Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 11/19/19: Colts prepare for must-win game on short week

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

On today's episode, George Bremer of The Herald Bulletin is back to discuss his thoughts on the Colts' win before analyzing their upcoming matchup for the AFC South lead.Grover Stewart and Justin Houston have helped revive a Colts defensive line that was struggling badly throughout September. Stewart has helped qualm concerns about the nose tackle position, for now. Meanwhile, Houston is back to terrorizing offensive tackles at high rates.How does Marlon Mack's injury impact the Colts? Also, will T.Y. Hilton return this week? We go over all of this, plus much more, as we recap Sunday before diving knee deep into the biggest game of the 2019-20 season for Indianapolis against Deshaun Watson's Texans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, everybody. Welcome back into Locked on Colts, probably Locked on Podcast Network. Today's our host, Evan Sutter and Jim Byer, our weekly guest on the show, George Bremer, the Harold Bulletin's beat writer for the Annapolis Colts. How are you doing, George? Good. How are you doing? Doing great. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate the time, as always. And we're going to talk a little about the game on Sunday, George. Of course, 33-13 win for the Colts, their first dominant win of the season. But the Texans come into town, or excuse me, the Colts are going to go to Houston in about 48 hours from now.

So it's definitely going to be a fun episode talking about both those things with you, George. But let's start off here with the 33-13 win for the Colts because I feel like I want to start off with the defense for a second, George, because this is now the sixth straight week where the defense, I mean, played really well. If you take out the turnovers of Brian Ware in Pittsburgh, this defense only like 15 points per game the last six weeks. What's still at the most to you about the performance on Sunday by the defense and also just the defense themselves over the last six or so weeks? Yeah, they really come together. You know, I think they're learning to play together.

And I think the most amazing part of it really is that they've done this while having key guys out with injuries every week. I mean, Pierre Desir hasn't played three or four weeks now straight. They played a stretch there without Malik Hooker. They played a stretch there at the very beginning of this without Darius Leonard. It's really incredible to see the way that they've been able to overcome that. I think they missed Kenny Moore for a game. They just keep at it. They're playing very good team defense. I don't think there's any coincidence that this stretch coincides with Justin Houston really coming alive. He's got a sack in each of those six games.

Defensive front's been more active as a result. It's all just finally working the way this defense is designed to work, getting pressure on the quarterback, playing tighter man coverage in the secondary, and just getting stops and getting off the field. And you know things are going really well when Frank Reich, who generally, you know, he lets Matt Iberflues do his thing. And we all know that Reich's more involved on the offensive side. But when he's heaping praise on the defense,

as he did today during his presser, I think that's a really good sign of how well the team's playing. Yeah, that's for sure. And the way this defense is playing is certainly a good sign for what's coming in the future for the Colts team. It's a big test on Thursday against Deshaun Watson. But I wanted to ask you, George, not only about Justin Houston, but Grover Stewart as well.

I saw Zach Hicks, our weekly contributor here on the podcast. He brought up a really interesting stat yesterday that the Colts rushed defense before Grover Stewart replaced Marcus Hunt. He was allowing 130 rushing yards per game. Ever since Grover Stewart replaced Marcus Hunt, it's down to about 75 per game. What have you noticed about Grover Stewart? And maybe he's kind of calming concerns a little about the defense tackle position long-term, George,

because I feel like Grover Stewart and Stewart is really coming along here. Yeah, he's another one of those guys. You know, we talk about him a lot throughout the course of the last three seasons. He's another one of those guys that Chris Ballard has really been high on for a while. You know, the moment that he drafted him, he's been talking about how athletic Stewart is, you know, how much he can do for a guy his size. And we started to

see some of that in training camp this year. You really, it felt like almost every practice during training camp, the two guys that were making plays were Denico Autry and Grover Stewart. And then it kind of slowed down at the start of the regular season. And we thought, well, maybe that's just one of those training camp mirages. You certainly get a few of those every year. But he really has come back with a vengeance, really emerged as that athletic run stopper in the middle of this defense. I think that's something they really were missing.

