I’d say our chief concerns are on defense. Will we be able to get to Fitzpatrick? We haven’t had much of a pass rush this season.

In terms of rush defense, it’s been close to spectacular the last four weeks; the first three weeks of the season, however, it was about as bad as it gets. That said, Lynch and Jackson are talented RBs; we have to key on them.

Additionally, our secondary alternates between mediocre and woeful. Which brings us back to my first concern—if Fitzpatrick isn’t hassled, you can exploit the Houston secondary.

Agree with you about the matchup. It’s anyone’s game, and the Texans have not shown a proclivity for blowing anyone out for an entire game. A half, yes. But not a whole game.

He’s no Martin Rucker.

I wish we had Willis. I’d happily give up Marshawn and Poz for him.

Although he hasn’t played in many, Schaub’s been pretty impressive in cold weather games (e.g., last year at Green Bay). Of course, it all depends on whether we’re talking about a wet cold or a dry cold. If it’s the latter, I think Schaub should be able to handle it. If it’s the former, I don’t think he has much experience in it, so I couldn’t really say. The key to Schaub is whether he has time to throw. He’s not Ben Roethlisberger, so he’s not shaking off any sacks. Hit him early and often, and there’s a school of thought out there that says he gets rattled.

As you noted, OD’s been an absolute stud. Teams seem to try to cover him with LBs most of the time, and that’s a bad idea. I’m not sure there’s a LB that can contain Daniels. Haven’t seen many, if any teams, commit to throwing a FS at him this year, probably because they’re concerned that doing that could leave them exposed elsewhere against Houston’s WR corps.

Andre Johnson can normally take anything that’s thrown at him, but he’s never bruised a lung before. There’s talk of giving him extra padding, and I’m still not sure how much he’ll play. I really don’t know how the team will handle ‘Dre getting popped this week, but I hope they’d err on the side of caution. He’s too important to this squad’s success for the rest of the season.

Ron, you don’t think that they would use Scott (if healthy) on Daniels instead of Whitner? He seems to do much better against the stronger TE’s in the league.

bfd from BRB here with a thanks to Brian for having us over.

Yes, Teh Schaub is for real, something us Texans fans have known for a while. There was some ridiculousness about putting Rosenfels as the starter, but after the infamous Rosencopter incident, that rubbish was happily put to death. Also, his label of being injury prone is grossly unfair seeing how all three of his injuries were the result of hits that led to fines.

Schaub excels at play-action, and he’s accurate in the short- to mid- game. He does have a tendency to under throw deep, however. Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Owen Daniels, and Steve Slaton all make him look good, as well. Shanahan and Kubiak know what they have with Schaub, and they do a good job mixing it up while limiting Schaub’s weaknesses (he’s as mobile as a clam). He’s clearly the leader on offense.

That said, you can expect one stupid throw per game from him, most likely in the red zone. But even with those, he’s one of the best QBs in the league. 3-4 defenses can cause him trouble, but it’s more on the o-line than on him.

Compared to David “Turtle” Carr, it’s literally night and day difference.

I’ll actually add to that question: I only saw highlights, but the three Smith-to-Davis touchdowns looked like they came on very similar routes. Weak point we can exploit?

I understand the pain a bad QB can cause. Believe me. But objectively, were the issues more on Carr or the offense/line in general? I’m not saying that to gauge his ability now, just to get a sense of history.

We’ve already been through the Rex Grossman experience. His name was JP Losman. Somedays he’d show up and be super man (game against the Texans, for example). Other times, he’d butcher things so badly you wanted to kill him (game last year against the Jets). No thanks, you can have him.

Depending on who you ask, he’s the No. 3, 4, or 5 WR (people have different opinions on whether David Anderson or Jacoby Jones should be “ranked” ahead of him). He stepped up big in Andre Johnson’s absence two years ago, but he hasn’t really been a big contributor within the offense since then.

Now, his role is almost exclusively on special teams.

I’m going to sit back and hopefully watch the responses fly on this one.

I mean…. come on….the Houston Texans???? How laaaaame. How about we re-name all the teams like that. The New York City New Yorkers …. or the San Francisco Californians…….very creative, NOT!!!!!! :-)

Do I have to pull this car over right now!!!?!?!?!

I’m from SoCal, so I guess I would go with Oilers. Kind of weird being a Texans fan and only having been to Dallas, which I hear isn’t really part of Texas.

