editor's Note: FanDuel is hosting a $600,000 fantasy football league for SBNation. It's $5 to join and first place wins $50,000. League starts Sunday 1 PM ET and ends on Monday. Here's the link.