DWIGHT Freeney expects an All-AFC South Week 1 game between the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts to be brutal.
For Indianapolis, the matchup represents an opportunity to get their own back against a Texans team that narrowly beat them to the divisional title earlier this year.
Kay Adams recently previewed the Houston Texans’ trip to the Indianapolis Colts with NFL Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney[/caption]
Colts legend Freeney predicted the game will ‘be a bloodbath’[/caption]
In the final week of the 2023 regular season, the Texans headed for Indiana in what turned out to be an AFC South title-deciding game.
The 23-19 win for Houston proved enough, with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing their season finale against the Tennessee Titans, securing the Texans the crown.
Meanwhile, the Colts were knocked out of playoff contention.
Throughout the months since, there has been plenty of back and forth between Texans and Colts players – as Kay Adams noted in her discussion with Freeney on her FanDuel TV show Up And Adams.
“This is just kind of the essence of football in a way,” Freeney explained.
“People don’t talk about it often – doesn’t get public knowledge – but in the locker rooms you’re talking about it all the time.
“And no matter who you’re playing, especially if the team is a rival, you’re trying to get after them.
“And they just happened to make it public for everyone to know.”
Feeney went on to add that it’s well known within the buildings that “they don’t like us, we don’t like them.”
As for the September 8 game at Lucas Oil Stadium, Freeney had a bold prediction.
“It’s gonna be a, for lack of better words, a bloodbath out there,” he said.
“And it should be. First game of the year, adrenaline is going to be hype and pumping, the building is going to be rocking, it’s gonna be a great game.”
To date, the Colts lead the rivalry 32-11-1 since the Texans were founded in 2002.
Over the last two seasons, Houston leads the way between the teams, 2-1-1.
The Texans will enter Week 1 led by reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, quarterback CJ Stroud who will be looking to build off of his record-breaking 2023 season.
Stroud went 9-6 in the regular season, passing for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and five picks, along with 167 yards and three touchdowns rushing.
He added another 449 yards and three scores in the playoffs.
As for the Colts, they will be hoping that fellow second-year quarterback Anthony Richardson can pick up where he left off prior to his season-ending injury.
Richardson passed for 577 yards, three touchdowns, and one pick, adding another 137 yards and four scores on the ground, going 2-2 in the process.
CJ Stroud will be targeting his second-straight AFC South title in 2024[/caption]
Anthony Richardson’s eyes will be fixed on returning to his early-season form from last year[/caption]
