First, some light housekeeping before we get into the Sunday Night game…

Several thousand astute readers (actually none at all) pointed out that I failed to give out my coveted player and play of the week awards for Houston’s win against the Jets on Monday night. So, quickly:

Player of the game, offense: Clearly, Arian Foster. As you know from a previous entry, I don’t think Arian had been quite himself this year, due to blocking issues and his own. Not that he had significantly regressed – but he just didn’t have that same “wow” about him. It was all back on display Monday night, as he finally ripped off a couple of long runs, and helped carry the offense to a win on a night where Andre Johnson was absolutely OWNED by Antonio Cromartie, and when Matt Schaub wasn’t at his best.

Player of the game, defense: Yet again, JJ Watt. I’m going to have to go back and look at the previous game wrap-ups, but I’m pretty sure Watt has been the pick in all of them? When the Texans needed a play, who is always there? The JuggerWatt, of course. He had yet another batted pass that resulted in yet another interception, and sealed the game with batted-down ball. Oh, and another sack. Another day at the office for Watt. Ho-hum.

Player of the game, special teams: BHAHAHAHAHA

Play of the game: I’m going with Watt’s defensed pass that resulted in an interception by Brice McCain at the end of the first half. Somehow, the Jets offense was building momentum and ready to punch it in – well, they were ready to kick a field goal – going into the second half. Watt IMMEDIATELY backed off any attempt at a pass rush, and literally dropped back in coverage, if you will. A really, really bad quarterback named Mark Sanchez obliged JJ, and threw the pass toward him. We know how that ends up. Of course, then McCain and Troy Nolan combined to completely BOTCH what should have been an EASY return for touchdown. What the hell, guys. Seriously.

While we all should be elated that the Texans are 5-0 going into the toughest stretch of their 2012 schedule, the loss of Brian Cushing is quite a dark cloud.

Cushing will be sorely missed, not just because of how good he is, but because of how limited their options are. Nobody is going to “replace” Cush. All the Texans can hope for is that (probably) Tim Dobbins will slide into his position and be, at best, solid. If you’re hoping for more, just stop now.

What the Texans and all we fans CAN hope for, is that this team has been so good this year, that other players and facets of the game will step up to make up the difference. It sounds overly-simplified, but with this team it actually makes sense.

Last night, for example, Arian Foster was the Arian Foster we had been missing this season. Sure the blocking is part of it, but he had a bit more wiggle, and he was able to fall forward in that classic Arian manner that got them tough extra yards. Of course some guy named JJ Watt just decided he would control the game on his own, forcing yet another interception, and batting down the final pass of the game, among other things.

But make no mistake – Cushing will be missed on and off the field. His leadership, his emotion, his attitude, and above all else – his high-level of play.

Now, on to the game.

ATTENTION HOUSTON TEXANS FANS EVERYWHERE

CALM THE HELL DOWN. THE TEAM IS 5-0

People are freaking out as if the team lost, and lost badly. How some of you don’t understand the way the NFL works after presumably having watched it for many years, I don’t know.

Yes, the Jets are an inferior team in almost every way. The Texans should have blown them off the field. But these are the Jets. They have a head coach who can coach his ASS off when it comes to defense. It’s what he does. The Jets were desperate for a win. They were at home. They were on the huge Monday Night Football stage. They had been called quitters all week. They were coming off getting their heads bashed in 34-0, in front of their home fans.

The Jets gave the Texans their best shot. They played multiple quarterbacks. They tried trick plays. They put in alternate personnel. They tried an onside kick… despite all of that, the Texans won the game on a night where a couple of their stars were subpar.
Matt Schaub – started great, finished average.
Andre Johnson – nowhere to be found.
Johnathan Joseph – had his worst game as a Texan.

… but the Texans won anyway. Houston never once returned a kickoff beyond the 20-yardline, AND they gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown – but they won anyway.

What do good teams do? They win games when they don’t play well.
What do good teams do? They win on the road.
What do good teams do? When things happen that they aren’t prepared for, they find a way to win anyway.
What do good teams do? They play great on special teams? Well, not this good team.

Andre Johnson isn’t ineffective, he just got HANDLED
Like, seriously handled. It’s hard to give Antonio Cromartie a lot of credit, but he shut Dre down, PERIOD. There’s no reason to freak out. He, like Joseph, just had a bad game. When I look at them I don’t see guys who are hiding injuries, or who are suddenly about to be terrible (really, some people think that). I just see guys who had bad games. I say that without re-watching the game yet, or seeing the all-22 coaching film – but I don’t think it’s a stretch. It happens.

