1.  Connor Barwin- Barwin displayed a very good spin move.  His first sack resulted from an up and under move.   One of his sacks displayed his speed an agility as he ran Gabbert down from behind.  Barwin’s final sack came from a dead bull rush on the RT.  The guy did it all.  Not only that, he had multiple tackles for a loss.  He dropped into coverage a number of times very effectively.  He chased plays down from behind.  He was quick to recognize screens and draws.  He played with discipline, always setting his edge and taking care of his responsibilities.  Normally, guys with games like Barwin had are freed in the defensive scheme to adlib.  If you watch guys like Jared Allen and Dwight Freeney, it is clear that there only responsibility in the defense is to make a play.  Not so yesterday with Barwin.  His energy and effort was constantly apparent.  It is no surprise that he considers Antonio Smith to be a mentor of sorts.

2. Glover Quin- Easily the best game he has had as a safety.  He was very good in run support yesterday.  Also, he single-handedly busted up two screen passes, knifing through blocking to upend the running back.  Quin also had three passes defensed and would’ve had a fourth had he not been called for a pass interference on Mercedes Lewis.

3. Sherrick McManis-  Umm, wow! All of a sudden, this guy is a special teams’ stud.  In addition to an excellent kick return, he forced a fumble in kickoff coverage and was dominate as a gunner in punt coverage.  Quietly, he had a marvelous game and seems very fresh and healthy.  I’d like to see him play some cornerback in our dime defense.

4. Antonio Smith- Though not up to the standards he set early in the year, Smith was much more physical and active and appears to have worked through most of his shoulder problems that plagued him the past few games.

5. J.J. Watt- Man, he has a great motor.  He is still limited with his pass rush moves.  However, he is very physical, good with his hands and relentless.  Those attributes are enough to make him very disruptive.  He and Barwin both are very disciplined and aware of where the ball is at all times.  After rushing past the play, Watt turned around on a dumpoff to MJD and chased him down from behind, possibly saving a long TD.  He had one sack and had one stolen from him by a questionable personal foul penalty.  He nearly had a safety, beating the guard and fullback into the backfield when Jacksonville was backed up to their 2 yard line in the 4th quarter.  He is wonderful at  shedding blocks in the run game and stuffed a number of plays after tossing the guard or tackle aside to do so.

6. T.J. Yates- is quite good.  He is very poised.  He’s not afraid to get hit.  He throws the ball well.  He’s accurate and has a good arm.  He was rather brilliant in the two minute offense before the half.  On 3rd down, he stepped into an A gap blitz and throw a perfect pass to the crossing OD for a big gain to the 8 yard line.   He handled pressure extremely well.  I think he’s going to be excellent.

7.  Shaun Cody- Yeah, he had an excellent game.  I’m not sure he’s ever played as well as he did Sunday.  I sure hope it keeps up though.

There is one, and only 1, mathematical possibility for the Titans to win a tiebreaker against Houston…

Here’s why:

Here is what has to happen for Tennessee to win a tiebreaker for the division with Houston:

Houston must lose to Indy, Cincinnati, and Tennessee and must beat Atlanta and Carolina.

Tennessee must lose to Buffalo and defeat Houston, Jacksonville, Indy, and New Orleans.

If all that happens, they will both finish 10-6, 1-1 head to head, with an 8-4 record vs. Common opponents, and a 7-5 conference record. The 5th tiebreaker would decide it. Even then, it is uncertain. I believe strength of victory is determined by the collected W-L record of each team’s 10 wins. Under that scenario, here’s where they stand:

Houston would be slightly behind Tennessee (approximately 2 wins total)… It would come down to Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Miami and Jacksonville vs. Baltimore, New Orleans, Indianapolis, and Denver’s total wins over the final month.

Here are the 1st five tiebreakers:

1. Head to Head
2. Division Record
3. Common opponent Record
4. Conference Record
5. Strength of victory

There is no other way for the teams to tie and the Titans to win the tiebreaker. In essence, Tennessee must win the division outright.

