The Texans have lost starting right guard Mike Brisiel for the season due a foot injury.  That means the Texans will play the rest of the season with both starting guards as LG Chester Pitts is also out for the year.  Rookie Antoine Caldwell and Chris White will vie for Brisiel’s position but this will likely be a huge dropoff for the Texans.  That is bad news for Matt Schaub who has been sacked 8 times this season and even worse news for the team’s running backs as the Texans were only averaging 75.4 yards rushing and 3.0 yards per carry this season with Brisiel.

This was a rough game to lose for the Texans as they were stopped on the Cardinals 1-yard line late in this game as Chris Brown got stuffed on 4th and goal.  Matt Schaub was excellent most of this game as he completed 35 of 50 passes for 371 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 interception.  The INT was a killer as Cardinals’ CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned it 49 yards for a TD with only 2:20 left in the game.  Steve Slaton only rushed for 39 yards on 13 carries (3.0 ypc) but he also caught 6 passes for 59 yards (9.8 avg).  Chris Brown carried the ball 4 times for 2 yards (0.5 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 1 pass for 9 yards.  Andre Johnson was great as usual for the Texans in this game with 8 grabs for 101 yards (12.6 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  TE Owen Daniels pitched in with 8 catches for 94 yards (11.8 avg).  The Texans finished up with 416 total yards on offense in this game (45 rushing, 371 passing).

The defense was solid against the run but they were at Kurt Warner’s mercy against the passing game.  Safety Bernard Pollard led the way for the Texans on defense with 8 tackles.  Rookie linebacker Brian Cushing had another solid game with 6 tackles, 1/2 a sack and 1 QB hit.  The Cardinals finished up with 340 total yards on offense (44 rushing, 296 passing) in this game.  The Texans have fallen to 2-3 on the year with this loss.

This game has the look of a shootout without a doubt.  The Cardinals have done well against the running game this season allowing only 79.7 yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry.  But, they has allowed 280.3 yards passing per game and that’s what the Texans will be ready to do when they get off the bus…..throw…..throw……throw!  Matt Schaub has been outstanding this season (1,047 yards, 8 TDs, 3 INTs) and he finally has all of his weapons healthy at the same time.  Andrew Walter and Owen Daniels will work the underneath routes for the Cardinals in this game while Andre Johnson, Jacoby Jones and Andre Davis will be running deep.  The Texans must run the ball some with Steve Slaton in this game just to keep the Cardinals’ D semi-honest.    The Cardinals do have 8 sacks this season so they will likely be bringing the heat against Matt Schaub who has been sacked 8 times this season.  If the Texans’ O-Line can handle the pressure and give him time to throw the ball Schaub should have a big day.

With the Cardinals having some issues on defense maybe they should consider trying to get the running game going with Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells as the Texans have allowed 165.0 yards rushing per game and 5.5 yards per carry this season.  If the Cardinals fail in controlling the clock with the running game than it will be time for the air raid.  If the Cardinals can keep DE Mario Williams out of the backfield then Kurt Warner will likely slice and dice the secondary of the Texans.  This could be the game that he gets the ball downfield to Larry Fitzgerald early and often to get him back into a good frame of mind.  Don’t forget about Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston who both look healed up do to resting a bit during the bye week.

PREDICTION:  CARDINALS 37, TEXANS 34

The Houston Texans won a easy won yesterday at home.  Matt Schaub did a good job of managing the game as he completed 11 of 22 passes for 224 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception.  Steve Slaton was busy early in the game as he carried the ball 21 times for 65 yards (3.1 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He also caught 2 passes for 24 yards (12.0 avg) with a TD grab but he also lost a fumble.  Ryan Moats also got a lot of action in the 2nd half when the Texans were grinding out the win as he carried the ball 15 times for 56 yards (3.7 ypc).  Andre Johnson led the Texans with 66 yards receiving on 2 catches (33.0 avg) as he didn’t play much in the 2nd half of this game.  The Texans finished up with 329 total yards on offense in this game (120 rushing, 209 passing).

Rookie LB Brian Cushing led a outstanding effort on defense with 7 tackles, a tackle for a loss, 3 QB Hits and a safety when he tackled Raiders’ RB Justin Fargas in the end zone.  The Raiders only finished up with 165 total yards on offense (45 rushing, 120 passing) in this game.

The Texans also got a outstanding effort out of WR/KR/PR Jacoby Jones in this game.  He put the icing on the cake in this game closing out the scoring for the Texans with a 95-yard TD on a kickoff return.  He also returned 7 punts for 60 yards (8.6 avg) and he caught 1 pass for 6 yards.  The Texans are now 2-2 on the season.

This should be a very interesting matchup on Sunday in Houston.  The Raiders will likely try to grind the game out on the ground offensively to control the clock and keep JaMarcus Russell out of passing situations as he is horrible.  Darren McFadden (148 yards rushing) and Michael Bush (110 yards rushing) will take aim at a Texans’ D that is allowing 204.7 yards rushing per game and 6.3 yards per carry.  If the Raiders run the ball well it could set up a couple of play action passes for Russell who would likely try to get the ball to rookie WR Louis Murphy and TE Zach Miller. 

The Texans will likely come off the bus passing against the Raiders trying to get the early lead and take them out of their gameplan.  Matt Schaub (823 yards passing, 101.7 QB Rating) is more than capable of attacking the Raiders’ D both short (Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter) and deep (Andre Johnson) as the Raiders are allowing 211 yards passing per game this season.  If the Texans get an early lead they will likely then turn to Steve Slaton (127 yards rushing) to grind out a win on the ground against a Raiders’ D that is allowing 155.0 yards rushing per game this season.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 27, RAIDERS 24

Jacoby Jones has game breaking speed so the Texans are trying to get the football in his hands often.  He has caught 4 passes for 96 yards (24.0 avg) with 2 TD grabs so far this season.  He has also returned 13 kickoffs for 320 yards (24.6 avg) and 3 punts for 27 yards (9.0 avg) this season.  The Texans would be smart to get Jones more involved in the offense because speed like he has is very hard to matchup with especially if he lines up in the slot against nickel backs.

The Texans have signed 30-year old linebacker Khary Campbell.  Campbell played in 14 games for the Redskins last season and he made 13 tackles.  Campbell has now played in 81 games in his NFL career and he has made 106 tackles and forced 2 fumbles.  Campbell will likely take Chaun Thompson’s spot on the special teams units.  But with the state of the defense Campbell could get a shot at some point to show what he can do.

UPDATE:  Khary Campbell’s season has ended after one game as he has been placed on the Injured Reserve List with a knee injury.  He made 1 tackle for the Texans.

The Texans have placed 29-year old linebacker Chaun Thompson on the Injured Reserve List ending his season.  He played in 3 games for the Texans this season making 5 tackles.  Thompson has now played in 18 games in two years with the Texans and he has made 18 tackles, defensed 1 pass and he has 1 sack.  The place the Texans will likely miss Thompson the most is on special teams.