The Texans will be without 30-year old linebacker indefinitely due to knee surgery which he had earlier today.  Bentley has played in the Texans first 3 games this year and he has 3 tackles.  Bentley has now played in 35 games in his three years with the Texans and he has 81 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 sack.  The Texans hope that Bentley returns soon because the depth at linebacker is really hurt without him around.

The Texans have signed 27-year old cornerback Karl Paymah.  Paymah played in 12 games for the Vikings last season and he had 27 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 forced fumble.  He has now played in 72 games in his five years in the NFL and he has 128 tackles, 14 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble and 3 interceptions.  To make room for Paymah on the roster the Texans have released 22-year old rookie CB Jamar Wall.  Wall played in 1 game for the Texans and he had 1 tackle.

The Texans were never really in this game as the Cowboys pushed them around all day long.  Matt Schaub didn’t play too well as he completed 23 of 32 passes for 241 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs.  Arian Foster carried the ball 17 times for 106 yards (6.2 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 20 yards (5.0 avg) yesterday.  Andre Johnson (4 rec, 64 yards), Jacoby Jones (5 rec, 51 yards) and Kevin Walter (3 rec, 34 yards, TD) led the way in the passing game against the Cowboys.  The Texans finished up with 124 yards rushing on 22 carries (5.6 ypc) and they also completed 23 of 32 passes for 216 yards. 

The Texans didn’t play too well on D yesterday.  Safety Bernard Pollard (15 tackles, 1 pass defensed) and LB Demeco Ryans (10 tackles) led the way for the Texans on D in this game.  The Cowboys finished up with 101 yards rushing on 27 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 23 of 30 passes for 284 yards.  The Texans are now 2-1 on the year.

The Cowboys are a suddenly desperate team at 0-2 while the Texans are flying high at 2-0.  Still, the teams matchup pretty well against each other setting up a very entertaining game on Sunday.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  The Texans will likely come out throwing the ball against a Cowboys’ D that has allowed opposing QBs to have a 98.3 Rating through 2 games.  Jay Cutler was throwing the ball with ease against the Cowboys D picking it apart last week.  Matt Schaub should be able to complete passes to Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter and Jacoby Jones at will as long as he has time to throw the ball.  He has already been sacked 7 times this year and the Texans will be without their starting LT Duane Brown due to a league suspension.  I still see Arian Foster getting his fair share of touches in this game as he already has 376 total yards rushing & receiving so far this year.

When the Cowboys have the ball:  I think the Cowboys are going to attack the Texans through the air….and why not?  The Texans have allowed 411.0 yards passing per game so far this year but only 31.0 yards rushing per game (2.3 ypc).  The Texans need Mario Williams to get after Tony Romo and get into his head like he did to Peyton Manning in Week #1.  Because if Romo has time to throw the ball the Texans are going to have a hard time keeping up with them.  Miles Austin, Dez Bryant, Roy Williams and Jason Witten give the Cowboys a pretty good arsenal of guys to throw to.  Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice could get involved in the running game if the Cowboys have a lead to protect.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 34, COWBOYS 31

25-year old DE Mario Williams seems to be living in the oppositions backfields so far this year.  He has 8 tackles, 4 sacks and 2 passes defensed already this year for the Texans.  Williams is taking his game to a whole new level which should have opposing QBs shaking in their shoes.  Williams played in 64 games in his first four years with the Texans in which he made 202 tackles, he defensed 7 passes, had 39.5 sacks and he forced 9 fumbles.  So much for the Texans making a mistake drafting Mario Williams over Reggie Bush.

The Texans have signed 34-year old OT Ephraim Salaam.  The 6’7″, 310 pound Salaam knows the Texans’ playbook so he should be ready to step in if Rashad Butler has problems at LT while Duane Brown is out of action.  Salaam played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Lions & Texans last season.  He has now played in 159 games (129 starts) in his NFL career.  He has played in 44 games (30 starts) in his four years with the Texans.  The Texans were lucky to find a guy like Ephraim Salaam’s experience sitting at home at this point in the year.