Any other scenario with the two teams finishing with the same record would give the Texans the tiebreaker. Here are how things stand currently:

Houston 8-3, 4-0 in division, 5-1 common opponents, 7-2 conference
Tenn. 6-5, 1-2 in division, 3-2 common opponents, 4-4 conference

Realize that the common opponents will grow quickly. This week, Atlanta will be added to the mix because Houston plays them and Tennessee already has.

1. Limit turnovers- Texans can not lose this game without losing the turnover margin by at least two.  If the Texans show up to play on defense, given the Browns’ offensive woes, they Texans are nearly guaranteed two turnovers.  Therefore, I don’t see the Browns in this game unless they can create 4 or more turnovers.  Arrogant, I know.  But, that’s what I see.

2. Special Teams- The Texans one home loss doesn’t happen without great games from the opposing team’s placekicker and punter.  Without Lechler and Janikowski, Oakland would have lost that game by 14.  This week, the Browns will need great games from Joshua Cribbs and Phil Dawson.

3. Texans’ offense between the hashmarks- The Browns have good cornerbacks.  The Texans wide receivers struggle to get separation without AJ on the field.  However, the Browns safeties and linebackers struggle mightily in coverage.  For Kubiak (particularly without AJ’s availability), this is a dream matchup for him.  I’ll set the over/under for receiving yards between OD, Dreessen, and Casey at 150 yards.  If somehow the Browns can take the Texans TEs out of the game, I will become very concerned.

4. Texans rushing offense versus a big D-line- Oakland, Baltimore, and Jacksonville all have big, physical defensive lines and the Texans struggled to run consistently against each of them.  If the Texans can run on Cleveland like they did against Tennessee or Indianapolis, the Browns will have no chance to win.

5. Texans Defense avoiding the big play- Other than Cribbs, perhaps Greg Little could be considered a playmaker? The Browns don’t have much on offense.  With injuries to Hillis and Hardesty, they have even less.  I’m sure Colt McCoy will excite the Longhorn fans with a couple nice scrambles and a throw or two, but a motivated Texans defense shuts this offense down cold.  The Browns can not score against Houston without a lot of help!

That’s all I have: Texans 38 Browns 6… Crazy, obnoxious fandom, I know.

Offense:

Matt Schaub has been relatively inconsistent this season.  It is the most inaccurate I have seen him over an extended period of time since the 2007 season.  Despite his accuracy issues, he is a dramatically better QB than he ever has been.  This year, he has learned to manage the game and take care of the ball.  I believe he has turned over the ball 6 times in 8 games (5 interception and 1 fumble).  One remarkable stat: Schaub is averaging 8.3 yards per pass attempt.  That is an absurdly high number, especially considering his relatively low completion percentage this season.  In other words, the Texans are making a lot of big plays in the passing game.  Considering they have seldom been trailing in games and have missed Andre for most of the season, that stat is particularly amazing.  It appears to me that their running game has befuddled the NFL.  Furthermore, Kubiak has taken the play-action pass and his version of the west coast offense to another level.  His ability to manipulate the defense into allowing completely uncovered backs and tight ends downfield with regularity illustrates Kubiak’s offensive genius.  The Texans have the best offensive scheme in football right now.  The Texans are averaging 396 yards per game.  Consider that the Texans are 7th in total yards in the NFL despite averaging 3 more rushing carries per game than any other team in the NFL.  The Texans run to pass ratio is 52% run to 48% pass.   That is unheard of in modern NFL.  The Texans are 27th in the NFL in passing attempts per game but are 11th in passing yards.  All of this has happened despite the fact that Andre Johnson and Arian Foster have only played together in one game.  This offense is a machine.  The Texans are 8 days away from its bye.  Upon their return from the bye, Matt Schaub’s shoulder will likely be fresh, Andre Johnson will have returned healthy, and James Casey will have worked his way back into the full time fullback/H-back.  The Texans offensive line is healthy, Jacoby Jones has improved at WR after a rough first month, and the Texans added a key veteran backup in Derek Mason.  Only the Green Bay Packers have a better offense than the Houston Texans.  That being said, the Texans offense is the most complete and balanced of any NFL offense the past few seasons.

