TEXAN TUESDAY REPORT - SEAN GARZA - OCTOBER 5, 2010

Written by: Sean Garza
Date posted: 10/5/2010

TEXAN TUESDAY REPORT

The Texans, fresh off their whoopin’ from the Cowboys, took to the road and faced the Los Angeles, Oakland, Los Angeles, and finally the Oakland Raiders.

As I mentioned last week, the Raiders are talented. They have an up and coming defense that has caused problems for the Texans before. Late Sunday before the game, the Texans announced that WR Andre Johnson would sit out with the ankle injury he’s been dealing with for a couple of weeks. Along with injuries to Eugene Wilson and a banged up Owen Daniels, the Texans could have been vulnerable enough for the Raiders to steal one. (Cue up Carl Lewis. “Uh Oh!”)


The Texans struck early in the first quarter with a 33-yard run from newly acquired Derrick Ward. Now, normally I would take that as nothing more than giving Arian Foster a breather. As the first quarter went on, I noticed that Foster didn’t have a carry in the game. I could see him on the sideline and he didn’t appear injured, however, I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t in the game.

After giving a short-yard touchdown to Michael Bush, the Texans struck again with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen to just about wrap up the first quarter. In the second quarter, The Raiders tied the game at 14 with a short touchdown pass to fullback Marcel Reece. Finally, midway through the second quarter there was an Arian Foster sighting. He had 5 rushing yards at halftime.

In the third quarter, Foster looked like Foster as he busted through the line for a 74-yard touchdown. Kicker Neil Rackers added a field goal to give the Texans a 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Foster was at it again in the fourth quarter catching a 10-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schaub extending the lead to 17.

The Raiders were spunky and hung around cutting the lead down to 7 and driving late, however a key drop and interception by safety Troy Nolan sealed the deal and Texans left the NFL’s version of Siberia with a win.


After the game, we learned that Arian Foster sat for a quarter-and-a-half due to a coach’s decision. That coach’s decision was later learned that Foster missed a team meeting and was late for another. Now, with all the injuries that the Texans came into the game with, it was a very gutsy call to bench Foster.

Now, I ask you the reader what is more important? To send a message that no one is above the team and risk the possibility in losing a big game (I don’t count the Raiders) or to issue a slap on the wrist and play at full strength? Now, I normally would choose playing at full strength and doing whatever is necessary to get the Texans into the playoffs, etc. I started to think about it more and realized that perhaps the former is more of the way to go.

The Texans have spent years building depth and getting guys who you can plug into the lineup and hopefully not skip a beat. They have tried their best to stay away from “character issue” type players like Cedric Benson and Larry Johnson and perhaps they were catching Foster early and bringing him down to earth since he is leading the NFL in rushing after three games and being a sparkplug in a potent Texans offense.

Now, I’ve heard questions like “What would Kubiak do if Matt Schaub or Andre Johnson were in the same situation?” or “Would he bench a starter in a big game?” Well, I don’t think that’s a fair question. Think about it, do you really think Matt or Andre would miss a meeting? On top of that, if it was a big game you shouldn’t be missing meetings to begin with.

As far as the game, a big kudo goes out to the offensive line. After a dismal performance in the Cowboy game and giving up nine sacks in the last two games, they came back strong opening big holes in the running game and not allowing a sack all game. The Raiders aren’t exactly a fierce rushing-the-passer team, but it only takes one blown assignment for Schaub to get hit hard and injure himself.

Also, the team played without giving up a turnover. To add to that, the Texans had two takeaways with two interceptions for safety Troy Nolan. With the injury to Eugene Wilson, Nolan could see a lot more playing time.

The running backs continue to impress. Foster, after sitting for nearly half the game, rushed for 131 yards on 16 carries. New guy Derrick Ward rushed for 80 yards on 12 carries and Steve Slaton had 5 carries for 37 yards. The best way for the Texans to neutralize CB Nnamdi Asomugha is to run it effectively and they did just that.


As far as negatives, I can only say that the secondary still doesn’t appear to be up to speed yet. They didn’t play terrible, but I thought this game was a good opportunity for Kareem Jackson to have a breakout type game. Instead, Troy Nolan took the opportunity and ran with it .

In conclusion, the Texans come home for a game against the New York Giants. Up until this weekend, they have been struggling. The Giants are coming off a big defensive performance with 10 sacks against the Bears which is something the Texans will need to plan for. On a positive note, LB Brian Cushing is back and apparently ready to hit someone. Just a little piece of advice Cush, the New York Giant wearing the jersey number 10 would be a great start!

GO TEXANS!


SEAN GARZA
HMW

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