This game should be a shootout as neither team has much of a defense.  The Texans are 0-5 on the road while the Browns are only 1-4 at home so something has to give in this game.  The Texans will likely come out running the football with Steve Slaton and Ahman Green against a Browns’ defense that is allowing 149.3 yards rushing and 4.7 ypc this season.  The Browns don’t have much of a pass rush so Sage Rosenfels could have a decent game as the Browns allow 219.0 yards passing per game.  Rosenfels has had a huge problem with turnovers and that’s not a good thing when playing against a Browns’ defense that has 13 pickoffs this season.

The Browns have scored 59 points in the last two games which were both started by Brady Quinn.  He will be starting against the Texans despite having a broken index finger on his throwing hand.  Look for the Browns to run the ball a lot in this football game as the Texans are allowing 132.5 yards rushing per game and 4.5 ypc.  Jamal Lewis and Jerome Harrison will likely both have big workloads tomorrow.  The Browns must keep DE Mario Williams away from Quinn to give him enough time to throw the football.  The Browns will likely keep the passing game to the short stuff as Quinn’s finger could hurt him on deep throws.  Still, opposing QBs have a 100.8 rating against the Texans so Quinn could have a good game even with a broken digit.

PREDICTION:  CLEVELAND BROWNS 27, HOUSTON TEXANS 24

With Matt Schaub out of commission for at least the next four weeks the Texans needed someone to back up new starting QB Sage Rosenfels.  They decided to sign 29-year old Craig Nall to serve in that role.  Nall has played in 7 games (0 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 30 of 48 passes (62.5%) for 402 yards with 5 TD passes and 0 interceptions (123.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 10 times for 11 yards (1.1 ypc).  This was a solid move for the Texans as Nall has played well in limited action in his NFL career.

The Texans have lost linebacker Zach Diles for the season due to a fractured tibia that he injured last Wednesday in practice.  This is a bad break for both Diles and the Texans as he was playing very well this season.  Diles played in 8 games for the Texans this season and he made 66 tackles (leads team), had 1 interceptions and he defensed 2 passes.

The Texans will be without QB Matt Schaub for the next four or so games with a torn MCL.  This will likely hurt the Texans a little bit as Sage Rosenfels is sometimes sloppy in protecting the football.  Schaub has played in 7 games for the Texans this season and he has completed 154 of 227 passes (67.8%) for 1,762 yards with 10 TD passes and 8 interceptions (91.0 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 20 times for 54 yards (2.7 ypc).  Sage Rosenfels will be the starting QB for the next few games and it will determine whether this was a lost season or not for the Texans.  Rosenfels has played in 2 games for the Texans this season and he has completed 42 of 62 passes (67.7%) for 470 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 interceptions (92.8 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 4 times for 16 yards (4.0 ypc) this season.  It will be interesting to see how well Rosenfels plays as he seems to talk a pretty good game.

The Texans have waived running back Chris Taylor with a injury settlement.  Taylor played in 3 games for the Texans this season and he carried the ball 14 times for 37 yards (2.6 ypc).  Taylor finishes his career with the Texans having played in 7 games in which he carried the ball 42 times for 160 yards (3.8 ypc) with a TD run.  He also caught 3 passes for 40 yards (13.3 avg).  The Texans really liked Taylor’s potential but he could just never stay healthy enough to make a impact with them.