The thing about Grover is, yeah, he's big enough to beast out and take on those blocks the way he needs to and be a major force in the running game. But he's also shown that he's athletic enough to stay on the field and on third down if he needs to. And that's something they really look for in this defense. I think in a season where Marcus Hunt has regressed a little bit, where Tyquan Lewis hasn't been able to live up to his potential yet, I think it's really important that they've gotten the play that they've gotten from Grover

Stewart. And it's certainly a key element of what this defense is doing. Yeah, that's for sure. And I think Justin Houston as well, another key contributor to that defense the last six weeks. He has seven sacks over that period. He's already closed his tackles for loss from last season in 10 games so far. George also, his pressures, he already has more in 10 games so far George also his um his

pressures he already has more in 16 games in 10 games he did in 16 games last for the Chiefs I feel like Houston's resurgence so far is a huge thing for this defense and you look at the numbers there like I mentioned he's been a monster the last six weeks what do you think that is about George maybe it was just going to Kansas City and getting that that bad blood kind of for him like you should have kept me there and he's kind of kept that fire in his stomach throughout this entire run here. I don't know what it is, but Justin Houston looks like an elite passer for right now for the last six weeks.

Yeah, I think, you know, going to Kansas City didn't hurt. I think that definitely did get things kind of fired up inside of him, and that's where it started. There's no question about that. But I think also just getting his feet underneath him, you know, it's easy to forget that it was a new defense for him, a new town, new teammates. There was a lot for him to kind of adjust to, even though he's a veteran guy and he's seen a lot. It was a big change this year for him. And I think he's not only gotten comfortable on the field,

as we've seen, but he's become more comfortable as a leader. He's been breaking down the huddle, the pregame huddle, the last few weeks. It's just become very apparent that this is a guy who is comfortable in his skin now, on and off the field in Indianapolis. And I think the rest of defense has been feeding off of him. When he gets hot the way that he has, you know, opposing offenses have to pay a lot of attention to him. And much like T.Y. Hilton does on the offensive side of the ball, Justin Houston is opening up things for other playmakers on defense.

Yeah, and another defensive player I want to hang on with you, George, before we dive into the Jaguars game a little bit is Kenny Moore because he had a big game against Jax. We'll talk about that for a second here because Kenny Moore, he's definitely, I think, earned his keep as far as that game on Sunday showed you why he's the highest-paid slot corner in the NFL. He's so versatile. I think that's the thing about Kenny you know people will every now and again see something that happens in coverage and and complain but that's that's really nitpicking

and if you want to go and find one play here and there I'm sure you can but I don't know how many corners in the league can go out blitz the way he does first and foremost make such a big impact that part of the game that's something he's done really well against Houston in the past too so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out on Thursday but you know he got after Nick Foles in in the blitz game on Thursday or on Sunday he also had a big open field tackle for a third down stop he broke up another pass on a fourth down and and that's Kenny Moore's game. He can go and get physical, stick his nose in there,

make plays in the open field, also be a good cover guy, also be a good blitzer, and also help in the run game if he needs to. So I don't know. There's probably only a handful of corners in the league who you can say that about. Yeah, I would certainly agree with you there. He's one of the more versatile corners in the league, getting paid like that too, because he certainly showed, like I mentioned on Sunday,

that he is worth that fine penny. But let me throw it your way, George, about this game too, because the 3-3-13 blowout was the first time the Colts have had a chance to really close the game on their own footing, so to say, as far as not having a one possession game at the end there. How nice was it from your point of view having to cover on a deadline, so to say, and also just, it seems like also this Colts team finally gets their, their win and kind of maybe snaps them back into it. Yeah, I think it did kind of snap them back into it.