DEFENSE:

Through 8 games, the Texans have given up more than 14 points only three times.  The Texans defense gives up fewer yards per game than every team in the NFL with two exceptions: Baltimore and Pittsburgh.  Considering the Texans offense scores 26 points per game, that is even more impressive.  The Texans defense has given up a QB passer rating of 65 this year.  Compare that to Matt Schaub’s 97, or the Texans defensive performance in 2010 in this category: 100.5.  Teams convert 32% of their third downs vs. Houston.  The Texans rank 4th in the NFL in that category.  The Texans have 20 sacks and 10 interceptions.  Both statistics place them in the top 10 of those categories.  While the Texans have played some bad offenses and bad quarterbacks, they have met all 8 starters: Collins, Henne, Campbell all before their injuries.   While those aren’t exactly world-beaters, once you add Brees, Roethlisburger, Hasselbeck, and Flacco to that list, the Texans have faced a fairly representative group of QBs and offenses.  Specific improvements I noticed: The rush defense is dramatically better.  In the first three weeks, the Texans front seven seemed to lack some awareness or recognition on delays and interior and off-tackle running plays.  That has been corrected.  The Texans look incredibly sound versus the run.  The team is tackling very well.  Despite the aggressive nature of the defense, the players are playing with discipline and avoiding over pursuit.  I am concerned about the loss of Sharpton.  I’m not sure how the remaining linebackers are going to handle coverage responsibilities as well as Sharpton did.

If not for the emotional abuse I have suffered the past few years as a Texans fan, I would easily conclude the Texans are the class of the AFC and the second best team in the NFL right now.  The Texans have the versatility to win in a number of ways.  No longer can a bad matchup, a single injury, or other uncontrollable circumstances, derail this team.  Every team that faces the Texans now have to pick their poison, so to speak.  Currently, it appears the NFL believes committing 8 or 9 in the box to stop the run and blitzing the passing game heavily is the preferred philosophy.  Oakland stole a game doing that, despite allowing almost 500 yards of Texans offense against them.  Baltimore had success as well.  Still, I wonder if that philosophy will continue when Andre Johnson returns… I don’t know how successful it could be.  I think the Texans need to incorporate Ben Tate and Derrick Ward into the running game early and more often.  If the Texans are going to continue to run the ball 34 times per game, they need to plan on Tate and Ward averaging close to 15 of those.  One could argue that the Texans don’t lose much in the run game when Tate replaces Foster.  I agree.  Actually, I think Ben Tate’s skill set is quite special.  However, Foster is a game breaker and a special back in the passing game as well.  The Texans need to work on a rotation that utilizes and maximizes Foster and Tate’s strengths without running Foster into the ground.  Tate, I believe, should be the primary short yardage back, and he should also get about 1/3 of the snaps on 1st down.  Foster should be in the game on any 3rd and 3 or longer.   The Texans have done a good job of keeping Schaub clean and upright.  Clearly that is an important thing to continue.   The Texans need to finish out games and not give anything away like they did versus Oakland.  If they can, the road to the Superbowl could go through Houston.  The Texans still have their bye, they are within a game of everyone in the AFC, have one of the easiest remaining schedules, and own a head to head tiebreaker with Pittsburgh.  What do you think about some late January football at Reliant Stadium?!

Keys to the game:

1. Will the Texans show up focused to play after the big game at Tennessee last week?: I think so.  So far, they have every game this season.  It’s more likely the Jags let down after a tough win on Monday night.

2. Is the Jag defense truly good and a threat to an AJless Texans’ offense?: No, I don’t think so.  Wade Smith and Brisiel have been somewhat inconsistent this year.  The Texans do need the O-line to play well so they can feature the run game.  I think they will.  It appears that the Texans have found some rhythm without AJ and understand how to move the ball.  Last week, the Texans got creative in the run game and got both backs going.  Expect that to continue today.

