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The Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans are set to square off in an AFC South matchup at 1 p.m. ET Jan. 8 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Both of these teams will be looking for a pick-me-up after considerable defeats in their previous games.
Indianapolis scored first but ultimately less than the New York Giants in their matchup last week. 2023 "welcomed" the Colts with a 38-10 beatdown courtesy of New York. Indianapolis was in a tough position by the half, with the score already sitting at 24-3. No one had a standout game offensively for Indianapolis, but WR Michael Pittman led the way with one touchdown. QB Sam Ehlinger ended up with a passer rating of 123.90.
Meanwhile, a win for Houston just wasn't in the stars last week as the team never even grasped a temporary lead. 2023 "welcomed" them with a 31-3 beatdown courtesy of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Texans were down 28-3 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
This next game is expected to be close, with the Colts going off at just a 2.5-point favorite. But bettors beware: they are only 1-5 against the spread when favored.
Indianapolis is now 4-11-1 while Houston sits at 2-13-1. A pair of offensive stats to keep in the back of your head while watching: Indianapolis is stumbling into the contest with the fewest overall offensive touchdowns in the league, having accrued only 22 on the season. The Texans have experienced some struggles of their own as they are worst in the NFL in yards per game, with only 278.8 on average. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
