Before the Game – Chargers at Texans

The powerful Chargers look to improve on their poor record as they travel to Reliant Stadium this week.

Sunday November 7, 2010 – 12:00pm CST – TV broadcast on CBS – Comcast 11 (Houston)

What to Watch –

• The Texans didn’t appear to have very much faith in their running game last week against the Colts. Will they come out running or passing this week?
• Chargers TE Antonio Gates will likely miss this game which is a big blow for their offense. Will the Texans be able to capitalize in their pass coverage?
• Can Texans LT Duane Brown finally step it up in pass protection? He’s done a poor job protecting his QB his whole career. The Texans need him to play better.
• Watch the fight in the Texans. If they don’t seem to be playing with too much heart in this game, they’re not going to win. The Texans need this win, so how inspired will they play?

Position Comparisons –

Texans

Chargers

The Game –

The the last meeting between this two team, it didn’t pan out well for the Texans. But when the other team intentionally sends their corner to decapitate your starting QB, things probably won’t end well anyways.

This time around, the Chargers bring an almost equally explosive team. On the other side, however, the Texans have vastly improved since 2007. The Texans will also have an Andre Johnson which is healthy enough to play.

The Chargers one of the best offensive and defensive units in the league, but their record hasn’t shown that. They make a lot of mistakes for a team that should be leading the way in the AFC. It will be up to the Texans to capitalize on these mistakes.

After coming out passing in a loss to the Colts last week, I think that the Texans will try to go back to what they should be doing and trying to run the ball. If they can get a decent run game going, it should be enough to help carry them through the game. If not, the Texans will again be forced to pass, something that’s not so easy to accomplish on this Chargers defense.

For the Chargers, they’ll try to pass the ball on the Texans. Antonio Gates will likely miss this game, so that takes away a big weapon for Philip Rivers and this Chargers offense. If the Texans needed a break on defense, this was it. The Texans needs to continue playing smarter on defense if they want to slow down this Chargers powerful offense. One thing the Texans will need is a better pass rush from all of their starters. Here’s an article I wrote for NFL.com’s Blog Blitz regarding this issue.

On special teams, don’t forget the Chargers have former Texans kicker Kris Brown kicking in place of the injured Nate Kaeding. It will be interesting to see the reception Brown gets from the Houston home crowd.

I do believe that even though the Chargers are being torn apart be injuries, they still have the capability of getting to almost any team in the NFL. The Texans have a good chance to win this one, but they’re the underdog in my eyes.

Texans lose 34-24