2011 Texans Watch-TJ's Starting Against Falcons

The Texans are on a five game winning streak, have an 8-3 record, a two game lead in the AFC South and now rookie TJ Yates at the quarterback slot after season ending injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart.

They face an Atlanta Falcons team at Reliant in moments who are trailing the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South by a game and have an 8-0 record when they face off against rookie quarterbacks.

So it's a question of which team's win streak is going to end today.

However, this rookie quarterback has Andre Johnson to throw to, Arian Foster and Ben Tate to hand th ball off to in the running game and the number one ranked defense in the NFL. to hopefully keep the Falcons out of the end zone.

But it will still be a nervous proposition for us deep steel blue wearing fans to watch this game unfold.

2011 Texans Watch-Survivor Jacksonville

 

The AFC South division battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars was already going to be tough enough with Matt Schaub out for the season.  

But moments after Leinart tossed his first TD pass as a starter since 2007 to TE Joel Dreesen that staked the Texans to a 17-7 lead he suffered a broken collarbone that will require season ending surgery.

Off the bench comes rookie QB T.J.Yates to manage the game as the Texans went conservative in their play calling to ensure that Yates didn't get hurt and they would have to go to emergency quarterback Owen Daniels.  

Thanks to the NFL's number one defense they held Jacksonville to 255 total yards of offense as the Texans sacked Jag quarterbacks seven times.  

Connor Barwin did much of the damage by getting a team record four sacks and ensure they escaped EverBank Stadium surviving this latest bout of adversity.

The Texans defensive performance in this game helped carry them to a 20-13 victory, keep them unbeaten in the AFC South at 4-0 with division games left against Indy and the Traitors, extend their team record winning streak to five games and keep their hopes alive for home field advantage throughout the entire AFC side of the playoff bracket. 

And we also witnessed Jack Del Rio's last game as the head coach of the Jaguars, who was fired this morning. He was already under a 'playoffs or else' ultimatum from Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver to keep his job, and the loss eliminated the Jags from playoff contention.   .

Speaking of playoffs, the question remains whether the Texans will have enough healthy players left to form a playoff roster when they get there much less a quarterback capable of taking them to a Super Bowl?

My favorite NFL ballers are  maintaining a two game lead in the AFC South with a 8-3 record.  But they'll definitely need a lot more than the 20 points they generated last Sunday.   T.J.Yates will get his first NFL start as the Texans face the Atlanta Falcons at Reliant Stadium this Sunday.    

But if the defense keeps playing at this level, maybe not.

2011 Texans Watch-A Different Matt Is Starting Against The Jaguars

The Houston Texans had some good news and bad news as they entered their post bye week preparations to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in their return AFC South division battle in Everbank Stadium.

Thanks to another loss by the Tennessee Traitors, they now have a two game division lead.  At 7-3, they also are in the thick of the battle for the best record in the AFC and a playoff bye week if they make the NFL postseason as it is increasingly likely they will.  

And the best news of all is Texans get Andre Johnson back after a six week layoff for the hamstring injury he suffered in the win against the Steelers that got surgically repaired.    Safety Danieal Manning is also coming back from an injury and will also be a welcome addition to our NFL number one ranked defensive unit.  .

But the Texans lost Matt Schaub to season ending surgery on the Lisfranc joint he injured when Albert Haynesworth rolled onto his foot during the 37-9 victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa.

That leaves the other Matt as the quarterback for my NFL footballers and Leinart will get his first start as the Texans QB today.   Having the number one ranked defense in the league will help along with having the one-two running punch of Arian Foster and Ben Tate to hand the ball off to.

The Texans receivers will also have to get quickly adjusted to the different rotational spin on the ball that the left handed Leinart puts on his throws that is the opposite of a right handed quarterback.

Leinart will also have something to prove as well as the 2004 Heisman Trophy winner who didn't get much of an opportunity to show what he could do with the Arizona Cardinals.