Speshul Teemz r speshul
The Trindon Holliday Watch continues. While I wasn’t surprised that he has made it this far into the season, I will be mildly surprised if he survives this week. You can read the previous entry for my thoughts on Holliday. As for the rest – I don’t know what can be done. Can you fire your special teams coordinator five weeks into the season? Are teams better served to try something different personnel-wise and/or scheme-wise? I don’t know, but eventually the Texans are going to lose a game because of this. I think we all kind of agree on that. It would be one thing if we could isolate one bad thing the special teams does, but it really is everything.

We will hit more on the WIN in New York – the WIN that pushed this team to 5-0 – later in the week. I’ll re-watch the game, check out some coaching film, and share some more.

For now, let’s try to enjoy this even with the injury to Cushing. I can’t believe I need to say “look at the bright side” after going 5-0, but losing the guy in the upper-right corner will do that. Kareem Jackson is playing better. JJ Watt is THE JUGGERWATT, and remains unstoppable. Arian Foster looks like he is in midseason form. Owen Daniels is quietly having a great season. Matt Schaub wasn’t sacked against the Jets, and has only been sacked three times all season.

FIVE and 0. It wasn’t pretty, and this team isn’t perfect – but we already knew that. Enjoy it!

Before I unleash my postgame thoughts, I just want to quickly say that I do think Trindon Holliday should and will be cut this week.

Despite the perfect record, clearly the Texans have field position and special teams issues. Of course it’s not all Holliday’s fault. The blocking hasn’t been there. But to me the reasoning for this is simple.

Holliday will not be cut because he’s not doing a good job. He’s going to get cut because he’s not doing a good job AND because he doesn’t do anything else. Gary Kubiak beat this drum all preseason long: “Trindon has to be special to make this team.” Well, Trindon is special – Preseason Special. Now we are BEYOND the quarter mark of the season, and I think everyone has seen enough.

Because the blocking hasn’t been good, we don’t know what Holliday can do in a best-case scenario. However, good blocking or not – WE KNOW HE IS NOT SPECIAL – so, it’s over.

I expect the Texans to move some combination of Justin Forsett and/or Keshawn Martin into the kickoff and punt return roles, and then have two spots to fill with the departure of Holliday, and the vacant slot left by Brian Cushing.

…as to exactly HOW, I can’t tell you.

Here’s all I can come up with. On offense, they have no prayer (even with Tebow). Defensively, this is all I’ve got – Rex Ryan tells one of his pass rushers to absolutely obliterate Matt Schaub on a play-action play, whether Schaub comes off the turn with or without the ball. Sure, it would draw a penalty. Sure, it could leave the chance for a huge play for the Texans on offense. But if they could force a turnover, hurt Schaub, or make SOME kind of impact play early, then you never know what can happen.

Yeah, I’m reaching, I know. Of course the team could come out flat, although that seems unlikely on Monday Night Football. Couple that with an early turnover and the possibility that Houston could struggle to run the ball AND struggle to stop the run, and the Jets could keep it close… for a while.

Keep in mind, in no way do I think any of that is going to happen. The Jets are in far too much turmoil to put together a perfect game against the Texans, who should MAUL them on defense. The Texans may sputter early as they have at times this year, but barring some SERIOUSLY unforeseen problems, turnovers, injuries, and on-field miracles – they should get out of New York late Monday with their fifth win.

Despite some issues getting the run game going AND stopping the run, the Texans have managed to blow teams off the field in 2012. The one exception was the win in Denver, but even that was kind of a fluke after a Ben Tate turnover sparked Denver to a late rally which included a clown touchdown to Joel Dreessen.

The Jets, like the Titans – haven’t really stopped anyone, especially against the run. They are 31st in rushing defense, giving up an eye-popping 173 yards per game. The New Orleans Garbage is the only team worse, giving up – are you ready for this? 187 rushing yards per game!

On offense, the Jets are in the bottom ten in rushing, amassing only about 87 yards per game. Not hard to believe with a rushing attack that features Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell. Of course it goes without saying that they are near the bottom in passing as well.

So you have a team that is number one in overall defense going into week five, going against a team that is near the bottom in offense. Houston’s strengths match up well against New York’s strengths, which are

The question I have at the end of this entry is… how do the Jets have two wins? They blew up for 48 points against that vaunted, scary, amazing Buffalo defense… and managed to squeak out a win over the Dolphins. Other than that, they got their heads kicked in against the Steelers and 49ers by a combined score of 61-10. They should fair no better against the Texans, but it is Monday night, and you just never know.

