Effort was the name of the game for the Colts today and they stopped the Houston Texans 30-24.   nothing came easily against a stout Texans team that is clearly improving and intends to compete in the AFC South.  After watching today's game I felt an odd feeling creep into my mind.  I wasn't sure, but I thought I was about to call the Houston Texans the second best team in the AFC South behind the Colts.  They have a lot of things going for them.  They have excellent play at the quarterback position.   Matt "Xander" Schaub did have two interceptions but both came as a result of pressure, not necessarily bad decision making.  The pick by Boiman was a deflected pass out of the receiver's hands and the pick by Brackett was due to significant pressure around Schaub's feet.  In all, the defense for the Colts was excellent.  They only allowed 254 yards total and perhaps 80 or 100 of those were late in the game when Houston was chuckin and duckin looking for a way back into the game.  I was disappointed that they were able to score the last touchdown, but the Colts were exceptional on most other drives.  Houston was admittedly depleted at the tailback position but the Colts were stingy again against the run.  Keiaho was excellent again, but perhaps a bit hampered by the elbow.  He didn't seem to get to the point of attack quite as fast today and that is something I hope he gets back.  That is a huge benefit to an undersized team.  If you can penetrate on run plays you don't have to get blown off the ball by blocks.  Josh Thomas was great in his reserve spot as a defensive end.  He was able to get pressure on the quarterback from either side regardless of who he was lined up against.  Depth at the defensive line positions has really proven itself  in three games this season as everyone appears to be contributing.
     The Texans also play stiff defense.  They tackled well all day.  Joe Addai is a player that like to fight tackles but he wasn't really able to, they were a sure tackling bunch.  I tell you what, that was a hard hitting game as well.   Better commentators would have remarked on how the hard hitting was more resemblant of a Bears v. Bucs game but they couldn't find their  butts with a crapometer.  CBS's NFL coverage continues to be the equivalent of hour-old dog poop you find on the playground during recess in the fourth grade.  The Texans do have a good pass rush, I thought maybe it was the competition they had been playing but they played well against a good line today.  They mix up their play calls well and get good push on blitzs.  Late in the third quarter they blitzed into a pass pay and Manning got sacked.  What surprised me at that point was that it was a coverage sack.  Their secondary played far better than I would have expected.  On the drive to Indianapolis yesterday El Cucaracha asked me what I expected from the Texans, and i honestly didn't know what to expect.  I couldn't have said that they would have played the pass so well.  I think Marvin was open quite a few times and missed or underthrown which is no positive for Houston, but they covered well enough and better than most.  Reggie came free for a deep pass one time on a blown coverage but was blanketed all day beyond that. 
    Tony Ugoh was not great.  Again.  I read a lot of blogs this week and I listened to experts on ESPN talk about Ugoh's strengths and weaknesses, and I don't agree with any of them.  Most folks seem to believe that he struggles against bull rushing ends.  I don't think that is the case.  He did get beat on a bull rush by Mario Williams today, but I think that was the exception, not the rule.  He does well extending his arms and basing against bull rushes.  I think he struggles most against outside speed and double moves.  his athleticism should hel0p him keep up with such things but he is lazy with his feet and stands up early.  It ruins his hope of gaining leverage and allows too much space between his hands and the rusher.  They get to make moves before he engages them.  If you don't agree with me, that is okay, you seem to be in the majority.  But if you take someone like Freeney and line him up against Ugoh you might as well hand over your lunch bag.  There is trouble brewing when he lines up against the ends from Tampa and Kansas City and the linebackers from New England and San Diego.  Particularly the last two, the speed rushers for those teams are former defensive ends from Purdue who made a college career out of being outside speed rushers with acceleration and double moves.
    Two people impressed me today with their determination.  Joe Addai was running hard into the breach late in the game and fighting for yards that hadn't been there all day.  He had his lowest average per rush of the season and still stuck his hat in there when his number was called.  The excellent pass blocking of Ben Utecht also allows Addai to go out into the pattern on third down where he continues to develop his skills.  The Colts, as always, were great on third down.  Schaub really showed me something.  Late in the game when it appeared he wasn't going to be able to get anything going he hung tough and came up with two drives to bring the Texans within 7 points.  He was smart in the pocket for the most part and got the ball out quick with accuracy.  His accuracy was unbelievable for someone who hasn't seen that many starts.  He looked veteran.  He didn't quit.
    The commentators pissed me off by calling no fewer than three spots for the Texans "conservative" and two spots for the Colts "healthy".  I think CBS really wants to see large market teams beat the smaller market teams and they don't do a good job of hiding it.  I am sure many fans believe announcers are working against them, but I have seen too many Colts v. Pats games and Colts v. Jets games to think that there isn't a bias.  I hate CBS and pretty much everything about it except Letterman.
    In the end, this was a closer game than I would have liked.  Houston managed the end of the first half horribly, and could have found a field goal or more in the minute and change that they had.   They also dropped two passes for first downs in Colts territory that may have led to eventual points.  When the Colts leave points on the field, i don't worry abut it too much because we are so efficient that it sometimes seems like we can score at any time.  What scares the bejesus out of me is when an opponent leaves obvious points on the field and they end up being the margin of victory, because not every team will do that.  I am aggravated with how much effort it took to beat the Texans, but I am consoled by the idea that it was because they have gotten that much better, not because we got so much worse.