On the Controversial Ryan Moats Fumble...

Here is photo proof that the ball touched the defender out of bounds in the Texans-Colts game.

The original call was that Moats coughed up the ball but was out of bounds. They overturned it because they thought the ball never went out of bounds. Clearly it was. The Texans eventually had a 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter but fell 20-17.

So Close Yet So Far

It's bye time and the only thing that's going to remove the pain of Houston's loss to the Colts is the Monday Nighter with the Titans.


It's too bad but the Texans have earned the label of being a one half team. Against the Colts, Bills and Arizona it was the second half. Against the Raiders and 49ers it was the first half. Cincinnati and Tennessee were a mixed bag. At some point the Texans will have to play 60 minutes and when they do they will be very dangerous.

The Colts game was a chance to show the NFL world that the Texans were for real. They can't make that claim until they play more complete games. Certainly all teams go through an ebb and flow of performance on both sides of the ball. But the Texans are making a bad habit of playing way below satisfactory on one side or the other of intermission.


Don't blame Kris Brown for the loss. Sure it would have been great to hit the 42 yarder but that was just part of the problem. The two picks were huge. Moats fumbling was devastating at the time. Houston must finish more drives to be a playoff team. If you had told me before the game that the Texans would hold the Colts to 20 points I would have almost guaranteed a win. Yet here we are.

This is not a bad spot to be in, by the way. Five wins after nine is their best record. The next two games are at home where they should be able to play well. They'll be favored in at least four or five of their final seven games.

The bye week is a great time to self scout and make corrections. If the Texans are going to make the push we all want they'll have to get the turnover situation together. Every running back is a marked man now and Schaub is coming off back to back two-pick games.


Good thing the defense is still smoking. Just when you thought the Colts might put up 40 points the Texans slowed them down, forced turnovers and got off the field enough to help their offensive friends get back to work.

Houston is very close to being a playoff team but close hardly matters when you're feeling the pain of a kick-in-the-gut loss.


Hang in there. Monday Night will arrive soon enough.

The New Texans

These are the new Texans. These are the Texans that can go into an opponent's stadium, stink it up for a while, gather themselves and still win in a runaway. These are the Texans who can lose a pro bowler (Owen Daniels), remove the 2008 AFC yards from scrimmage leader (Steve Slaton) from the game and still put up 25 second half points. These are the Texans who will enter the second half of the season as winners for the first time ever.

This team is far from perfect. They laid an egg on opening day. They failed to capitalize in late goal line plays against Arizona and Jacksonville. They played flat offensively in the second half against the Raiders. They played flat defensively in the second half against San Francisco. They handed the ball to Buffalo three times in the first quarter Sunday. But, despite it's faults, this team is developing a knack for getting the job done.

Forget about the drama on offense for a moment. The defense continues to take steps toward being a playoff-caliber unit. The one touchdown the crew allowed Sunday was on a T.O. end-around. The only other points were on a field goal. This was as solid performance as you could ask for. The Bills are not to be confused with the 1999 Rams but the Texans 'D' took care of business.

This was the type of game the 'old' Texans would have lost. If they opened flat they would have stayed that way. If they committed early turnovers they would have found a way to be generous late. But there is something different about this group. They are slowly but surely learning how to win.

Next up: Indianapolis. The Texans have never won at Indy. Even with a loss, they'll go into the Monday nighter with Tennessee no worse than 5-4. It's possible that the losses to the Jaguars and the Jets will come back to bite Houston but for now we're on a wild ride that must be appreciated.

Progress Not Perfection

Now that the Texans have pulled themselves above .500 it's time to remember what Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko told his shareholders in Wall Street, "Greed is good."

The Texans are far from flawless and need to keep improving to give themselves a chance at the postseason. The running game isn't anywhere close to what Gary Kubiak wants. The pass rush and downfield coverage is still in need of tuning. The fact that the team with the league's top TD passer and a recently stout run defense led by three touchdowns but needed a last minute stand to survive against San Francisco cannot be ignored.

Yet the Texans are playing well in enough phases to draw praise and occupy a well deserved lane in the AFC playoff race. The coaches certainly are not happy that the team let a 21 point half time lead slip into a late game pressure cooker. But the Texans made the needed plays to pull out a win when in the past they might have slipped into the abyss.

Matt Schaub is doing what we all dreamed he would do when healthy. Owen Daniels continues to be a killer tight end. Steve Slaton is a big time playmaker who has to eradicate a fumbling virus. The offense slowed down in the second half but they haven't scored fewer than 21 points since the opener.

The defense is looking closer to being playoff claiber than ever. Opponents haven't cracked the 60 yard mark on the ground since week three. They suddenly had to shift gears to thwart Alex Smith's Utah-flashback second half just in time to save the game.

Rich Lord reminded the listeners during our broadcast that the last time the Texans led by 21 at the break was against St. Louis in 2005. I was quick to point out that Houston lost that game. It almost happened again but as I like to say 'almost losing is so much better than almost winning.'

Look around the NFL, Cincinnati crushed the Bears Sunday. The Jets, Baltimore, Miami, San Diego, Tennessee and Jacksonville have records no better than the Texans (tie breakers aside). Your home team is smack dab in the hunt and has plenty of chances to solidify their standing or stumble. It's up to them.