Texans 27
Jets 13

Nicknames are silly, unless you earn them. JJ Watt has more than earned the thousand nicknames he’s had bestowed upon him. Recently I came up with “JuggerWatt” for our unstoppable force of a defensive end (who just won the AFC Defensive Player of the Month, by the way). So (what I think) is a solid nickname plus the artistic stylings of a good friend of mine resulted in this… The JuggerWatt!

I should be clear – this is NOT an original work. This is simply an image of the Internet, but obviously altered with Texans colors. “Texan’d up” if you will.

The Texans took a calculated risk when they jettisoned Eric Winston from the team and allowed Mike Brisiel to walk in free agency over the offseason. The team almost literally had no choice on Brisiel, who signed a deal in Oakland that Houston would have been out of their minds to match. With Winston, his pass-blocking had continued to go steadily downhill, though I think he was still run-blocking at a fairly high level. But of course, that move was all about cutting salary to make room for signing others.

Now we are four games into 2012, and the plan has changed repeatedly since the two above moves were made. First, assumed Winston replacement Rashad Butler did not play well, and lost the job to second-year player Derek Newton in the preseason. Next, Brisiel replacement Antoine Caldwell was predictably underwhelming. After coming into the regular season as the unquestioned starter, he now splits snaps with rookie guard Ben Jones.

Following that, Newton nearly got Matt Schaub killed in a 31-25 win over Denver. The result since has been an “every third series” rotation with swing tackle Ryan Harris, who joined the team after Butler’s season-ending injury. To cap things off on the offensive line machinations (so far), Caldwell rolled an ankle against Tennessee, which may or may not keep him out of the lineup against the Jets in week five.

Regardless of all the changes SINCE Winston and Brisiel left the team, the running game wasn’t going to be the same, at least not right away.

In 2011 the Texans finished with a 4.5 yards per carry average (7th in NFL), and 153 yards per game (2nd). Four games into 2012, Houston sits at 3.7 yards per carry (20th), and 136.5 yards per game (9th). Of course, the stats NEVER tell the whole story. The Texans are playing from ahead SO much in 2012, and they are running the ball into the ground to eat clock. But the running game isn’t the same, as pretty much everyone predicted.

The running backs play a role in this too. I won’t go too much into Arian Foster’s responsibility, as you can read those thoughts in the previous blog entry. Ben Tate is certainly capable, but he has been up and down in 2012. Still, with both Foster and Tate, you get the feeling they are both about to break out and have huge games more than a feeling that they will continue to “struggle.”

Struggle, of course, is a relative term here. The Texans are still a top rushing team – but they aren’t running it like the Houston Texans run it. They aren’t running it the way Gary Kubiak expects.

I’m interested to see how these double-rotations on the right side of the offensive line shake out going forward. Offensive linemen will tell you that playing well as a unit is as much about chemistry, repetition, and timing as it is about talent. When you talk about the Texans’ zone-blocking scheme, it’s thought to be even more reliant on that chemistry, repetition, and timing. You have to know how the guy next to you moves, you have to know when he’s going to release and hit the next level. This of course is what has come directly from Texans’ offensive linemen AND coaches – but that tune changes once the deck gets shuffled. Now it’s “this guy has earned a right to get on the field” and “we can win with a rotation,” and so on. Coachspeak – it wouldn’t be the NFL without it.

I can’t imagine both offensive line rotations continue throughout the rest of the season. I just don’t think Kubiak is comfortable with that long term, but right now he needs to see them on the field to allow one to separate himself from the other. Even if that doesn’t happen, I expect Newton especially will be back to the singular starter by the halfway point of the season.

To this point in the season, I have avoided this topic. Now that we are a quarter into the season, I’m putting it out there.

*Deep breath*

Never mind Arian Foster’s huge workload – right now he doesn’t look like the same player to me. Before you freak out, get with the “spirit” of this blog entry. I’m simply stating what I see right now. I’m not saying he is a bum, or that he isn’t a great running back, or that Ben Tate should be the starter (my GOD, dummies who say that need a concussion test). I’m just saying – he does not look the same to me right NOW.

The offensive line does have some responsibility in this, of course. When you first rework the entire right side of the line, and on top of that then begin a rotation at both right guard and right tackle – yes, it’s going to cause issues.

But it’s not all on the line. The most obvious difference that I’ve noticed this year is that Arian is often getting tackled by the first guy that touches him. That almost NEVER happened in the last two years. Having watched each game this season at least twice, I can say with confidence that it is happening more in 2012. In addition to that, I’ve noticed a few times where Arian hasn’t broken arm tackles the way he typically does. That’s not like him at all.

Arian still has the superior vision, and he’s still able to turn a no-gain into a three-yard gain. The Texans haven’t been as good in short yardage, but that obviously IS almost entirely on the offensive line.