They Texans were a previous franchise in the NFL and the NFL shouldn’t allow teams to use names from defunct franchises. The league shouldn’t have allowed Houston to name itself the Texans because the Dallas Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs. Likewise, the league shouldn’t have allowed Tennessee to adopt the name Titans as they were the prior incarnation of the New York Jets. I wanted to puke when the New York Titans played the Houston Oilers in a legacy game this year.

The Oilers name was just bad from the get-go. Yes, Texas had a strong tie to the oil trade but Houston? Houston had strong ties to oil money. Besides, didn’t hockey already have an Oilers franchise when the NFL set up shop in Houston? Also, unlike the Browns-turned-Ravens, the Flaming Thumbtacks weren’t obliged to surrender all previous records and team colors when they relocated….so Houston couldn’t be the Oilers.

It just seems to me that new teams or relocating teams can come up with unique names befitting their area. I would have instantly become a fan of the Tennessee Riflemen, allegedly one of the names seriously considered by the team. It would have fit the history of the state, provided for ready-made mascot material and—most importantly—sounded way cooler than the Titans.

The bottom line is that

A fair proposal. I’ll pass it on to Kubes.

And just in case anyone doubts that he can take a beating and keep going, I will now post a link to conclusive proof that Andre Johnson is made of win.

Playoffs won’t get him fired so long as he has a winning record.

The team is clearly improving under Kubes and company so why fire the guy?

McNair is a very reasonable owner and he sees the strides that the team has made ever since the hiring of Kubiak and im pretty sure he realizes that it’s gonna take longer for a new coach to turn this team into a success.

about wide right?

Lack of stats aside, Smith has been fairly solid. While he hasn’t necessarily proven himself worth the big dollars Houston gave him yet, he’s been infinitely better than his predessor, The Corpse Formerly Known As Anthony Weaver. Watch for Smith to start at DE opposite Super Mario and then slide to DT to make room for Connor Barwin on third down passing situations.

Your guess on Adibi is as good as mine, but there’s no doubt that he’s the odd man out in the linebacker rotation. He simply hasn’t laid a strong claim to the starting gig at WLB. He’s faster than Zac Diles, but Diles is considered a smarter, safer option there.

161 yards passing/gm.

We should probably start punting on first down more often.

Or maybe both our teams are just in the same state of inconsistency leaving the fans incapable of overconfidence.

I’ve always been a fan of the Texans in the AFC. I think its because over the last decade we’ve been kindred souls in the fact that every year the experts predict one or both of us to get over the hump and we do stay in the wildcard hunt to the end despite playing in divisions with perennial powerhouses that win it but fall just short because of one or two haunting games.

We represent the young middle ground of our conference that somehow stays competitive at, just below or just above .500. I’ve always thought that if the Bills cant get that final wildcard spot I wanted you guys to get it. I would probably root for the Texans in the playoffs if they were in and the Bills weren’t.

That said, this exchange has been the classiest I’ve ever seen between fanbases before a game. There is usually at least one or two guys that ruin it but I’ve enjoyed this pre-game exchange.

To your point, I have all the respect in the world for Schaub, Daniels, Johnson, and Walter but truthfully I’m more afraid of Slaton this game than your passing attack. I trust my secondary. Byrd is a ball hawk, if anyone can check Andre is McGee – hes been doing it all year and throughout his career (he won’t shut them down but he limits the damage they do consistently) and we have a good defense containing the pass. Slaton is quick and can cut on a dime which scares me becuase our run defense is known for over running plays and not tackling well, two dangerous combos against a guy as quick and slippery as Slaton.

I always thought Dunta Robinson was a stud but it sounds like talking to you guys that Lee Evans could beat him deep. I think it will be a good game. Mario Williams could have a monster preformance against our o-line.

I have every confidence that he can handle Schobel without getting schooled. Opposing teams have typically lined up their marquee ends against him because he is young and they obviously want to try and take advantage of him. He has faced off against Kyle Vandenbosch, Jared Allen and the likes and done well.

So while it is most certainly a KEY matchup, I don’t view it as a weakness.

He’s the second-best lineman on our current offensive line, I think, behind Eric Winston. He seems to be improving with every game, though he’s still capable of getting beat (just not as frequently as he was last year, particularly by speed rushers off the end).

Note: We have lost both starting guards to season-ending injuries and our center has a penchant for getting blown off the line by big NTs. Thus, the Texans are exceptionally vulnerable up the middle.