Give them a little bit of energy. It was nice to kind of not be waiting right down to the, to the wire. I know some of the TV people got to leave the press box before the game was over for the first time this year, because they didn't have to worry about what was going to happen the final five or six minutes uh that was big big help to them but I think really just from the team standpoint everything finally clicked and I think that's the important thing they had some mistakes there's no doubt

Mark Lewinsky saved a big one we talked about a lot of plays in that game really one of the biggest was when uh Jacoby had the strip sack and Glowinski fell on the ball and recovered it in the midst of about three or four Jaguars. Game was 10 to 7 at that point early in third quarter, I think. So, you know, there's a situation there where Jacksonville could have gotten at least a tie, maybe taken a lead. And we've seen that happen the last couple of weeks and turn the game around. Glowinski saves them there and then they play pretty much error-free football the rest of the way on both sides, and that's what they've been waiting for. You know, I think they've been their own worst enemy throughout the season.

Nobody really doubts that. We've seen what the turnovers have done and the losses to the Steelers and the Dolphins in particular. We've seen the defensive breakdowns here and there, you know, being in the wrong place against Oakland, giving up the big run. You've just seen less of that on the defensive side in the last few weeks. The offense finally caught up on Thursday. That's what they need.

You know, protect the football. Don't give up the big explosive plays. That's this team's M.O., and I think they finally got back to their identity. I mean, the 264 yards rushing is crazy, but it's the fourth time they've gone over 200 yards on the ground since Frank Wright got here as head coach. That's who they want to be. You're not going to get 200 yards every week, obviously.

But they want to impose their will, take away the other team's will to play the game. And I think on Sunday you saw that for the first time all year. Yeah, 264 rushing yards, George. I'm glad you brought that because that was my next point I wanted to hit on with you. Just how jarring was it? Maybe not so jarring because I think the Kansas City game was when it was quite jarring. I mean, wow, let's say dominant rush performance.

But they had more rushing yards in this game than they did in the Kansas City, 264 rushing yards. Jonathan Williams is a huge one. We're going to hit on him in just a second. But the overall rushing attack, George, in this one was quite fairly just simply dominant. Yeah. You know, and I think a lot of it had to do with the offensive line.

So the offensive line got a little angry, Quentin Nelson in particular. And Frank Reich said after the game, he saw something in Quentin's eyes this week he doesn't know what it was uh there was a little extra something there uh even in preparation and you saw it during the game you know he was putting people on their back pretty regularly and that I think the offensive line feeds off that uh you know when Ryan Kelly sees that when Anthony Sanzo sees that Mark Lewinsky Lewinsky sees that, fires them up. They go and get their guy, too. And the next thing you know, the Colts are really running the ball at will.

There were some breakdowns in pass protection. That's going to happen against Jacksonville. You know that. That's the Jaguars' game. And so I think it was critical that they ran the ball the way they did because, you know, I think Jacoby still got sacked three times. If they hadn't dropped back and throw and make that the centerpiece of the game plan on Sunday,

probably would have been a different outcome. Yeah, as far as – let me ask you, George, before we dive into the running game a little bit more. Was the Quentin Nelson celebration that was not? Unfortunately, that fullback die, was it the best TD celebration that you've ever seen? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, there's no question about that. Yeah, the keg stand was certainly a fun one,

but unfortunately it didn't count as he was stopped at the goal line, Quentin Nelson. But the rushing attack itself, George, Jonathan Williams was the sleeper of this game and really broke out into the scene, not really playing much at all as a Colt. Then he comes in and once Marlon Mack gets hurt, he has a monster game. He's going to be brought up on pretty heavily on Thursday. We can dive into Marlon Mack's injury as well here for 1-2, George.

What was your thoughts on Jonathan Williams on Sunday? And also, how does this Marlon Mack injury impact not only the offense but also running backs like Williams himself? Yeah, well, I mean, the Mack injury is big for this team. I mean, you look at the numbers recently, 1-5 without him. I think the rushing yards per game go from 120 down to 76. That's a pretty incredible drop. But obviously, Jonathan Williams wasn't a part of that before. The offensive line really hadn't found its footing during most of that time either. So

there are some different circumstances in some of the other games that Mack has missed, but it's definitely a challenge for this team. I think Jonathan Williams impressed me with just how much versatility he showed. There was some elusiveness there. He's got some wiggle to him, but he also showed some power. Smart enough to understand there were only two healthy running backs, got down a couple times and saved himself an extra hit. Good vision. All the things that you want to see from a running back were there, But now, you know, the question always, when you see a breakout performance like that is,

what are you going to do the next week? And now the role becomes much bigger for him. I would assume the way Frank Reich was talking, that he and Jordan Wilkins will split the carries to some extent, and that Naheem Hines will probably mostly stay in his third down role. And it'll be interesting to see how that plays out, because I think they feel like they have the pieces in the running game to still go out and be successful.