Questions about Foster’s workload are also starting to surface. You have probably heard by now that he is on pace to have the second-most carries in single-season NFL history. Gary Kubiak was asked about this in his Monday press conference. Kubiak’s response: “He can handle it, I know that… he looks fine to me… I’m not too concerned at this point.”

Historically, RBs who have huge workloads around what Arian is on target for aren’t exactly guys who stick around and play at a high level for a long time. Could Foster be different? Sure he could, but if you just invested a ton of money in a player for the long haul, AND you have a backup who could start for several teams in the NFL – what’s the point in running him into the ground? Partially, the answer is – as much as people still don’t see it – Foster is still significantly better than Tate right now. His vision, his decisions, his pass-catching, his blocking, etc. He’s just better. But with a back behind him as excellent as Tate can be, I don’t see the hurt in giving Tate all of the garbage time carries, and more of the carries that matter during the course of the game. I’m not asking for a 1A and 1B situation here, but more like say, a three to one split.

Through four games, Tate is getting about 21% of Houston’s rush attempts. That number of course is skewed by the one anomaly, the game in Jacksonville where Tate handled 12 of the 28 attempts. So roughly, for every carry Foster gets, Tate gets four. That simply baffles me. I don’t know how else to put it. I suppose the win over the Titans could have something to do with Tate’s toe injury, or his fumble against the Broncos… but Tate wasn’t even getting garbage time carries against the Dolphins in game one.

So again, I don’t think I’m overreacting or throwing anything crazy out there. You won’t find a bigger Arian Foster fan than me. I’m all about the guy… but I also call it like I see it, and right now I’m seeing a guy who is still excellent and very effective – but not quite yet the guy we are used to seeing. I’m hoping the better the blocking gets, and the more the season wears on – we see the “old Arian” who rips off big plays (with the help of a great offensive line) and makes single-tacklers look silly.

Yet again, the Texans did what they were supposed to do. The NFL put a vastly inferior team in front of them, and they took care of business.

The Texans looked a little bit sluggish in parts of the game, but even while the Titans were hanging around at 14-7, it never really felt that close.

Chris Johnson did seem to find his way a little bit in this game, finishing with 141 rushing yards. I do have to say though, despite all those yards he chewed up, he STILL was leaving a lot of yards on the field. There was one play in particular, I believe it was his longest of the game, where that play would have been a no-doubt TD back when CJ was CJ.

And that’s all the letters I’m going to type about Chris Johnson.

On offense, the Texans certainly did not finish with dominant numbers, but they got up on the Titans early, and let the defense do the rest. Matt Schaub had another solid game, taking what the defense gave on the way to a 20 for 28, two touchdown, zero turnover day. Schaub hit seven different receivers over the course of the game, including six to Owen Daniels and five to James Casey.

Arian Foster was solid, but does not look like the Arian Foster of the last two years. More on that later in the week, but I’m not overly concerned at this point. I would like to see a little more from Ben Tate. It’s a long season and Arian is taking a pounding out there. I’m already worried about him wearing down later in the year.

Though the offensive line didn’t dominate in the run game, they certainly gave Schaub all the time he needed to sit comfortably in the pocket. The Texans did not give up a sack in the game, and Schaub barely even got hit after getting pinballed all over the field last week.

No Texan on offense had eye-popping numbers, and the team as a whole did not have the offensive output that I expected against arguably the worst defense in the NFL. But again, they took what was there. They didn’t hit the big play because they didn’t need the big play. The running game chewed yards and clock when it needed to, and Schaub worked the short and intermediate pass game effectively. The defense did the rest.

Oh, yes, the defense. With the Titans hanging around 14-7 to start the third quarter, each team traded unsuccessful drives. On the first play of the Titans’ second drive, Danieal Manning returned a tipped Matt Hasselbeck pass 55 yards for a touchdown. Just like that, the score is 21-7 and the game is basically over. Add an Owen Daniels touchdown after the Titans quit on their tackling, and another returned interception touchdown by Kareem Jackson, and this turned into an ugly blowout.

JJ Watt finished with two more sacks, four tackles, and a fumble recovery. Just another day at the office for the most consistently dominant defensive player in the NFL today. Johnathan Joseph and Kareem Jackson benefited from not having to deal with Kenny Britt, and shut down Titan receivers accordingly. The Texans gave up rush yards, but avoided giving up big plays.

Player of the game – offense – I’ll go with Schaub again, who played mistake-free football, settled for underneath routes, and played a smart game in leading the Texans to their 12th win in their last 16 regular season games in which he started.