Next up is Buffalo. The Bills gave up 300 yards on the ground last week in a road win at the Jets. They dominated Carolina Sunday. They gave New Orleans a tough game before bowing three weeks ago. They are hard to figure and if you think this should be a walk, think again.

The Texans are still in the wilderness of a 'four road games out of five' stretch that won't end until the bye. They need to at least get a split against the Bills and Colts to keep their necks above water and solidly remain in the chase.

This is More Like It

Okay, so Matt Schaub throws for nearly 400 yards and four touchdowns. It's the Texans defense that needs to be discussed. This unit is number one against the run for the last three weeks and all they did Sunday was shut down the NFL's leading rusher. The Bengals scored 17 first half points and were shut out in the second. Houston's 'D' is coming into its own.

Jacques Reeves, Bernard Pollard and Eugene Wilson didn't play against the Jets in week one and Dunta Robinson was barely himself. Now you have a crew that's blossoming and helping stop teams on third down. The Texans don't have a lot of sacks but they are applying some pressure which is helping out the back end.

Schaub has arrived as a top ten QB. It's not just the TD passes but some of the 10-12 yard throws that are making the difference by extending drives. Houston passed to set up whatever running game it had Sunday and it worked. Gary Kubiak will never fully abandon the run but he knows he can win on a steady diet of Schaub throws to Houston's talented pass catchers.

This is fun. The Texans were last 3-3 two years ago and 4-3 in 2004. That year they beat Jacksonville on Halloween weekend to fill the fans with hope only to lose the winning record the next week at Denver and not see another one for three more years when they would open the 2007 season with a win over Kansas City. Now they try to grab their first winning record of any kind since they were 3-2 in '07.

A win over the 49ers would put them in the playoff picture but they must prove they can handle success and put together a string of victories. Everything they dreamed of in 2009 is still out there in front of them. It's time for this team to get in the black in the won-loss column and somehow keep us there for the rest of the season.

Winning Interrupted

Someday the Texans will find a way to win consistently. Someday that mojo and execution will become second nature. It could kick in anytime. Maybe next week or next month or next year. But for now, we wait.

The Texans have played five games this year. One was a decisive loss, another, a blowout win. And three others that could have gone either way. The Texans are 1-2 in the 'either way' games after falling in the desert to the Cardinals 28-21.

Just like in the Jacksonville game, Houston had a chance to tie the game late and force overtime but they failed at the one yard line. Tough pills to swallow for a franchise that desperately needs to take a giant step toward becoming a winner.

Now, with a date against the suddenly relevant Bengals, the Texans must find a way to exorcise their execution demons and move back into the winners circle.

There was plenty to complain about following the Arizona game. Matt Schaub's Pick 6 that provided the winning margin, Schaub's pass that sent Dreisen out of the back of the endzone on third and one, Chris Brown's failed run on fourth down. The list is longer but we'll start there.

However, you also have to take into consideration that Schaub and the offense were able to roar back into the game after a mostly dormant first half. They put on quite a show that required flawless precision to earn their way back into the game. The only problem was that, like in the Jacksonville and Titans game, the margin of error was paper thin and they weren't able to perform at the moment of truth.

One silver lining was that the defense looked great in the second half. After a second quarter in which they wore down following the offense's miscues, they rose up and put the brakes on one of the better attacks in the league. It's something to build on.

This was another winnable game that slipped away. There are only three losses on the table so far but the way things are going the Texans are going to have to hijack some wins on the road to propel themselves above .500. They are certainly capable of winning games like the one against Arizona but potential doesn't doesn't make the playoffs.

Winning Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

The Texans defense enjoyed their best day of the season in a 29-6 pasting of Oakland that's bound to give the team some confidence as it gets ready to play four out of five on the road.

Glover Quinn got the start at corner and looked up to the challenge. Bernard Pollard started after less than two weeks on the roster and proved to be the answer at safety. When Eugene Wilson gets back, he and Pollard might make the best safety tandem this team has seen.

Sure it was the Raiders, who look allergic to the forward pass, but the Texans will happily take it while understanding that winning means never having to say you're sorry.

The locals are a head team to figure. In the who-played-who game Houston lost to a 3-1 Jets team that has played a brutal schedule. They beat the Titans who have gone 0-4 against teams that are a combined 10-6. They lost to a Jags team that lost a close one to the Colts on the road, fell to the Cards and beat the Titans soundly.

This much we know. Houston is running the football better. We already know they can throw it. The defense may have been terrible against the run for the first three games but held the Raiders to 45 rushing yards.

Now the Texans will face the two best quarterbacks we have seen in visitng Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer in the next two weeks. The defense will face big tests as the offense cannot afford to squander opportunities.

The second half against the Raiders was a hard-headed attempt to run the ball and the Texans had trouble staying on the field. If they had played with their usual quest for balance they could have scored 40 points. The Cushing safety and Jones TD return provided a knock out punch that enabled the team to cruise.

But the next few weeks take the Texans through an NFL mine field that will determine what kind of season this will be. Yes, they have tied for the best start in team history but there's still a feeling that 3-1 was achievable and they'll have to steal a make-good win along the way to accomplish their goals.