EJ Speed: Week 1 vs. Colts will be a “heavy rivalry game”

The Colts will begin the 2024 season the same way they finished the 2023 campaign.

Week 18 saw the Colts host the Texans in a Saturday game that the visitors won 23-19 and which made them AFC South champions when the Jaguars lost to the Titans the next day. The win evened the season series and Colts linebacker EJ Speed ​​believes the season opener will be a “strong rivalry game” because of who is running both offenses.

Both teams faced quarterbacks in the first round last season and Indy’s win in the second week came with Anthony Richardson in the lineup. Richardson was suffering from a shoulder injury at the time of the final, so Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud stepped up to the plate in Houston’s victory.

“This it was all, man,” Speed ​​said, via Aaron Wilson of KPRC. “They made some moves in the offseason that I respect, but I mean, going back last year, we had AR. The first game came out, played well and won the game. They won the game when it mattered. The first week should be good. It’s 1-1 with our quarterbacks. We both signed defenders in the same year and it will be a good tiebreaker.”

The Titans also have a 2023 draft pick starting in quarterback Will Levis, which makes Trevor Lawrence the division’s elder statesman in his fourth year. If things go well on all fronts, there will be many fierce rivalry games for the four clubs in the coming years.