Houston Texans: Game 6 Recap. The Texans are in Quite the Predicament

Our defense is good, even without OLB Mario Williams. You can tell because opposing defenses can’t get in the red zone. K Billy Cundiff kicked 5 FG, while the Ravens offense only scored twice. So why aren’t we winning?

Offense

The Texans offense can’t capitalize, that’s why. Texan fans are in quite the predicament, we went from our defense under performing last year, to our offense under performing. Grant it we are missing our franchise player, WR Andre Johnson, but I firmly believe our offense is capable of beating most defense without him , even the Baltimore Ravens. Gary Kubiak had some iffy play calls on Sunday. RB Arian Foster and RB Ben Tate accumulated together 93 yards rushing, and when you are down your star wide receiver that is not good enough to win. Our offensive line for the past two weeks has been breaking down, which is unusual , because for the past two years our offensive line has been solid. This break down on the offensive line has led to QB Matt Schaub getting beaten up, and it is very noticeable. He has had to get a lot more mobile than usual, which is not good for Schaub seeing as he is no Mike Vick. Even TE Owen Daniels didn’t produce well, on Sunday he caught only 2 catches for 23 yards. Schaub played a solid game, not an amazing one, he did his job, but his receiving core and half backs didn’t. The worse part about not capitalizing on offense, is that it puts our defense on the field, and allows opposing offenses to put up more points. Running the ball takes the ball out of opposing offenses hands, and keeps us on the field to score. The Texans have lost 3 leads this year in the second half. Not capitalizing slowly, but surely will kill your chances of winning and did this weekend.

Defense

Our defense looks solid, I am very impressed by what Wade Phillips has managed to do in such short time. With Williams out, I thought DE Antonio Smith, OLB Connor Barwin, and OLB Brooks Reed, played a great rush game Sunday and really pressured QB Joe Flacco. Even DT Tim Jamison played a great game with 2 sacks. ILB Brian Cushing is back to prime form and seems to be in on every play, while ILB Demeco Ryans is playing great, but is still acclimating from his Achilles tear last year. The only part of our defense that seems to be lacking is any player opposite CB Johnathan Joseph, every game Joseph allows maybe 3 passes his way, and even has had an INT in consecutive games. On the other side of the field though, CB Kareem Jackson and CB Jason Allen have struggled, and opposing QB’s seem to know that, and throw a majority of the time their way. I commend Wade Phillips for his calling of blitzing S Danieal Manning, because he really knows how to get to the QB for a defensive back, he has been playing great, and accumulated 11 tackles against the Ravens.

This next game is very important, it is our second division game, and the last time we played Tennessee everyone didn’t play so nice, hopefully AJ is back for this game, and goes off on CB Cortland Finnegan to really stick it to him. The Titans defense is pretty solid this year, and we need Arian Foster to have a big game.