The Colts head into their first AFC South match-up with a chance to put the

Texans in a very difficult position. A Colts give them a two game cushion over Houston and would put the Texans in an 0-4 hole to start the year. A loss by one or both of the Titans and Jaguars could see Indianapolis move up in the rankings as well. With the New England Patriots on the road Thursday night Youth Kenny Moore Jersey , this is one Frank Reich really needs to win. Here are some of the keys to an important home win.Pester Deshaun WatsonOver the last couple of weeks, the Colts have started to get something going with their pass rush. Kemoko Turay showed signs of production, Margus Hunt continues to dominate, and Darius Leonard’s speed has shown in a big way. Perhaps the best pass rusher of the bunch, Jabaal Sheard, has also be dialing up the pressure and could easily be tied for the team lead in sacks right now if not for penalties.If Andrew Luck has earned a reputations for holding onto the ball too longer in his young career, Deshaun Watson certainly belongs right there with him. They both have a fearless attitude in the pocket and try to extend plays. Sometimes this trait leads to heroics, other times, especially against fast penetrating defenses, it can lead to sacks, turnovers, and negative plays.If the Colts can get into Watson’s head and stay there, it’s unlikely that the Texans backfield will be able to carry Houston to a win.Red Zone EfficiencyThe Indianapolis Colts offense has come into the 2018 season looking sluggish. There are plenty of causes for this, including Andrew Luck being rusty and needing some time to get himself completely back into game shape, and injuries all of the offense. However, Frank Reich and Nick Sirianni must find a way to improve the red zone issues. If the Colts can’t punch the ball into the end zone when they get into the red zone, there will be unnecessarily large weight placed on the Colts defense to continue carrying the team.Andrew Luck’s Decision-Making and AccuracyThere are plenty of questions about Andrew Luck’s arm strength to this point in the season, and we’ve monitored and reported on this questions — including full film breakdowns every week to see how Luck is progressing. Assuming that his throwing shoulder is still healthy and not experiencing a set back, Indianapolis needs him to cut down on the mental mistakes and easy misses.Colts fans are used to seeing Andrew Luck use deep ball accuracy to pick apart opponents and create big plays. To this point Youth Chester Rogers Jersey , a drop by T.Y. Hilton, pass interference calls, and some throws that have been off-target have limited some of the home run plays. Frank Reich’s play-calling style and quick hitting offense certainly play a role in this change as well but the offense will have to start hitting on deep strikes to really open things up.Offensive BalanceThe Colts are a fumble, a few penalties, and a couple of broken red zone plays away from being in a much better position this year. One thing appears to be a key to the offense have more success and keeping Indianapolis in games is offensive balance. When the Colts go away from the ground game, even against top rushing defenses, sledding gets really difficult. It’s possible that Frank Reich and the coaching staff need to stick with Jordan Wilkins a bit more and allow him to get the most out of each carry as he has certainly been the back with the most consistent success in his limited opportunities.Slow Down the Texans Pass RushSomehow, the Texans defense line that includes players like J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney should be one of the more manageable units the young team has faced this season. These players are still premier weapons and highly effective at creating disruption and getting to the quarterback. With Joe Haeg recently placed on injured reserve and Anthony Castonzo set to miss another game, Denzelle Good and Le’Raven Clark will have to continue playing up and doing their best to keep Andrew Luck clean.If Luck has time in the pocket and can get the ground game and quick passing game going, T.Y. Hilton should have a nice day. If Luck is on his back, that isn’t possible.Game Time1 PM ET on Sunday, September 30, 2018LocationLucas Oil Stadium - Indianapolis, INTV ChannelCBS– Spero Dedes (play-by-play), Adam Archuleta (color commentator)RadioWFNI (107.5FM/1070 The Fan) and WLHK (Country 97.1 Hank FM)Referee AssignmentCarl Cheffers“Enemy” BlogBattle Red BlogTwitterFollow @StampedeBlue for the complete Colts coverage.FacebookLike Stampede Blue on Facebook!PodcastApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Art 19 | SB Colts Cast YT Channel Each week, I will look to break down two of the best or worst plays (or situations) from the previous game, but I’ll be listening to Stampede Blue to choose which plays should given a closer look as I hope to explain what happened in greater detail than the broadcasters can. Often you’ll hear “how did that guy get so open?” and I hope to be able to answer that question for Colts fans this season.At the end of the day our Colts weren’t able to come away with a victory on the road in New York but there were some positives to take from the game. The big winner of this week’s poll is one of those positives. Marlon Mack’s third quarter runs from shotgun formations were a sight for sore eyes, but I realized pretty quickly that the formation wasn’t really that important, but we’ll get into that later. The second place poll winner was Andrew Luck’s fourth quarter interception. It was not a positive but when you’re 1-5 and lose to the Jets http://www.thecoltsfootballauthentic.com/t.y.-hilton-jersey-authentic , there are going to be some negatives. We’ll start with Luck’s pick and get to the exciting stuff later. Andrew Luck’s 4th Quarter INT:This angle isn’t the best but you can see a little of what happens. Have you ever been in traffic and seen someone with their turn signal on? You probably thought, oh that guy is trying to get over. Then depending on who you are you made a decision to react accordingly, you either close the gap between you and the guy in front of you because you’re a child that believes anyone in front of you is somehow accomplishing something that you aren’t or you do the mature thing and you give that person space to merge because everyone on the road is just trying to go home and see their family for a few hours before they have to go back out into that God-forsaken parking lot some people call the “interstate”. Either way you have identified a signal of intent and made a decision accordingly. That’s kind of what happens to Andrew Luck on this play. Jets linebacker Darron Lee (#58) has his turn signal on at the snap of this ball. Instead of trying to tell someone he wants to merge he’s showing blitz and because most teams usually rush four most of the time Andrew Luck believed Lee would be coming on that blitz. Instead, Lee faked the blitz and dropped into coverage to intercept the pass. The equivalent of being duped by a little old lady who has had her turn signal on for the past ten miles but you didn’t notice until right before you made room to let her in and then she never comes over. Long story short, Andrew Luck was fooled on this play. He thought he had an open receiver who had a step in coverage and had Lee actually blitzed, then Luck would have been right. Marlon Mack’s 3rd Quarter Runs:When watching the game, I placed too much emphasis on the formation Mack’s successful runs came out of. I noticed something else that was far more important and it’s something that Colts fans should be able to count on moving forward from this Colts team. Also if you haven’t done it, go read Zach Hicks breakdown of Marlon Mack’s game last week. Zach was kind enough to let me use some of his gifs for this story, as we were largely discussing the same plays, though his focus was on Marlon Mack and I want to focus on a different aspect. I’m going to go ahead and show you four gifs in a row and I’m not going to offer any commentary until the end. Instead, see if you notice anything about the runs, focus on the basics, don’t overthink it. Did you notice anything?I did. I noticed that every one of these runs was designed to go to the left side of the line. It is true that Mack’s explosiveness helped make these plays highly successful but the biggest difference between week six and the five games before it, was the play of the left tackle. Anthony Castonzo is a huge reason the Colts were able to find success on the ground in the third quarter unlike any they had been able to have all year.All off season I was excited and hopeful to watch Castonzo line up next to Quenton Nelson and Ryan Kelly. I really thought those three guys were talented enough to have a huge impact on games. It turns out we had to wait five weeks to see it happen, but hopefully we get to watch these three work together to move people for the next ten weeks and beyond, because for as well as Marlon Mack played, reading blocks and anticipating opening holes, this offensive line is just getting started.