Before the Game – Texans at Redskins

After a big win against the Colts in week 1, the Texans travel to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Redskins.

Sunday September 19, 2010 – 3:15pm CST – TV broadcast on CBS – Comcast 11 (Houston)

What to Watch –

• Texans head coach Gary Kubiak will face off against his former partner in crime, Mike Shanahan. Also, Shanahan’s son, Kyle, will face off against the team that he was with the past four seasons.
• The Redskins have had a hard time slowing down the opposition’s run game. With Arian Foster coming off a historic performance against the Colts, he will look to continue his success in this game.
• Even though a lot of it came in the 4th quarter, the Texans gave up over 400 passing yards last week. With Donovan McNabb at quaterback for Washington, can the Texans slow down their passing attack?
• There’s still the big question concerning Texans tight end Owen Daniels. Last week, Daniels saw limited action as a precautionary measure after he tore his ACL last season. Will he see more action this week?

Position Comparisons –

Texans

Redskins

The Game –

Here’s an interesting one. Both teams are coming off big wins against division rivals in week 1. Both teams also have head coaches that come from a very similar background. This will be the second head to head matchup between Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak, and it’s sure to be a good one.

Starting off, it’s near impossible to overlook Arian Fosters week 1 performance against the Colts, getting 3 touchdowns on 231 yards rushing. Now he goes up against a Redskins defense that has been mediocre at best when it comes to stopping the run. Will we see another 200+ yard performance this week? Probably not. But there’s an opportunity to run the ball for a good portion of the day.

As for the Redskins run game, it didn’t look too good last week. It wasn’t bad, but there weren’t too many opportunities for their offense to win running the ball. Knowing Shanahan’s offense, the Redskins will look to improve their production on the ground this week. Can the Texans stop them? Sure they can. The Texans were one of the best run defenses after week 3 last season. Simply put, Frank Bush’s defense along with the addition of Bernard Pollard has really helped this Texans defense against the run.

Last week, the Texans offense didn’t look very sharp in the passing game. But that was on limited opportunities and the Texans didn’t need to pass very much anyways. They may need to pass the ball a bit more this week, but I’m not worried about this team’s ability to pass the ball. Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson can light up almost any defense. One team that could be lit up by this combination is the Redskins defense. With extra focus being but on Andre Johnson, look for more opportunities for Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter, and Jacoby Jones.

Both teams have generated a lot of hype after their week 1 games, but there’s a difference. The Texans beat a team that was in the Super Bowl last season, while the Redskins were victorious against what is commonly an underachieving Cowboys team. If the Texans win this game along with losses by the Titans and Jaguars, the Texans will be alone at the top of the AFC South.

Texans win 27-17