Peyton Manning to Miss Week 1: 5 Reasons Colts Can Still Beat Texans

After the recent news that Peyton Manning will not start the season opener for the Indianapolis Colts against the Houston Texans, many fans in Indianapolis are starting to feel a bit nervous.

Even though it will be the first game in over a decade that Peyton Manning will not be the starting quarterback for the Colts, the Colts can still beat the Texans in Week 1.

After 227 consecutive starts, Peyton Manning will have to watch the first game of the season from the sidelines (or possibly from his couch if he isn't healthy enough to travel). The future Hall of Famer has been the face of the Colts franchise for over 10 years, and for one game he'll have to hand that role over.

Kerry Collins will step in for the Colts and try to start them off right against a divisional opponent in the Houston Texans.

Even though the Colts would undoubtedly want Manning a their starter in Week 1, here are five reasons why the Colts can still be the Texans without Manning.

5. Arian Foster Injury

While fantasy owners of Arian Foster have been down in the dumps after seeing him aggravate his hamstring, opposing fantasy owners are grinning from ear to ear. Another group of people that are grinning from ear to ear: the Indianapolis Colts.

Since the Colts are going to miss their best player for Week 1, it's only fair that the Texans have one of their best players injured (or possibly missing), right?

Well, even though the Texans didn't do it on purpose, Foster's injury has to be a sign of relief for the Colts. Last season Foster was the best running back in the league by rushing for 1,616 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Even if Foster does end up playing in Week 1, the Colts have the advantage of knowing that the league's arguably best running back won't be at full strength.

4. Peyton Manning

If I needed one quarterback to help me learn an offense, it would be Peyton Manning. Manning is like a coach on the field and has to be giving Kerry Collins tips that no other quarterbacks would be able to provide to their backups.

Since 1999, Manning has helped build this intricate Colts offense and he knows it in an out. For a quarterback to come in and learn an offense like this in about three weeks, they need a guy like Manning that can be there every day to watch every play and give advice.

3. Quality Wide Receivers of Colts

To walk in and become a quarterback for a team like the Bears or the Rams where there are not quality receivers to help out the quarterback would be very tough. Kerry Collins has the luxury of joining an Indianapolis Colts squad that features some great wide receivers.

It all starts with their star receiver in Reggie Wayne. Wayne is closing in on 800 receptions for his career and seems to be getting better with age. Wayne's 111 receptions were a career high last season and gave the 32-year-old back to back 100 reception seasons.

Collins will also be spoiled by playing with Dallas Clark. For the past few seasons when you talk about the best tight ends in the league, there are only 3 you talk about: Antonio Gates, Jason Witten and Dallas Clark.

How many tight ends can say that they have had a season with 100 receptions? The answer is not many.

It will be nice for Collins to play with these two great players, and that isn't even mentioning the great young players in Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie. If Collins can throw the ball where he needs to throw it, he won't have to worry about his receivers catching it.

2. Kerry Collins

The Colts could have much worse backup quarterback options than Kerry Collins. Collins is a longtime veteran in the NFL and has played a lot of football.

Throwing a rookie under center in this offense would be a disaster, but putting Collins in there will work out fine for the Colts. To quote Colts coach Jim Caldwell, "The guy's thrown for 40,000 yards. He can throw the ball."

Collins is 38 years old, but he played some very quality football at the end of last season. In his final four games of the season, he threw for multiple touchdowns in all four of them and had a quarterback rating over 100 in three out of four of them.

The Colts should be confident that they have a quality and at the least capable starting quarterback for Week 1.

1. Well...it's the Texans

To say that the Colts have had the Texans number over the years would be quite the understatement. In recent years the Texans have made a better fight, but this series has had Colts all over it.

Since the Texans became a franchise in 2003, the Colts have gone 14-2 against their divisional opponent. The Texans beat the Colts once last season, but other than that, it has been all Colts.

It's completely fair to say that a major reason why the Colts have beaten the Texans so badly has been because of Peyton Manning, but there are also other players on the Colts.

The core players on the Colts have beaten the Texans time and time again and they should have all the confidence in the world when playing the Texans. This may be the year that the Texans finally win a season series against the Colts, but until they do it, the Colts have to remember that they are the team to beat.