Hey guys, it’s Ari Alexander and game week is finally here!
After the surprising 2023 turnaround, the Texans went out and added enough pieces to be the favorite trendy Super Bowl contender. It’s quite the 180 from a team considered by many to be the worst in the league before their playoff run last year, and now they’ll have to deal with a first-place schedule, and added expectations.
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- Inside the Texans: KPRC 2 Sports predictions for the Texans 2024 season
Most are predicting the Texans will win the AFC South again, and it all starts Sunday at 12 p.m. vs. the Colts in Indianapolis.
HOW GOOD ARE THE COLTS?
Well, they were within one game of winning the AFC South and making the playoffs last year. Unfortunately for Indy, the Texans came into Lucas Oil Field and blew up their season thanks to a massive performance from C.J. Stroud, Nico Collins & crew.
But this is a fairly complete team - with a strong defensive line, and enough weapons on offense to be likely the second-best team in the division. The wild card is 2nd year quarterback Anthony Richardson, who flashed some brilliance in the very limited time he played. He only started 4 games but showed off some of the physical talent that got him drafted 4th overall.
If Richardson shines, he has the ability to turn the Colts into a legitimate contender, given the rest of their roster is not deficient.
However, the Colts’ secondary can be exploited as we saw in Week 18 last year, when C.J. Stroud torched them for 264 yards and two touchdowns with only 6 incompletions.
The Texans will likely run the ball at least a bit more in 2024 with the addition of Joe Mixon, and the Colts were regularly gashed in the run game last year. On their end, they have Jonathan Taylor, who is famous for cooking the Texans. He had 188 yards in the losing effort in Week 18 last year. He is good.
WHO TO WATCH IN WEEK 1:
First of all, the new guys. Will Joe Mixon energize the Texans running game? Will Stefon Diggs get plenty of targets to keep him happy? Will Azeez Al-Shaair shore up the linebacker group? Will Danielle Hunter terrorize QBs the way he’s expected to? Will Kamari Lassiter be able to cover guys like Michael Pittman?
If most of the answers to those questions are positive, the Texans should be in for a great season.
WHAT’S NEXT?
AN ACTUAL GAME! The most hyped season of Texans football begins!
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