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Can Frank Gore replicate Devonta Freeman’s success against Texans?

By Kevin Parvizi

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Indianapolis Colts veteran feature back Frank Gore struggled just 31 yards on eight carries in the team’s Week 1 loss to the Buffalo Bills elite defense, but, for the most part, he’s proven to be a very nice positive for this offense. Aside from Gore, Donte Moncrief, and T.Y. Hilton, there isn’t much good to go around on a Colts offense that has severely underperformed, as Andrew Luck hasn’t had an ideal start to the season.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Check out where the Colts rank in our latest Power Rankings

Speaking of Luck, there’s a chance the franchise quarterback misses his second straight game with a partially separated shoulder. The Colts were able to overcome his absence to barely defeat the rival Jacksonville Jaguars, but they must now face the Houston Texans on a short week on the road on Thursday Night Football.

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Luck is fully expected to return for this key game against a Texans team reeling from a blowout loss at the hands of the undefeated Atlanta Falcons, but there’s a strong chance he won’t be himself. Although Luck is as tough as they come, he, again, isn’t having his best season with seven touchdowns in three games and an awful 56.0% completion percentage. Add in the potential ill-effects of this injury, and it’s easy to be worried about his effectiveness on Thursday.

This where Gore comes in. Last week with Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback, Gore received 17 carries but turned them into just 53 yards. He caught five passes, but it was a disappointing display from the former San Francisco 49ers icon as a whole.This came a week after Gore blasted the Tennessee Titans for 86 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries.

Fumbling issues have been popping up for Gore this season, and he hasn’t been quite as effective as most Colts fans hoped. That said, the passing attack and offensive line haven’t exactly made life easier on him, and we’re all just waiting for the Colts situation on offense to improve.

Gore’s role will be an important one on Thursday with Luck likely making his start at less than 100%, but it isn’t easy to run the ball on the Texans. They’ve surrendered just 3.7 yards per carry so far this year and boast three excellent run defenders up front in J.J. Watt, Vince Wilfork, and Brian Cushing. All three of those players are playing their best ball right now, and they managed to shut down Jamaal Charles and Doug Martin this season. They also did a great job against Carolina Panthers star Jonathan Stewart, as Carolina’s gaudy rushing stats were all a product of Cam Newton.

But last week, one running back did have a good deal of success against the Texans, and that was potential 2015 breakout star Devonta Freeman. The second-year Florida State product, who caught five passes for a second straight week, notched a second straight three-touchdown performance. Freeman needed just 14 carries to total 68 rushing yards, and the Texans struggled to stop him from chewing up yardage.

It won’t be easy against Watt and Co., but if Frank Gore can replicate the success Freeman had last week, then that will go a long way to giving the Colts a key win in this rivalry. The Texans have the worst quarterback situation in the NFL right now (both Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett have completion percentages under 55.0%), but they remain the Colts biggest challenge to the AFC South title.

As it stands right now, the Colts are still tops in the division with a 2-2 record, but they were obviously hoping to have a much better record to this point. They simply cannot afford to lose this primetime game, and a loss to the Texans this week would have the added insult of dropping them below Houston in the standings (both teams would be 2-3 with the Texans owning the tie-breaker).

So Gore is a key to this game, and he will look to boost his 4.2 yards per carry and 56.8 yards per game averages against a stout run defense that has been one of the few bright spots on an otherwise below-average Texans team that was absolutely thrashed in Week 4.

Next: How far has Luck fallen in our QB Power Rankings?

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