The NFL has suspended starting LT Duane Brown of the Texans for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.  Brown started both games for the Texans this season and he has started his first 34 games of his NFL career over the last three years.  This will really hurt the Texans as the 25-year old Brown was a solid blocker on Matt Schaub’s blindside.  27-year old Rashad Butler will replace Brown in the starting lineup which will be interesting to watch.  He played in both games this year for the Texans but didn’t start any games.  He has now played in 26 games (0 starts) for the Texans in his four years with the team.  The Texans need Rashad Butler to step up for the next 4 weeks.

The Texans won a incredible game yesterday in Washington.  The Redskins led this game 27-10 with only 3:51 left in the third quarter before the Texans went on a incredible late game run to send it into O.T.  Head coach Gary Kubiak decided to punt a ball instead of attempt a long field goal.  The Redskins then drove down to the Texans’ 35-yard line.  When they went to attempt the 52-yard field goal to win the game, Kubiak called a T.O. which nullified the kick which was good from 52-yards.  Graham Gano then missed the re-kick.  The Texans then drove down the field and kick the winning field goal. 

Matt Schaub was amazing in this game as he completed 38 of 52 passes for 497 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 INT.  Arian Foster looked human in this game as he carried the ball 19 times for 69 yards (3.6 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 69 yards (23.0 avg).  WRs Andre Johnson (12 rec, 158 yards, TD), Kevin Walter (11 rec, 144 yards, TD) and Jacoby Jones (6 rec, 53 yards, TD) all contributed to the outstanding aerial attack of the Texans yesterday.  The Texans finished up with 58 yards rushing on 24 carries (2.4 ypc) and they also completed 38 of 52 passes for 468 yards. 

The defense often looked hopeless against Donovan McNabb and the Redskins’ passing game yesterday.  CB Glover Quin (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and LB Zach Diles (8 tackles) led the way for the Texans’ D in this game.  DE Mario Williams was also very busy with 4 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 passes defensed and 3 QB hits.  The Redskins finished up with 18 yards rushing on 17 carries (1.1 ypc) and they also completed 28 of 38 passes for 403 yards.  The Texans are now 2-0 on the year.

Both of these teams are coming off emotional wins against bitter division rivals so it will be interesting to see which team comes to play on Sunday.  The Redskins won with a bend but don’t break D that made some big plays while the Texans pushed around the soft Colts’ D all day long on the ground.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Texans have the ball:  I don’t think the Texans wanted to get into a shootout with the Colts which led to them running so much last weekend.  I don’t think they are worried at all about the Redskins outscoring them in a game with a lot of points scored.  With that in mind I think the Texans will be going to the air a lot in this game.  Andre Johnson will likely cause big problems for the Redskins in the same way that Miles Austin was last week.  Kevin Walter, Owen Daniels and Jacoby Jones will also likely see a bump in targets this weekend.  They won’t forget about Arian Foster though but he’s more likely to get around 20 carries this week than 33 like he got against the Colts.

When the Redskins have the ball:  The Redskins will likely try to be more balanced in the play calling this weekend.  That means that Clinton Portis should have a much bigger role this week as the Redskins would like to have the ball more this week.  TE Chris Cooley and Santana Moss are the only two receivers with more than one catch last week so look for the Texans to give them a lot of attention.  The Texans will also be getting after Donovan McNabb with DE Mario Williams a lot in this game as he caused all kinds of problems for Peyton Manning last week.

PREDICTION:  TEXANS 27, REDSKINS 17

The Texans have signed 33-year old DE Ryan Denney.  Denney played in 16 games for the Bills last season and he had 27 tackles, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble.  Denney has now played in 111 games in his NFL career and he has 297 tackles, 19 passes defensed, 23.5 sacks and 6 forced fumbles.  This was another solid signing for the Texans.