The Indianapolis Colts (0-0) made the trip south to NRG Stadium and are preparing to commence the 2022 NFL season with a divisional matchup against the Houston Texans (0-0) on Saturday.
Opening as the largest favorites on the week, according to Tipico Sportsbook, the Colts are expected to take care of business on the road. No game in the NFL is ever a cakewalk, but the majority of fans and analysts are expecting the Colts to walk away with a win.
Here are the biggest storylines going into the Week 1 matchup:
1
No Shaquille Leonard
The Colts will be without the heart of the defense as linebacker Shaquille Leonard was ruled out on the final injury report. Leonard is working his way back from offseason back surgery and is expected to return soon.
“He’s making good progress. I feel good about the progress he’s making, but we just felt after talking with Shaq, the trainers and the doctors, that it was the best thing for him and for our team to hold him out this week,” said head coach Frank Reich on Friday.
With Leonard out of the lineup, expect Zaire Franklin to take the bulk of the work next to Bobby Okereke in the middle of the defense.
2
Matt Ryan's debut
We only got to see a glimpse of what the Colts offense looks like with Ryan under center, and even then it consisted of the most vanilla schemes in the game. Now, we finally get to see the offense unleashed a bit more in a real game scenario.
It will be interesting to see how different the passing game will be under Ryan compared to the 2021 season with Carson Wentz. We should expect a quicker passing game and more yards after the catch from the receivers.
But all eyes will be on the new No. 2 in town after a long-awaited offseason.
3
Breaking the streak
If there’s one narrative the Colts are actively looking to end Sunday, it’s the one that has to do with the fact that they haven’t won an opening day game since the 2013 season. It’s an incredibly odd scenario the Colts find themselves in. If there’s a matchup to end the streak, it’s this one against the Texans. We’ve seen the Colts collapse in this kind of scenario before, but the expectation is that the streak ends with a win in Houston. We’ll see how that feels around 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
4
Jonathan Taylor's dominance
There are several teams that have found themselves on the wrong end of a Jonathan Taylor stat line. The Texans are chiefly among them after Taylor used them as his personal punching bag during the 2021 season. In two games, Taylor took 46 carries for 288 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Expect Taylor to be the focal point of the offense as he looks to continue his dominance.