3. Special Teams/Turnovers- The Jags need to win big on special teams.  Just like Oakland needed plays like the fake punt to stay with Houston, so will Jacksonville.  The Texans need simply to be sound and not give up silly, big plays.  In Jacksonville’s upset of Baltimore, Scobee had 4 FGs of over 50 yards… similar to the Janikowski game against Houston.  The Texans need to not gift Jacksonville with great field position and opportunities to score without moving the ball (which they can’t).

4. Avoid MJD big plays- Jones Drew has the ability to break off 70 or 80 yard touchdown runs in the run or pass game.  For Jacksonville to approach 20 points today, they will need huge plays from MJD.  The Texans need to contain him.  This could be tricky today, given the loss of Danieal Manning.

1. What formations with the Texans’ offense use to attack the Raiders in the passing game?: last year, the Texans effectively used tight ends to exploit the middle of the field and the Raiders’ linebackers.  Versus New Orleans, we have already seen the weapon that James Casey can be in this offense.  Consider Casey’s versatility, the good health of Owen Daniels, the steadiness of Joel Dreessen, and the abilities of Garrett Graham and the Texans could have four TEs on the field in passing situations.  Then again, perhaps the Texans will demand Jacoby Jones make some plays and supplement his speed with Kevin Walter’s hands and Bryant Johnson’s experience.  I really don’t know.  But, I’m very excited and interested to see the personnel packages and formations that Kubiak will open the game with.  My guess is there will be some new ones and, by design, we will see one of the tight ends have a big statistical game.

2. Running back health: It sounds like Ogbonnaya will be the 2nd running back tomorrow.  In other words, Foster needs to stay healthy.  Without AJ and without a healthy Ben Tate, it is absolutely essential that Foster can be on the field throughout the game.  Those three men have the athleticism and playmaking ability to dictate defensive alignment.  Without any of those men on the field, the Texans’ offense is forced into unfavorable matchups and depending on Matt Schaub to make plays instead of simply deliver the ball on time with accuracy.

3. How does Wade defend a great run offense?: This is fascinating.  The popular argument for the Texans’ poor rush defense is that the Texans lack a quality NT.  I disagree with this argument.  Certainly, a great NT would help the rush defense.  However, I believe the Texans struggle versus the run by choice.  It is the one gap, attacking style that creates creases in the defense for the run game.  If the defensive linemen were coached to clog the line and do more read and reacting post-snap, the Texans run defense would be statistically much better.  Wade, however, believes in getting after the QB and creating havoc in the backfield (God bless him!).  Today, however, the Texans go up against a very good rushing attack with a playmaker at running back.  As good as the Raider game is, their passing game is about that poor.  So, I am very curious what adjustments Wade will make based on this particular matchup, if any.

4. Are the Texans really mentally tough?: To date, the Texans have played four good football games.  They have yet to lay and egg and have shown resiliency in the Steeler and Dolphin games.  I will be watching for them to come out of the gate satisfied with a 3-1 start.  If they come out with fire, intensity, and focus, we are likely looking at the first Texan team to ever be three games over .500.  Wow!

There is something special about football, not only the tradition attached to families sharing it together.  More than that, there is something intrinsically good about 53 men working and fighting together for a common goal, each relying on the other to fulfill his responsibility for the betterment of the whole.  I realize I am waxing a little philosophical.  But, we are all football fans.  And, we are all humans that have and will experience the sting of death and have our knees buckled by the reality of our own mortality and the mortality of all those we care about around us.

