The Houston Texans ran into a buzzsaw at the Georgia Dome earlier today.  Matt Schaub did his part as he completed 28 of 40 passes 317 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 interceptions.  He also carried the ball 5 times for 19 yards (3.8 ypc).  Ron Dayne was the main man in the running game and he carried the ball 15 times for 62 yards (4.1 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 12 yards (6.0 avg).  Fullback Jameel Cook was also busy with 2 carries for 6 yards (3.0 ypc) and 6 receptions for 28 yards (4.7 avg).  WR Andre’ Davis had another outstanding game with 5 catches for 117 yards (23.4 avg) with 1 TD grab.  WR Kevin Walter (6 rec, 77 yards) and TE Owen Daniels (5 rec, 69 yards) also had good games on Sunday.  The Texans finished up with 87 yards rushing on 22 carries (4.0 ypc) and they completed 28 of 40 passes for 311 yards.

The Texans had big trouble trying to stop Joey Harrington and the Falcons’ passing attack.  The Falcons completed 23 of 29 passes for 214 yards against the Texans and they also rushed for 90 yards on 30 carries (3.0 ypc).  The Falcons had possession of the football for 34:12 of the football game and it’s hard to win when an opponent does that to you.

The Texans knew when they signed free agent running back Ahman Green that they were going to have to be careful not to work him too hard to keep him healthy.  That lasted a little more than two weeks as Green has been dinged up.  He’s still good when he plays though as he has carried the ball 35 times for 149 yards (4.3 ypc) with 1 TD.  He also has caught 6 passes for 34 yards (5.7 avg).  Ron Dayne was sharing carries with Green but he was injured in week two.  He will likely be back this weekend and the Texans need him to pick up the pace.  He has carried the ball 31 times for 77 yards (2.5 ypc) so far this season.  Samkon Gado could be the wildcard as he’s the most athletically gifted of the running backs on the Texans roster.  He has only carried the ball 6 times for 12 yards (2.0 ypc) with 1 TD run, but look for him to be much more busy in the near future.

The Houston Texans look to get back on track against the Falcons.  The Texans are banged up though and the Falcons played their best game of the season last week against the Panthers, but they lost a close game.  Texans’ QB Matt Schaub probably has had this game circled on his calendar since the season started after his trade from the Falcons jst before the NFL Draft.  But, it’s very questionable as to whether he will be able to attack a Falcons’ secondary that is allowing opposing QBs a 102.1 QB Rating.  With Andre Johnson and Jacoby Jones out for this game, look for the Texans to throw more short passes than usual.  TE Owen Daniels (13 rec, 128 yards) and Kevin Walter will likely be the short targets with Andre Davis the lone deep threat for the Texans against the Falcons.  Ahman Green is also hurting but the Texans hope to have Ron Dayne back as the Texans might be smart to attack the Falcons on the ground where they have had issues stopping the run.  The Falcons have allowed 142.3 yards rushing per game this season.

The Falcons will likely go with “Air Harrington” this week again as it worked well last week.  The Texans have issues on pass defense as they allow 234.7 yards passsing per game this season.  If the Falcons can keep DE Mario Williams and rookie DT Amobi O’Koye out of the backfield, Harrington should have success throwing the football.  Look for the Falcons to challenge the Texans deep with Roddy White (15, 237 yards), Michael Jenkins (9 rec, 104 yards) and Joe Horn (6 rec, 84 yards) and when the defense loosens up the coverage the Falcons will go short to TE Alge Crumpler (13 rec, 156 yards) and RBs Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood out of the backfield.  The Falcons will use the pass to open up the running game as the Falcons are only averaging 89.7 yards rushing per game.

PREDICTION:  The linemakers have this game about right as the Texans are a 3-point favorite.  That’s because this is a game that could go either way, but I’m picking the Falcons to win at home based on all of the injuries the Texans have on offense.

The Texans have lost starting center Seth McKinney for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.  The Texans are lucky to have Mike Flanagan as the backup center as he has a lot of starting experience.  He will start the rest of the season as long as he can stay healthy.  DT Cedric Killings had a vicious collision with WR Roy Hall of the Colts and he fractured the fourth cervical vertebra in his neck.  His season finishes with Killings only making 1 tackle.  It’s up in the air at this point as to whether or not that Killings will ever play football again.

Running back Ahman Green is “iffy” for this week’s game against the Falcons due to a knee injury.  Green has carried the ball 35 times for 149 yards (4.3 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also has caught 6 passes for 34 yards (5.7 avg).  If Green can’t go Sunday the Texans will likely turn to Ron Dayne who sat out last week with a chest injury.  Dayne has carried the ball 31 times for 77 yards (2.5 ypc) and he also has caught 1 pass for 10 yards this season.  The Texans would be smart to give Green the week off as he’s had knee problems in the past.

