Patrick Robinson inactive for Colts, but Darius Butler will play vs. Texans

The Indianapolis Colts will face the Houston Texans tonight on Sunday Night Football for the division lead, but they’ll be without a few notable players for the contest.

Here’s the full list of inactive players for the Colts tonight:

Donte Moncrief, WR (shoulder)

Patrick Robinson, CB (knee and hip)

Le’Raven Clark, OL

Jonotthan Harrison, C (illness)

Devin Street, WR

Zach Kerr, DL (ankle)

T.Y. McGill, DL

So at cornerback, which was a big area to watch this week, Patrick Robinson is out but Darius Butler (who had surgery for a fractured finger this week) is active. According to Colts.com’s Kevin Bowen, Rashaan Melvin will start in place of Robinson, which is a smart move. Melvin has been playing well, and Butler is best in the slot. So it sounds like the Colts will play Vontae Davis and Rashaan Melvin on the outside tonight against DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller (who is ACTIVE tonight, which is a bit of a surprise), while using Darius Butler in the nickel. To be honest, the Colts probably won’t see a drop off in play tonight with Melvin replacing Robinson.

Furthermore, Arthur Jones is active tonight and will make his season debut. And according to Bowen, Jones will actually start in place of Zach Kerr, who is week-to-week. That’s a big surprise, as Henry Anderson would be the obvious candidate to do so even though the Colts are still working him back from injury. So it will be a big spot for Jones and it will be interesting to see how he does. The fact that T.Y. McGill is inactive tonight also means that the Colts will really be relying heavily on Jones to produce along their defensive line. So not only is he back; he’ll also have a big role.