We are also all Texans’ fans.  There is something special about that as well.  Just like in life, our destiny seems marked with failure, with hardship, and with tragedy.  Those of us that have been with this team from the beginning have had to learn how to enjoy the moment and spurn the larger reality that we are doomed.  In football, at least, that doom lasts only six months and then hope can be rekindled once again.  To date, however,  that hope is only to be smashed with another season filled with disappointment and gloom, while sprinkled with moments of excitement and even brilliance.  It has occurred to me: that’s life.  Also part of life are amazing and transcendent moments of wonder.  I think a secret to living a good life is to not miss out on these moments, but to really savor and enjoy them.  For me, my wedding day was one of those.  The birth of my children were certainly one of those days.  Beyond those blips of time, though, there are seasons of our lives that are very good and those need to be appreciated and savored as well.

For me, in the midst of the passing away of our family’s patriarch, I will be careful to soak in those three hours that begin just after our church service ends.  I will head home (actually, I will go to my grandfather’s house two blocks away), turn on the television, and watch this team I have gotten to know and experience hardships with.  I will watch them fight, celebrate, and succeed or fail together, knowing that this is one of those moments.   Perhaps they lose to the Raiders tomorrow (though I doubt it).  Regardless, I am not going to miss appreciating this season with the Texans.  Twenty years from now, my 11 year old son and I will remember that the Texans first playoffs in the franchise’s history took place the same year our Papa passed away.  And, you know what?: we will have fond memories of that season and that time.  We will remember sitting in his living room on October 8th, 2011 watching Matt Schaub move the offense down the field without Andre Johnson while Papa’s breaths shorten.  My son and I will jump up and down screaming accolades at Antonio Smith, Glover Quin, Johnathan Joseph, and maybe even Mario Williams (if he’s in the mood to play). We will remember together all the football games we watched at his house.  I’ll recall when I was a little boy and rooted for Roger Staubach and Danny White with him.

All that is to say, I think the attitude we have in whatever we are doing is much more important than what we are doing.  For me, as a passionate fan of the Texans, I have been convicted by the life and death of my grandfather, to root for the Texans in a way that expresses love and appreciation for life and in a manner that is careful not to miss any of life’s gifts.  I won’t forget this season.  Perhaps the Texans will add something to our memory of my grandfather.  What a nice gift that would be.

The Saints are a damn good football team, but Houston should have had this game out of reach at the half.  The offense performed well enough in the second half to win this game.  Wade’s crew inevitably was the achilles.  Brees picked the Texans apart.  Phillips wasn’t able to provide any pressure in the second half and Drew Brees simply chewed the Texans talented defense up and spit them out.  I can’t help but think that if Houston executes in the first half, this game ends with Houston’s first 3-0 start.  Next week I don’t see this playing out the same way.  Houston faced one of the best offenses in football and their defense couldn’t handle it.  Pittsburgh will not present the same kind of problems for Phillips’ defense.  The offense failing to knock it out of the park early was one key to this loss.  Schaub didn’t play his best game in the second half and the defense was unable to get pressure in the second half as well.

I’m eager to go back and re-watch because I think we’ll feel much better about this game after picking it apart.  One thing is for sure, this Texans team is a damn good football team.

Below, are four plays from the Miami game last week.  In some respect, they are not spectacular.  However, these plays highlight why Barrett and I are so excited about Watt.  We were not able to get the spot-shadow on to this video, so I’ll go into a little detail describing the video:

1. Watt is the RDE: watch how quickly he recognizes the draw and doubles back to make the shoestring tackle.  How many rookies could hold their water when they have a clear shot into the backfield like that? Then, he was also be able to stop, double-back, and make the play.

2. How many balls does this guy tip? He’s tall and gets good push almost every play.   Add to that skill set a knack for playmaking, and I think we can look forward to much more of this.

3. Watt is LDE: Watch how he slants down through the line, bullying through the block/hold and makes another shoestring tackle.   His balance is so good and his base is so strong that he is not redirected by the blocker despite the hammer lock.  Again, great recognition, effort, and playmaking.

4. Watt is LDE but runs a stunt up the middle: He actually gets stoned before he gets to the QB.  Still, look at the speed and agility.  Then, notice the power and a very good spin move, especially for a rookie.  Again, I am also struck by his balance.  He is always under control, on his feet, and getting penetration until he changes direction to pursue.