Jacoby Jones is the latest WR to go down with an injury on the Houston Texans.  He has separated his shoulder and will miss the next 2-3 weeks.  That is a shame as Jones is quite a playmaker whenever he touches the football.  He has caught 5 passes for 59 yards (11.8 avg) and he also has run the football 2 times for 7 yards (3.5 ypc) so far this season.  He has also been outstanding on punt returns for the Texans.  Jones has returned 8 punts for 128 yards (16.5 avg) this season.  With Andre Johnson and Jacoby Jones both out the Texans’ wide receiver corps will be pretty weak for the next couple of weeks.  Kevin Walter (4 rec, 34 yards), Andre Davis (4 rec, 70 yards) and Jerome Mathis (1 rec, 15 yards) will all have to step up or the Texans’ passing game will be in trouble.

The Houston Texans took a physical beating in this game but they were right in it all the way to the end.  Matt Schaub did a pretty decent job overall when you consider all the injuries the offense had suffered.  He completed 27 of 33 passes for 236 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions.  Ahman Green got hurt early in the game and that definately hurt the Texans running game as he finished with 5 yards on 4 carries (1.3 ypc).  Jameel Cook (5 car, 15 yards) and Samkon Gado (6 car, 12 yards, TD) both did the most work in the running game for the Texans.  WR Andre Davis stepped up and led the way in the passing game for the Texans with 4 receptions for 70 yards (17.5 avg) and TE Owen Daniels was also pretty good with 7 catches for 56 yards (8.0 avg).  Fullback Vonta Leach only caught 1 pass…..but it was a 1-yard TD.  The special teams was outstanding for the Texans as Jerome Mathis and Jacoby Jones were setting the Texans up with short fields the whole game.  Mathis returned 7 kickoffs for 233 yards (33.3 avg) including one kick that he returned 84 yards for a TD.  Punt returner Jacoby Jones returned 2 punts for 86 yards (43.0 avg) and he also caught 3 passes for 26 yards (8.7 avg).  The Texans finished up with 17 carries for 40 yards (2.4 ypc) and they completed 27 of 33 passes for 214 yards.

The defense was led by linebacker DeMeco Ryans who had 13 tackles to lead the team.  Safety C.C. Brown added 8 tackles and some very hard hits.  The Texans held the Colts to 92 yards rushing on 29 carries (3.2 ypc) and the Colts completed 20 of 29 passes for 270 yards.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270923034

The Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans are playing for first place in the AFC South this Sunday.  The Colts will likely attack the Texans through the air first and then try to grind the game out on the ground.  For this to work the Colts must keep the Texans impressive young defensive line away from QB Peyton Manning.  The Texans already have 6 sacks this season including 2 each for rookie DT Amobi O’Koye and 2nd year DE Mario Williams.  The Texans have given up 212.5 yards per game passing and they have had problems with injuries to their safeties so look for TE Dallas Clark (9 rec, 117 yards) and rookie WR Anthony Gonzalez (3 rec, 49 yards).  Don’t think for a minute that Peyton Manning won’t be throwing the ball deep to Marvin Harrison (10 rec, 170 yards, TD) and Reggie Wayne (12 rec, 185 yards, 2 TDs).

With the Texans likely without running back Ron Dayne and WR Andre Johnson due to injury the Texans must keep the ball on the ground to keep the ball away from the Colts offense.  RB Ahman Green will likely have his biggest workload of the season and he should have success against the Colts defense which is allowing 123.5 yards rushing per game.  Without Andre Johnson available for this game look for QB Matt Schaub to spread the football around to a lot of receivers in the short passing game.  TE Owen Daniels (6 rec, 72 yards) and FB Vonta Leach (6 rec, 29 yards) will likely be the most targeted receivers in the passing game.  That will put pressure on the safeties and outside linebackers of the Colts.  WR Kevin Walter (2 rec, 17 yards) and Jacoby Jones (2 rec, 33 yards) must stretch the field a little bit or the Colts will constrict the offense of the Texans by moving more defenders into the box….including Bob Sanders and that would be bad for the Texans’ running game.

PREDICTION:  If Andre Johnson weren’t injured I might have picked the Texans to pull an upset here.  But, without Johnson I just can’t see the Texans staying with the Colts on the scoreboard.  Look for the Colts to win this game by more than a TD.

Matt Schaub has been everything the Texans’ hoped he would be….and more so far this season.  Schaub has completed 36 of 50 (72%) passes for 452 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 interception (111.4 QB Rating) so far this season.  The most impressive part of the Texans has been there offensive line which has only allowed 2 sacks and has paved the way for 114.0 yards rushing per game.  Look for Schaub to continue to be impressive this season as long as the pass blocking holds up.

The Texans will likely have to take on the Colts without top wideout Andre Johnson due to a sprained knee.  This will hurt the Texans’ offense big time as Johnson is by far the best player on the offense.  Johnson has caught 14 passes for 262 yards (18.7 avg) with 3 TD catches already this season.  The Texans will need rookie WR Jacoby Jones (2 rec, 33 yards) and Kevin Walter (2 rec, 17 yards) to both step up if they are to be effective in the passing game.  The Texans hope Johnson won’t be out to long because they can’t replace him on the football field.