But it's one thing to say that and to prepare that way. It's another thing to actually go out and put it on the field. Hypothetically speaking, George, Marlon Mack, his fractured hand, if we're using Paris Campbell's time, so you're probably about a three- or four-week injury, I'd imagine. What do you think this will be? Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see. It's a little bit different for a running back.

I mean, obviously, wide receiver, he's got to have absolute confidence in that to catch the ball. With Marlon, it's going to be more ball protection. You know, once they feel like he can hold it and not fumble, he could get back a little bit quicker. And I'll tell you, I was surprised to see Paris Campbell as a limited participant this week. It'll be interesting to see what his game status is

when it gets announced tomorrow. Yeah, it'd be really good to get Paris Campbell in there because that'd be a lot quicker than we expect. I think the Titans game is probably his benchmark for when he should be returning it, if it's not on Thursday. But as far as the Mac injury, do you expect this Colts team to be more on Jacoby Brissett's shoulders or his arm over the next two or three weeks? Or do you think it's going to be stick to the Mac injury, do you expect this Colts team to be more on Jacoby Brissett's shoulders or his arm over the next two or three weeks,

or do you think it's going to be stick to the formula here, ground and pound, and see what happens? I think they're going to stick to the formula for the most part because that's sort of – that's what we've seen from Frank Reich before. You know, I don't think that they – they didn't really make a lot of changes for Brian Hoyer for better or worse. I don't think they're going to make a lot of changes for the running backs now either. I think that the thing about that is it's always

game plan specific. For as great as that Jacksonville defensive front is, and as talented as it is, and as versatile as it is, they've not done a good job of stopping the run this season. So I think it was kind of predictable that the Colts were going to go and try to do that. The interesting thing about it is Miami was in the same boat and the Colts couldn't get it going against the Dolphins and it led to the problems they had in the passing game uh so you know execution game plan is one thing execution is another another piece of that I I'm very intrigued to see how Houston approaches things on Thursday. Because most teams this year, no secret, have gone up, sold out to stop the run.

Houston did it the first time around. But Jacoby obviously really burned them for doing that. Had 300 yards, five touchdowns, the whole bit in that game. Now you wonder, will the Texans look at this, see what's still a thin receiving core, decide to go ahead and sell out for the run again? Or will they see Max absence and try to do more to stop Jacoby Brissett? I think it'll be interesting to see how that chess game plays out

between that Texans defense and Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni's offense. Treat yourself to the meal you deserve, and have your favorite restaurants come to you at DoorDash. Right now, or listen to get $5 off their first order at $15 or more, when you download the DoorDash app and enter a promo code LOCKEDON, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N. Again, that's promo code LOCKEDON. And if you're listening on the go, you can visit the DoorDash app right now

and find all the other offers from LockedOn sponsors as well at LockedOnPodcast.com slash offers. But again, the promo code for DoorDash if you want to use it, listeners, is LOCKEDON. L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N. A couple more notes in the game from Sunday, George, before we dive into a Thursday game. And the next one for me on the list is Jacoby Brissett,

who I think he managed the game well on Sunday. He didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He attempted a couple deep balls, which is nice to see. But he made that one play near the end zone there where he avoided Calais Campbell. He made him kind of juke out of his shoes for a second, and he found Marcus Johnson in the end zone again. I just feel like those kind of plays,

maybe subtle plays, George, where not the average quarterback can do that, but Jacoby can. Yeah, I think that touchdown pass, if that had been Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, it would be on repeat on every NFL highlight show this week. That was as good a play as you're going to see

from a quarterback in that situation. And I think that play was really important because it's a 10-7 game there. If the Jaguars get the stop, sure, they're pinned back. But how much confidence does that give that defense, you know, to come out, start a second half, get that stop, keep it a three-point game? Instead, Jacoby makes the play. It's a dagger.

