Texans vs. Buccaneers Preview
The Texans play their last preseason game (finally) tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. at home in Reliant stadium. The starters will probably not play at all so that no one will even have the chance to get hurt. I just can’t wait for the regular season to start. I might go to the Colts game because I feel like its such a tremendous occasion. The Tampa game tomorrow will mostly serve as a final test for the players on the edge of making the team. I think Dorin Dickerson will get a lot of looks, the backup offensive linemen are going to get a good look, the depth at linebacker at defensive end will be looked at and of course the backup quarterbacks Grossman and Orlovsky are going to be evaluated on their performance. Win or lose, the regular season is only a week and 4 days away. Thats when the real action starts.
Texans Beat Cowboys 23-7
Final Score Houston-23 Dallas-7
I was up in Austin for the weekend visiting some friends at UT and I was worried I was going to miss the game because none of my college friends have cable TV in their apartments and we were swimming at Barton Springs before the game was about to start. Once I realized my options were limited, I dashed down the street from Barton Springs to the nearest restaurant which happened to be a Chuy’s and watched the game at the bar. The Texans looked fantastic in the first half; the offense was driving up and down the field while the defense shut down the Cowboy’s offense. Matt Schaub hit Jacoby Jones on a beautiful 24 yard touchdown pass, Arian Foster looked great running the football and Andre Johnson was his usual self dragging defenders and making people look silly. The Texans played with intensity and were aggressive from the very start. They put pressure on Tony Romo, they got penetration against the run and played with attitude. They looked like a totally different team from the one we saw in New Orleans. When the Texans play at home they have an air of confidence that gets them fired up to play, there is no doubt about that. They hadn’t played at home yet and it made a huge difference because the crowd gave them energy to play at a higher level than they have so far this preseason.
The Texans running game looked phenomenal; Arian foster rushed for over 100 yards and a TD, Jeremiah Johnson had 53 yards on 9 carries and the offensive line consistently opened holes in the Dallas defense. Even though they struggled at times when they got into the redzone, the Texans offense looked great, especially because the defense continued to play lights out against the Cowboys starters and kept them off the scoreboard for the first 3 quarters. DeMeco Ryans recovered a fumble, Amobi Okoye registered a sack, and Kareem Jackson intercepted Tony Romo in the redzone off a tipped pass and returned it 64 yards to set the Texans offense up for another score. It was awesome to see the Texam’s 1st round rookie get into the action, the Texans are going to need Jackson and company to play well in the secondary this year. The only points the defense gave up were against the Cowboy’s backups when Jon Kitna threw a 24 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Ogeltree. Despite the fact that the Texans still have a lot of problems that they need to work on, they look like a team that is ready for the regular season and is completely capable of putting up dominant performances against great teams.
Owen Daniels Ready For Season
Owen Daniels has been cleared by team doctors and outside doctors to play in the regular season opener against Indianapolis which is great news for the Texan’s offense. Daniels is one of Schaub’s favorite targets and he consistently makes big plays in critical situations. If Daniels had stayed healthy all of last season the Texans might have made the playoffs. This season is going to be big for Daniels because he is going to be playing for a new contract. If he does well coming off the injury it will show the Texans organization that Daniels is a true professional who is dedicated to the team. I think it may take a few weeks into the season for OD to get fully cranked up but once he does, watch out. He is a deadly threat down the middle of the field because he can outrun linebackers and run over safeties. He is a pro bowl player that is one of the best Tight Ends in the league when he is healthy.
Texans vs. Cowboys: The Battle For The Lone Star State
The Cowboys have been “America’s Team” for about as long as I can remember but the Houston Texans have now proven that the Cowboys aren’t the only good NFL team in the state of Texas. In Texas, football is a religion. Just as going to church is a ritual on Sundays, so is sitting down and watching some good football. If you ask me, and I’m a Texas native, nothing beats NFL football. So when it comes to Texas’ two NFL teams going head to head, nothing is better. Cowboy fans exist all over Texas from Beaumont to El Paso; it seems like they just pop out of thin air with their Tony Romo jerseys and big, loud attitudes. As a die hard Houston Texans fan, nothing makes me more mad then seeing those Cowboy fans and hearing them yell that Dallas is better than Houston. This Saturday the Cowboys come to Reliant Stadium to give fans a preview of the regular season match up between the two teams in week 3 this year. I have a feeling that whoever losses this game will win the regular season game. The last time the Texans played the Cowboys in the preseason, the Cowboys beat the Texans by one point 23 to 22 and the regular season series is tied at 1 game a piece. This year is going to prove who has the better squad; Wade Phillip’s Cowboys or Gary Kubiak’s Texans. If your a fan of either of these two teams all I can say is…..get your popcorn ready.
Texans vs. Saints Review
Final Score Saints-38 Texans-20
Last night the Texans took on the Super Bowl Champion Saints in the Superdome and were absolutely destroyed by the Saint’s offense. On New Orlean’s opening drive they went down the field methodically, beating the Texans on the ground and through the air. Reggie Bush finished off the 12 play drive with a 9 yard run right up the middle of the Texan’s defense. After Trindon Holliday muffed a punt, New Orleans capped off another drive with a 1 yard plunge over the goal line by Drew Brees. The Texans were getting totally dominated on defense; nothing that they did worked against the Saint’s explosive offense. Arian Foster showed up by scoring on a 10 yard run to make the score 14-7 but it didn’t matter as the Saint’s backup quarterback Chase Daniel lit up the Texan’s defense throwing for 182 yard and 3 TDs. It was a horrible performance by the Texan’s defense; they looked like they were sleep walking on the field as the Saints just blew by them on nearly every possession. They couldn’t stop the run or the pass and made Reggie Bush look like LaDainian Tomlinson.
The Texans simply couldn’t catch Reggie Bush
As expected, Arian Foster had an up and down game; he looked good on the touchdown run but he fumbled on a run later in the game and the Saints recovered. I really don’t trust Arian Foster at this point, I think he can do some good things but fumbling was just as big of a problem for him in college as it was for Steve Slaton. I think Kubiak was just plain stupid for putting Ben Tate in the game last week against Arizona when he was counting on him to carry the ball in the regular season. If I were a head coach I wouldn’t put my star players in at all during the preseason because I wouldn’t want any of them to get hurt. But Kubiak thinks that his players have to earn the right to start so he put Tate in against Arizona and on his second carry he fractured his ankle and is out for the season. Now Kubiak has to rely on undrafted free agents like Foster and Jeremiah Johnson to get the job done because Slaton isn’t the same as he was his rookie year. It honestly makes me really mad that the Texans don’t have a star runningback like a lot of NFL teams do. The Texans need to really look at the game film from last night and work on fixing the many mistakes they made on offense, defense and special teams. It was just an all around bad performance by the Texans against an obviously superior team.
