Houston Texans: Proof that When the Going Gets Tough, The Texans Do Not

Today’s game against the Oakland Raiders was a hard game to watch. After seeing the Houston Texans go up by eight points only to let the lead slip to only two points was the first indication that this was not going to be a pretty game.

Inevitably, the Texans lost this game because of their own doing. Let us be honest, the Raiders were not that special and did not play well enough to deserve this win. Their QB Jason Campbell only threw for 190 yards and their top RB Darren McFadden (who had been averaging over 110 yards per game) was held to only 51 yards. Heck, the best player for the Raiders today was Sebastian Janikowski who made four field goals, the shortest being from 42 yards out.

Now surely some of you are going to say, “Hey, the Texans lost Mario Williams, and James Casey, and blah, blah, blah…” The fact remains that when it came right down to brass tacks, the Texans could not pull off a win. Sure, they came close. Inconceivably close, in fact, to beating the Raiders. But that is when QB Matt “The Choke Artist” Schaub

, standing on the Raiders five yard line, did what he does…he threw an interception to end the game.

Do not get me wrong. I like Schaub, I think he is a good QB, but enough is enough. There is no reason why he cannot take control of the offense and call some audibles at the line. He follows Kubiak’s lead like a lost puppy afraid of being too far away from its mom. He lacks the command of the team that you would find in a playoff caliber QB.

However, we cannot place all of the blame on Matt. The defense, after Super Mario was injured, looked like it completely lost its focus. The hard-hitting, nose-grinding, blood-inducing defense that was present for most of the first half just melted away leaving Texans fans with another display of half-hearted, mediocre defense.

Granted, I could not get out there and do what they do but we all (the Texans fans) could tell a difference in the defense…it sucked!

Head Coach Gary Kubiak did a terrible job with his play-calling today. Of course the Raiders were going to lock down WR Jacoby Jones (as if they really needed too) and once they figured out that TE Owen Daniels was a serious threat they adjusted to negate him too. But that does NOT mean that you give up the pass and try to stuff the ball up the middle for the rest of the game.

All-in-all the Raiders deserved the win today if for nothing less than the Texans unwillingness to step up and play big when the going got tough. Every NFL analysts will tell you that playoff caliber teams win games despite losing some key players. If the Texans keep playing like this then we may be waiting a very long time for a playoff berth.

R.I.P. Al “Just Win Baby” Harris – Your team won this one for you!