It becomes a two-possession game. And things kind of snowballed from there but I thought there were a couple other plays too that he made way back in the in the first quarter after the Jaguars got the seven to nothing lead he had two big third down bullets that he threw one two actually the one was second down uh to Zach Paschal and then a third down completion to Chester Rogers to keep that first scoring drive alive. And both of those were, you know, a little bit deeper than we've seen him go recently, more in the intermediate range. Maybe even the one to Paschal might even be considered deep.

And those were, I think, incredibly big plays early in the game that helped keep the Jaguars from completely stacking that box the way Denver did, the way Pittsburgh did. Those are important plays, and I think they're easily forgotten because they did happen so early in the game. So yeah, I think overall, it wasn't a remarkable day for Jacoby Brissett, but I think he had great control of the offense, and he made the plays he had to make, which I think right now is the most important thing for the Colts from the quarterback position. Absolutely, George.

I'm glad you brought that point up there because I feel like those plays that Jacoby made, Brian Hoyer wouldn't have made if he was still starting at quarterback. But let's dive in now to the Houston game. Before we do so, George, I just want to get – you were talking to Marcus Johnson in the locker room today, kind of the sleeper start from Sunday, going straight from the crowd squad, kind of taking Deion Kane's spot and really putting up Deion Kane's numbers

all in one game, four catches for, I believe it's 53 yards. What was the kind of outing that you, from Marcus Johnson on Sunday? And what was the overall thoughts from the game plan involving Johnson? Yeah. You know, I thought Marcus Johnson is an interesting guy anyway, because we know that Frank Reich has a lot of faith in him. You know, Frank Reich looks at Marcus Johnson as a great route runner, which he is, and is a guy with great potential. They were together in Philadelphia.

Reich was clearly important in bringing him here last year. And Johnson was breaking out when he got that foot injury. And that was a really tough situation for him because he said, look, all summer and into training camp even, he felt like he was not himself. It was one thing to be healed physically. It was another thing to get back into receiver shape, you know, to be able to play the game the way that he wanted to, which I think is some of the same thing that we were seeing from Deion Kane, to be honest, just trying to get back from an injury that doesn't allow you

to make the cuts as quickly as you want to, to play the game the same way you had before. And then you've got to get that confidence back in yourself. And he talked about that was a little bit of a struggle. But he's been able to do that. And I think the really interesting thing is, look, he got a concussion in week four of the preseason. And that really complicated the roster

because he probably wasn't going to make 53 man no matter what but he would have been on the practice squad he would have been available earlier to come up when you had some struggle you know as early as week two really when when uh Devin Funches broke his clavicle you would you could have seen him get involved much sooner but that concussion made him go on the IR that's the way the rules are set during the preseason. And at that point, you have to get an injury settlement. Once you reach the injury settlement, it's three weeks before you can re-sign with your own team.

I think the really important thing about Marcus Johnson is he stayed in Indianapolis that whole time. And he told me today he had some offers from some other teams, but they were all pretty much equal to what he was getting from the Colts. And so he decided, look, the head coach believes in me here. I know the offense here. I'm comfortable here. I'm going to stay in Indianapolis and it's paid off for him and for the team now. So I think that's a really big kind of behind the scenes thing. This is a guy we've seen the Colts struggle with man coverage against Miami against Pittsburgh this is a guy who runs really good routes really detail-oriented receiver and I

think in these last five six games of the year he could have a similar impact to what Dontrell Inman had a year ago yeah I was just gonna say George I feel like this could be like a new Dontrell Inman for the last home stretch of the season because like you mentioned Johnson a very good route runner kind of underrated in that aspect and he really showed on Sunday that he deserves playing time moving forward but let's dive into the Texans game here George six and four Texans versus six and four Colts for the AFC South lead is it fair to say George that the winner of this game especially the Colts here if they beat the Texans they're gonna have a two-game lead over Houston two-game two-game leader everyone else in the AFC South they win

against Tennessee the week after that I really feel like if the Colts win this one, they can not cruise to the finish here, but they have a chance to really – unless it is three out of four games, they have a really good chance to win the division if they win. This is – yeah, this is as important a regular season game as you can play. I mean, outside of that week 17 game with Tennessee last year where the playoff spot was directly on the line, this is as big as they come in the regular season.

