The Sports Xchange

Indianapolis Colts (0-0) at Buffalo Bills (0-0)

Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET, at Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y. – TV: CBS

*TV announcers: Spero Dedes, Solomon Wilcots

*Keys to the game: A “pain in the rear” is how Colts head coach Chuck Pagano described preparing for Bills QB Tyrod Taylor, who won the starting job in a serious upset despite the modest competition against two players with more experience. Taylor isn’t Colin Kaepernick but the former Virginia Tech quarterback got his feet wet in Baltimore with spread and Wildcat niche packages, a harbinger of what’s to come under Kaepernick’s former offensive coordinator Greg Roman. The Bills want to run and exhaust the Colts’ front seven, but are unsure whether LeSean McCoy (hamstring) is going to be part of the rotation.

Rex Ryan, in his opening act as Bills coach, will throw his typical napalm pass rush at Andrew Luck and hope to hit and take down the Colts’ quarterback enough to slow down a talented and explosive offense. Indianapolis promises more balance after leading the NFL in pass attempts per game in 2014, and the addition of RB Frank Gore makes it believable if only the Indy offensive line had the talent to stand up to the Bills’ potentially great front four.

*Matchup to watch – Bills CB Ronald Darby vs. Colts WRs T.Y. Hilton and Andre Johnson: Hilton isn’t impossible to double-team, but in Ryan’s defense, Darby is ticketed for a lot of alone time in coverage. The rookie second-rounder starts in place of slow-to-recover Leodis McKelvin and Darby was shaky in preseason.

*Player spotlight – Colts RT Jack Mewhort: Buffalo’s overload blitz will test Mewhort and his blocking assistant, TE Dwayne Allen, all game long hoping to catch the Colts napping. DEs Jerry Hughes and Mario Williams swap sides on occasion and combined for 24.5 sacks in 2014.

*Fast facts: Hilton has 17 catches of 40-plus yards and 19 touchdowns in 46 career games. … Taylor has 35 career regular-season pass attempts. Luck led the NFL with 616 pass attempts in 2014.

WHO WILL WIN AND WHY

The Colts use what QB Andrew Luck hasn’t had in his NFL career, a featured running back as a sidekick in veteran Frank Gore, to keep the Bills at bay in a dogfight decided in the final minutes.

*Our pick: Colts 19-16.