Ben Solak isn’t letting a pair of banged-up offenses scare him away from Sunday’s game in Indianapolis. The ESPN analyst gave the Colts’ AFC South clash with the Texans a 7.9 out of 10 on his weekly watchability scale, even with wide receiver Alec Pierce on injured reserve.
“Two winless AFC South teams fighting for their season in Week 3? Kind of electric!” Solak wrote. “The lack of Pierce is huge in this game — he has been a Texans killer for the Colts in recent contests. Hopefully Collins plays, or this might just be a grindy, dusty game. Still, the stakes make it must-see TV.”
Colts can’t afford to fall to 0-3
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Solak didn’t get his wish on Collins. Houston ruled out its top receiver for a second straight week with a hamstring injury, and the Texans have struggled against man coverage without him. C.J. Stroud went 8 of 20 for 102 yards against it in the Week 2 loss, per ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime.
That doesn’t mean Indianapolis gets an easy afternoon. The Colts own an NFL-worst minus-16 explosive-play differential, according to ESPN’s Stephen Holder, and a defense that has missed 28 tackles through two games has been a big part of it. Shane Steichen didn’t sugarcoat it this week. “We’ve got to tackle better. I think we had a ton of missed tackles last week, last couple weeks, and those are leading to explosive plays, especially in the run game,” the Colts coach told reporters Thursday.
Losing Pierce stings just as much on offense. He aggravated his surgically repaired left heel in the overtime loss to Kansas City, and the Colts signed Darius Slayton to add a downfield option. Josh Downs, who figures to soak up more of the targets, kept his outlook simple. “It’s definitely mandatory to win this weekend,” Downs said.
History isn’t kind to teams in this spot. The Colts are the first team to score 50-plus points and start 0-2 since the 2023 Chargers, according to ESPN Research, and that group finished 5-12. Somebody leaves Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday staring at 0-3 with 14 games left to dig out.