Player of the game – defense – This was a tough call. I’ll once again go with JJ Watt who AGAIN notched a multi-sack game with two, had four tackles, and scooped up a fumble recovery. When he wasn’t getting numbers, he was causing utter chaos for the Titans. They had no answer for him all game long. Nobody does.

Play of the game – the aforementioned interception-for-TD by Manning. It put some separation between the teams on the scoreboard, and the Titans never recovered.

Next up, Houston heads to New York to face a Jets team that is in complete meltdown mode. The Jets were pulverized by San Francisco 34-0, and on paper shouldn’t fare much better against the Texans. But you never know. It’s gonna be a hyper atmosphere on Monday Night Football, and the Texans are going to have an aggressive, angry, desperate team to have to deal with. (But oh my GOD are the Jets bad.)

463 yards per game. That’s what the Titans are giving up in 2012 through their 1-2 record.

Chris Johnson is rotting garbage. Kenny Britt isn’t going to play due to an ankle injury. What more can be said?

The only way the Texans can lose this game is if they not only come out flat, but stay flat, turn the ball over, and/or experience a ton of injuries. Sure, it’s a divisional game and the teams know each other well, but at this point the Titans only have two things going for them:

1. They have allowed only two sacks, good for second-best in the NFL despite being in the top-half of passing attempts. Of course part of that is because Locker has shown flashes of being an effective off-schedule quarterback when he’s improvising with his feet. The line has been GOD AWFUL running the ball, as we all know.

2. I literally forgot the second thing as I was typing this. Special teams or something? I dunno.

I wasn’t able to make time for a proper preview this weekend, so I’ll leave it at that. I will have some postgame thoughts for you at some point tonight.

As I said on Battle Red Radio, I’m picking the Texans 31-13. I expect to see a lot of Ben Tate in this game, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jake Locker have some pretty good called and uncalled runs. But it should be a tail-kicking at best, and a fairly comfortable win at worst.

Houston Texans
Record: 3-0
Week 3: Defeated Denver 31-25
Next: Hosts Tennessee
The Texans have a stranglehold on the AFC South after week three. They are dominant on defense, and after a win in Denver the offense has shown its quick-strike ability to go along with their typical grind-it-out one-two punch running game. Though they have some questions on the offensive line with apparently rotations now at both right guard and right tackle, they are far, far and away the best thing going in the AFC South. Barring injury, the Texans will run away with the division. They’re already on their way.

Indianapolis Colts
Record: 1-2
Week 3: Lost to Jacksonville 22-17
Next: Open week
The Colts squandered a golden opportunity to keep pace and stay one game behind the Texans by losing at home to the Jaguars. The Jaguars? At home? Good God, Colts. I know they are going to experience growing pains and Andrew Luck isn’t who he is one day going to be – but I still think the Colts right now are a better team than the Jaguars. That said – they are both one thing… BAD. The Colts get an early off week to think back about how they let Blaine Gabbert beat them in the waning moments.

Jacksonville Jaguars
Record: 1-2
Week 3: Defeated Indianapolis 22-17
Next: Hosts Cincinnati
The Jaguars do have one thing going for them. Maurice Jones Drew clearly has backed up his claim that he stayed in shape and would be ready to go when he returned from his holdout. Even with a new offense and system, he has excelled and absolutely gashed the Colts in week three. The Colts defense is so predictably bad that they gave up a long passing touchdown to Blaine Gabbert at the end of the game. Ah yes, Gabbert actually did improve this week! Congratulations, Jaguars. At this pace, by the time the Jaguars end up in Los Angeles, Gabbert might put back to back games together with 200 yards and a 55% completion percentage!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that not only did the Jaguars select Blaine Gabbert with the TENTH PICK OF THE FIRST ROUND in the 2011 draft – they TRADED UP to do so.

Tennessee Titans
Record: 1-2
Week 3: Defeated Detroit 44-41
Next: at Houston
The Hill People hornswaggled Detroit on special teams, took advantage of some truly awful Lion football, and made some plays themselves on their way to one of the wildest wins in recent NFL history. Jake Locker has been up and down, but he can certainly make some plays with his legs. As Rivers and Brett mentioned on Battle Red Radio, a quarterback who can run can do well against a Wade Phillips defense. I’m sure he will be an irritant with his feet, but with the Texans in a good position to stop the run, Locker will have to make plays with his arm if the Titans are going to have any shot.

But they don’t have any shot. Also mentioned on Battle Red Radio, the barefoot meth-addicts are giving up a Frank Bush-esque 463 yards per game this season. That’s PER GAME! As an aside, the Saints are the only team worse, giving up 477 yards per game. Wow. Sunday should be fun for Houston fans, and Sunday evening should be GREAT for meth dealers in Nashville.