In Week 3 of 2026 our Indianapolis Colts will host the Houston Texans. Knowing the party was coming to town I sat down with Scott Barzilla of Battle Red Blog, SB Nation’s Houston Texans blog. We swapped questions and answers about both the Texans and the Colts and what follows is what I’ve learned about this week’s enemy.
You can find my answers to his questions here.
Chris Shepherd: Based on the first two weeks of the season, if you were an offensive coordinator tasked with creating a game plan to attack
the Texans defense, what does your plan look like? What areas of the field are you attacking, what weaknesses are you targeting? How do you beat this Texans defense?
Scott Barzilla: I think you attack the interior of their defense with Jonathan Taylor. The edges are the strength of their defense and it keeps you ahead of the chains. If you get behind the sticks it’s going to be a long day.
Chris Shepherd: From weeks one to two we saw a big improvement from the Indy defense. Granted that improvement went from lockout replacement players level to simply very bad NFL defense level, in what ways could the Colts defense prevent the Texans offense from righting the ship after a disappointing outing last week?
Scott Barzilla: You stop the running game and make the Texans one dimensional. If Stroud has to win he won’t have Nico Collins to bail him out. You can pressure him and create some turnovers.
Chris Shepherd: Through two games CJ Stroud is averaging nearly 314 passing yards per game but is only completing 60.2% of his passes, he has also only thrown for 2 touchdowns. What exactly has been the biggest problem with an offense that seems to be passing the ball so well?
Scott Barzilla: The Texans have been playing from behind so they have been pass happy. The problem has been a lack of the running game and break downs in communication. Stroud had five drops last week which killed his percentage. Otherwise he’d be having a great season..
Chris Shepherd: Can you give me one player on offense and one on defense that Colts fans might not be familiar with who you expect to have an impact on Sunday night?
Scott Barzilla: On defense I’d say we are due for some turnovers so I’d say Calen Bullock or Jalen Pitre could be the guys there. On offense I’d look for Marlin Klein to get a key catch or two with the receiving core undermanned.
Chris Shepherd: How do you predict this game will play out? What does each team do well, where will they struggle and what’s the final score?
Scott Barzilla: The Texans have won five in a row in this matchup and I’d expect a sixth. It will be a close game but I think a key turnover will make the difference late. Taylor worries me on the defensive end but nothing the Colts defense does scares me that much.
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, our week three preview with the enemy is in the books. As always I want to thank Scott for working with me and giving us a a look into what the Houston Texans will bring to Indianapolis this weekend.
Here’s to an injury free game.
As always, go Colts.