A healthy Andre Johnson will also aid tremendously in fighting off a Jaguars team who whined about 'dirty' play when they safely got off their planes in Jacksonville after their Battle Red Day Halloween butt kicking at Reliant.

The Texans will also want to keep their four game winning streak going and their unbeaten record in AFC South play alive as they begin their drive to secure the franchise's first AFC South title and playoff berth.  

That game will kick off in Jacksonville in moments and I'm anxious to see if the Texans can keep up the momentum they had going before they entered the bye week.

 

2011 Texans Watch-The Texans Have A Bye Week

My fave first place NFL team will be chilling and watching everybody else play football before they start their preparation week for their AFC South divisional rematch with the Jacksonville Jaguars and attempt to stretch their win streak to five games..   

While the Texans will be welcoming Andre Johnson back into the lineup after being out since the Pittsburgh Steeler game with a hamstring pull, quarterback Matt Schaub injured the Lisfranc joint in his right foot in the 37-9 win against Tampa Bay and there's a possibility he'll miss the rest of the season.

Matt Leinart will replace him in the lineup and not only will have two weeks to get ready for the Jaguars, he has the help of the NFL's third best rushing attack and the NFL's number one defense to ease his transition into the starting lineup during this stretch drive for the Texans first AFC South division title and NFL playoff berth

It also doesn't hurt that the teams on the Texans schedule are a combined 21-34 and they'll going against three rookie quarterbacks in Jacksonville's Blaine Gabbert, Cincinnati's Andy Dalton and Carolina 's Cam Newton.  

Get healthy Texans and enjoy the Sunday off.

Here's hoping y'all pick up where you left off in terms of playing that winning brand of smash mouth football y'all we're playing that had the Jaguars crying when y'all beat them down at Reliant.

2011 Texans Watch-Beating The Bucs

The Texans went into Tampa yesterday with a 6-3 record, riding a team record three game winning streak, sitting in first place in the AFC South Division and having the NFL's number one ranked defense.

They'll leave Tampa with the number one ranked defense and tied for the AFC's best record at 7-3 after spanking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-9

They opened the game with an 80 yard TD strike to Jacoby Jones on the first play of the game and added a 78 yard TD pass to Arian Foster that stated the Texans to a 16-3 halftime lead    They kept up the pressure on both sides of the ball with the defense picking off three Josh Freeman passes, sacking him four times and recovering a fumble.

The Texans finally get their bye week before they head to Jacksonville for their November 27 post Thanksgiving AFC South battle against the Jaguars.   Their lips were flapping after they got beat down in Houston 24-14 about 'dirty play'.

Should be fun to watch that one.

2011 Texans Watch-Traveling To Tampa

The surging AFC South leading Houston Texans are 6-3, on a three game winning streak for the first time in club history, have the NFL's number one ranked defense and will attempt to do something no NFL team has done this year

Beat the Buccaneers in Raymond James Stadium.

Yeah the NFL stats reflect that Tampa Bay is 3-1 at home, but that loss happened in jolly old England at Wembley Stadium against the Bears.  The 4-4 Bucccaneers were designated as the home team for that international matchup.

I like the Texans chances of extending their win streak to four games despite Andre Johnson is sitting this game out so his injured hamstring gets this week and their upcoming bye week to heal

Arian Foster and Ben Tate have developed into a solid two headed rushing monster that allows the Texans offense to chew up yardage, the game clock and give their defense R&R on the sidelines.

They have also dominated teams in the first half scoring wise.  When they have a lead, it allows Wade Phillips' defense to open up their defensive bag of trick and go after the opposing team's quarterback with reckless abandon 

And unlike last year, they can do so because the secondary isn't regularly getting toasted like Quizno's subs.

The Bucs are a good team, but have some injury problems that have affected their running game.  Josh Freeman is an imposing but stead presence at quarterback and this NFC South squad is going to be a step up in class as they fight to stay in the NFC playoff race.

It's going to be a close game but a good one that I'm picking the Texans to win..