Special Teams - Key to the Game

With the talk of the Colts offense,the Texans missing AJ(who is going to step up?),and if Petey can compete with the Colts twin WR's, I really believe that this game is going to come down to who performs better on Special Teams.

It would be nice if JJ comes out this week and takes one to the house.

I feel so much better having Turk back there booming the punts.

JMO but this will be the key to the game.

I agree. To win this game, I think special teams needs to put some points on the board for us. Whether by taking one (or two) to the house or getting the offense into great scoring position.

The Colts are very aware of what Mathis can do, but I agree that Jacoby has to step up in this game. This is, IMO, the perfect situation for him to make a big statement.

In my opinion there isn't a key to this game. I think our entire team has to play their best, bring their A game, in order for us to beat the Colts.

Offense- The OL must give time for Schaub to throw, and make some holes for Green/Dayne/Gado to run and take time off the clock. Schaub needs to make good decisions, he won't be forcing throws like he has to AJ that resulted in 1 INT, almost 2. He'll need to avoid the rush and keep drives alive by throwing short passes to get the 1st downs. All our WR's must step up their game and hang onto the ball. They need to be aware of the 1st down marker and get to it. They gotta keep the drives going b/c thats what keeps Peyton off the field. our RB's need to take what our OL gives them. We gotta win TOP for two reasons. (1) keep the colts offense off the field and (2) keep our defense as rested as possible, they will be facing the 2nd most potent offense in the league and cannot be tired the whole game.

Defense- our front 4 have to get a good pass rush and make peyton hurry as much as possible. PM is going to find the open guys, but let's make them be the short routes and not Harrison burning Faggins/Brown for 2 td's...don't let their wr's have all day to find the creases. Our front 4 must also be able to stop the run while rushing peyton..this will allow our LB's to be in some short coverage, not to mention we might be playing nickle and dime a lot...we can't rely on 3 LB's to stop the run every down.

Special Teams- Kris Brown needs to be 100% on FG's and extra points. Turk needs to keep booming those long punts and pinning them inside the 10 yd line. We must have good coverage on ST so jacoby and mathis are able to do what they do. I havn't been impressed so far this season because creating enough room for jacoby to make a play.

Coaching- I think we're going to see some creativity out of Kubiak this game. Playcalling is going to be crucial. Indianapolis knows we want to run the ball on them and are going to have that gameplanned, Bob Sanders is going to be playing the run untill we prove our wr's are up to the task. I see a lot of short passes to give us 3rd and short as well as keeping the clock moving.

I think we need to have our best game of Texan existence in all areas of the game in order to win. i don't think only one is going to get us there like it did last year. This is a better Indy team than last year much to my surprise..I thought they wouldn't be as good.

Ole Miss Texan said:

I think we need to have our best game of Texan existence in all areas of the game in order to win. i don't think only one is going to get us there like it did last year. This is a better Indy team than last year much to my surprise..I thought they wouldn't be as good.

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I am still not entirely sold on the idea that this Indy team is any better than last year. They destroyed the most overrated team in the NFL (Saints), and then proceeded to barely pull off a win against the Titans. From what I have seen, we can beat them in similar fashion to our victory last year. I doubt that the game will unfold like that, though.

Sanders is making waves and I think that may be one of the only improvements (a huge one as it may be).

Sanders is good, but he isn't as dominant as people are giving him credit. He makes an attrocious run defense into an average run defense.

But, an average defense coupled with their offense is still the best team in teh NFL imo. I wasnt expecting them to get better on D

gtexan02 said:

Sanders is good, but he isn't as dominant as people are giving him credit. He makes an attrocious run defense into an average run defense.

But, an average defense coupled with their offense is still the best team in teh NFL imo. I wasnt expecting them to get better on D

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No way. I prefer the Patriots godlike defense paired with Tom Brady and the 10,000 receivers they signed this off-season.

I am dead serious when I say they will go undefeated.

I compare the Colts vs. the Titans, kind of like the Texans and the Jags.

For some reason we have their number. The first 4 years of our existence they were a much better team...even last year we weren't THAT much better. We just match up very well against the Jags and kick their rear.

I view the titans/colts similarly. I guess the match up against each other well but I don't know why. Both games last year were very very close. Indy won by 1, Ten won by 3. This season Indy won by 2.

If it were the browns, raiders, etc that gave Indy a hard time I would question them...but Tennessee has played them very well and are a division rival.

I think we may have one of the best Special Teams unit in the NFL right now...forcing fumbles and giving us great field position.

I just know they are going to perform. Turk has been great, Mathis and Jacoby will get theirs (Jacoby just had to beat one guy last week) still 14 games left for them to return a few.