If the Colts win, as you said, it's basically a two-game lead because you're going to have a tiebreaker, and you end up in a situation where you can probably go three and two down that final stretch and still have a chance because if you go three and two, Houston's going to have to beat New England to overtake you, which, you know, who knows how likely that is, but it's not something anybody wants to lean on going into the stretch run of any season.

And then if you lose it, in all likelihood, you're going to lose the tiebreaker to the Texans. They'd be a game behind in the standings, and the division records would be tied at that point. I think it would be tough for the Colts to make up that ground over the last few games. They're going to need the Texans to fall apart at that point. It's an incredibly big swing I think somebody earlier today said the playoff chances go somewhere

from like 81 percent with a win down to like 33 percent with a loss that's how big this game is let me ask you this George how big of a game this is and let me just get your overall thoughts on Thursday night football itself because I feel like this big of a game on a short week and with all the injuries on both sides here it's kind of disappointing that we're not going to see both teams here at full strength for such an important game and especially on a short week too thursday night football is awful you know i just be straight up with that i i get why the league does it from tv standpoint i know that the ratings are still good uh i understand all the the the extracurricular kind of things that go into it, but what they're asking these players to do,

especially this late in the season, bad enough early in the year, but especially this late in the season, what you're asking from these players is really incredible. And, yeah, both teams are going to be shorthanded to some degree. We'll see how all that plays out because one of the things about Thursday night games is that the practice report report the injury report goes right up to kickoff because you just don't know uh yeah and especially hard on the road team i'm not making excuses for the colts ahead of time but it just traditionally is especially hard on the road team because on top of everything else

the colts got to get on an airplane and go down to Houston tomorrow. It's a really difficult situation, and it's really something that I think if the league goes to a 17-game schedule, which is we all know the rumors, they really need to add a bye week before the Thursday night games if they're going to continue to play on Thursday night. Yeah, I think that makes an awful lot of sense because this kind of turnaround this fast, especially for both teams coming off really big games, is really kind of disappointing because, like I mentioned, not seeing both these teams at full strength for such an important game,

I feel like is not the right way to do it. But, of course, the NFL has to make their money in some way, somehow, and this is definitely how you do it here for just such a big game on Thursday for the Colts versus the Texans. But let me ask you, George, about T.Y. Hilton because we're going to hit on some injuries here for a second. What's the latest on T.Y. Hilton that you're hearing? Do you think he's going to play Thursday?

Yeah, you know, he was really up for it today. Like I said, there's four boxes he has to check off. He's like two of them are all checked off. If the other two get checked off, he will play on Sunday – Thursday. If they don't, if it's three out of four, it's not going to happen. He said the last two boxes are just getting clearance from the doctors and the trainers right now and from Frank Reich and Chris Ballard. But, you know, he made the point that he feels good and he wants to play,

but he's also listening to everybody else because he doesn't want to rush it. He doesn't want to end up making it worse. It was a scary moment when the injury happened in practice. He initially thought he was done for the year. So he's being careful. He's being smart. If everything falls in line, he will play on Thursday. If it doesn't, he won't.

And so I think that's another one that's going to go right up to kickoff at, what is it, 820 on Thursday night. If you had to lean somewhere right now, George, where would you lean as far as T.Y. playing Thursday night? Because I feel like especially without Marlon Mack out there, who knows what's going to happen with Jonathan Williams and Jordan Wilkins. I feel like this team and this offense just needs a spark. I feel like T.Y. is the exact kind of guy for that.

