The NFL playoffs kicked off with a bang as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Houston Texans 21-7. The Colts raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first half before they hit a scoring drought in the second half.
The Colts’ dominant first half vs. the Texans was a blueprint for their playoff success
Indianapolis steamrolled Houston for a half in ways that are replicable next week against the Chiefs
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Andrew Luck had a much better day than Deshaun Watson. Luck threw for 222 yards on 6.9 yards per attempt and two touchdowns, while Watson threw for 235 yards on 4.8 yards per attempt and the only Texans’ touchdown of the day.
The Colts got the party started with another Eric Ebron touchdown
Eric Ebron was the surprise performer for the Colts’ offense this season, putting up a career-high 13 touchdown catches. Indianapolis got him involved on their first drive of the game, throwing him a 6-yard touchdown.
The Chiefs’ defense struggles against tight ends, so Ebron could be in for a big game in the Divisional Round. According to Football Outsiders, the Chiefs rank 24th in the league against opposing tight ends. They’ve given up 1,067 yards to tight ends this season, good for 30th in the NFL.
Marlon Mack had himself a day in his first playoff game
Marlon Mack has been on a tear for the Colts this season. Over their last four games, Mack ran for 325 yards and five touchdowns. The Colts got near the goal line again after the Texans’ offense faltered and were able to bully their way into the end zone to extend their first quarter lead to 14 points.
Mack finished the day with 148 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries and a touchdown. Mack has to be licking his chops at the idea of facing the Chiefs and their defense that allows five yards per carry.
Indianapolis’ offensive line blasted open big holes for Mack as the game progressed. The Colts only allowed one tackle in the backfield, which was a run for -1 yards in the first quarter of the game.
Indianapolis got its third touchdown of the first half before the Texans could score once
The third touchdown of the first half for the Colts made the Texans’ defense look like they weren’t even on the field. Dontrelle Inman found himself wide open after running a corner route into the end zone and Luck tossed him to ball to make the game 21-0.
A little bit of everything worked for the Colts in the first half. They could run the ball, the tight ends were working in the pass game, and they were scheming open their receivers. For the first 30 minutes of the game, they look liked like a dominant unit that could score on anybody. That bodes well for them as they face a weak Chiefs’ defense next week.
Both teams were fairly stagnant from that point on. The Colts only had three first downs in the second half before a couple runs from Marlon Mack iced the game for them.
Deshaun Watson was able to find Keke Coutee for a 6-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, but they never truly got into an offensive groove — the Colts sacked Watson three times and hit him eight more times outside of that.
As impressive as their performance was, they’ll probably need a more impressive offensive output to beat Kansas City
It probably won’t be as easy for the Colts to steamroll the No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs on the road next week, especially if they go scoreless for 37 consecutive minutes of game time. The Chiefs’ offense is far more formidable than what the Texans showed today, but the Colts’ defense did show that they could hang with an offense that put up 37 on them earlier this season.
Indianapolis’ defense kind of let the Texans back in it in the fourth quarter, but it was able to hold off Houston by using heavy blitz packages on critical downs. Doing that against an offense featuring the likely MVP in Patrick Mahomes and the host of weapons that the Chiefs’ offense probably won’t be fruitful for Indianapolis.
If they can keep Luck clean again like they did against the Texans (Houston had zero sacks), they should be able to dice up a pretty porous Chiefs’ defense.
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