Yeah, I think if there's any chance possible, he's going to play. You know, really, it comes down to that medical part of it. Because I think if you're Frank Reich, you know that he's put his trust in T.Y. before. I know Chris Ballard's talked before about how quick T.Y. heals and how impressive he's been in that regard. So I really think that it comes down to that medical situation the doctors and the trainers feel like it's that pass out of level where he can play or not and I really think that's that's what it's going to come down to because definitely from TY standpoint even just being out there even just being in uniform lining up the formation

will have such a big impact on that game. And also, I'm looking at the injury report right now, George. Outside of the names we already listed so far on the show, Eric Ebron, Marlon Mack, like I mentioned, is out. Eric Ebron with his ankle. Shaq Taylor with an ankle. Rocky Haseem with an ankle. Kari Willis has ever been in a relative concussion as well.

Who knows what happens to Paris Campbell, Pierre Desir. But this injury report is very long, very lengthy. Do you expect any of those guys that we listed there to play on Sunday outside, maybe T.Y.? Yeah, you know, we'll see what happens with T.Y. I don't know about Rock. He's an interesting one, hasn't practiced. But you've got to remember, too, practice this week is really just a walkthrough.

So I don't know how much you really want to put into whether they practice or not. They're really taking it easy on everybody this week because they know they come off, in addition to it being a short week, they're coming off an incredibly physical game against Jacksonville. You're just trying to get everybody's body the best you can be. So, yeah, I think there will be guys on that report who play. But to sit down and go individually, it's really so hard to tell because everybody who can play, it's one of those games where if you're close,

then they're probably going to lean towards playing. Obviously, the game's importance is tremendous, and they're well aware of that. So if somebody's out tomorrow night, it's going to be because they just couldn't get it done in a safe manner. Yeah, that's a good point, Brent, there. There's a lot of guys in the report, but it's a short week here. So some of the guys that probably could have gone Sunday might not be able to go on Thursday.

But let's dive in, George, to the game here. And Deshaun Watson, definitely the Colts kind of limited him. Last time I played, he had his plays, of course. But in Houston, I feel like it might be a different momentum boost here. I know there's no J.J. Watt, but Deshaun Watson at home is the scariest side. Yeah, he's one of the stars of this league. He's in the MVP conversation, or at least on the fringe of it, for a reason. The Colts have done a pretty good job with him.

I think the first time they played him last year, he really put up some big numbers. But after that, he's had his moments, but he really hasn't taken over a game yet. I think that's probably number one on the list of priorities this week is making sure that Deshaun Watson doesn't win the game single-handedly. How do you do that? Well, that's why Darius Leonard and Bobby Okereke were drafted. That's what Chris Ballard was thinking. He looked at the division at the time. Blake Bortles had more athleticism than I think he's given credit for. Mariota,

we know he can run around. And then especially Deshaun Watson. You want to be able to contain those quarterbacks, not let them extend plays to the best of your ability. And I think the difference between Watson and Mahomes, Mahomes is going to extend the play and throw the ball 70 yards down the field and throw it across his body and be as accurate as anybody in the league. Watson can do a little bit of that too, but I think Watson's more likely to pull the ball down and run and make plays that way too with his legs. So just containing him both in extending plays and making plays with his legs, that's a critical thing. A lot of it's going to fall on those linebackers.

And I think they're looking forward to the challenge again this week. Yeah, I'm expecting a similar game plan for the defense on Thursday from what we saw in Indianapolis the first meeting for the Texans and the Colts. But the offensive side of things, no Marlon Mack, possibly no T.Y. Hilton. What do you expect that playing to be on Thursday against this Texas defense? The secondary is really banged up. Lonnie Johnson got cut off the field on Sunday, so another quarterback is hurt for the Texans,

along with another safety on Sunday too. So their secondary is really beat up. Do you expect Jacoby to test that secondary again, or do you expect another kind of run-the-damn-ball kind of game with Jonathan Williams and Jordan Wilkins instead? Yeah, I think they always want to establish the run first. I think you'll see them at least try to do that it'll be interesting to see how Houston responds to you know the Colts situation so much is going to depend on whether T.Y. Hilton's there as well too I think T.Y. plays you'll see him try to throw the ball a little bit more because they'll think

that there is a chance to take advantage of that secondary. If he doesn't, they're going to want to establish that run and get things going. But that's one area they failed pretty badly the first time around. They could really not get the running game going. Adobe had to do it with his arm. And I think if you're the Texans, I mean, if I'm Romeo Cornell and I'm looking at the way the Colts are banged up at receiver, I think I'm going to try that same strategy again. I know it backfired last time, and they obviously don't have J.J. Watt this time

who was able, especially in the second half, to cause some trouble and get after Jacoby, get some hits and some sacks and some things that limited him. So, you know, there's reasons for the Texans to go away from it, but I still think if I'm Romeo Cornell and I look at this team right now, I think my best chance is to load up on the run again, take that away, and make Jacoby Brissett win with these wide receivers. Now, George, before we get to your prediction here, what are your three keys to this game?

Because as we know, we talk about throughout the show, this game is the definition of a must-win. This is the game of the year. It's essentially a playoff game for all intents and purposes. It starts with Deshaun Watson. We just talked about that. Do the best job you can. Contain him to whatever level that's possible.

Don't let those big plays out. You know, if he extends a play, makes a big play through the air, that's going to be a problem. If he keeps the drive alive with his legs, that's going to be a problem. It's going to happen a time or two, but you want to limit that as much as you can. That going to be number one i think on the list number two is protect the football we talked about this last week we talked about it the week before you go back to pittsburgh game in the miami game the number one reason they lost those games turn

points that those led to uh you protect the football in those games you're probably eight and two right now no matter who's playing but they they didn't, and it cost them dearly. I think that's another – you look at these Thursday night games, they're sloppy. More of them are lost than won. That's another situation that's going to be critical on Sunday. Don't – and without J.J. Watt in there, the challenge is not quite as great as it was because, you know,

he's terrific at getting in there, knocking the ball loose. But it's not like Whitney Merciless can't it was because you know he's he's terrific at getting in there knocking the ball loose but it's not like whitley merciless can't do that you know so you you've got to absolutely protect the football don't throw interceptions which probably done a great job of doing that throughout the year don't fumble which he's had a little more trouble with uh lately those are the keys you know i i think protect that football. Don't give the Texans anything extra in that game. And then I think number three is be smart on offense, handle that crowd noise, and avoid those pre-snap penalties. They did a great job of that in Kansas City.

In Pittsburgh, not so much. I don't know how many drives there were stalled because of false starts. You know, little silly before the snap penalties that cost this team yardage. That's something that can't happen again on Sunday. I mean, again, these games are sloppy. They're tight. You go out there, you turn the ball over, you go out there,

and you give up yards and penalties, you're asking for defeat. So, to me, those are three keys. Contain Deshaun Watson, protect the football, and avoid those pre-snap penalties. Yeah, good stuff there, George. And before I let you go, what is your prediction for this one? Because I'm actually going to go with a Texans win here. I just don't know if I should go against Deshaun Watson right now.

23-20 is my score, especially with how the Colts are so beat up right now. I'm going to go a close Colts loss here, 23-20. What say you, George? Yeah, I can't say that you're wrong. You know, Deshaun Watson is amazing. He's been playing great. I think he's going to be mad with the way he played on Sunday against Baltimore. I think the Texans are going to be mad knowing they lost the last two

at home to this Colts team. I think it's going to be a fired-up Houston team all the way around. But you know what? I feel like the Colts have the Texans' numbers. I don't know why, but recently they've been able to win these big games against Houston three in a row. I think they're going to find a way, especially, and this is assuming that T.Y. Hilton plays. I've got the same score, which is ironic. I got 23-20, but in favor of the Colts. So I think that kind of,

you put our two predictions together, I think it tells you how close this game is likely to be. Yeah, it's going to be a super fun one Thursday. And if you guys haven't already, follow George on Twitter, at GMBremmer. Read his work over at the Herald Bulletin, as always. George, thanks again. Appreciate the time. No problem.

Thanks a lot.