DEFENSE

Defensive Line: D+
While the line has shown flashes of good play against the run this season, they have failed miserably to pressure the quarterback all year long. Coach Kubiak is never going to come out and say that he’s disappointed with Mario Williams, but he was drafted to sack and pressure the quarterback. In a division with Peyton Manning, that’s what the Texans need badly. He’s done better than his lackluster statistics suggest - but the fact is while he is moving his defender week in and week out - you don’t often see him make a quarterback change his throw, or see him get a hand on the passer. That, and watching him carefully you can see him coming off the ball slowly on a small handful of plays each game.

Rookie Amobi Okoye has four sacks so far this year, and has been a bright spot. That said, he’s a rookie and at times he has played like it this season. He needs to play the run better. Anthony Weaver hasn’t done a whole lot opposite Mario this year, after being a bright spot last season.

Simply put - the defensive line has done little in the way of a pass rush, and that’s unacceptable given the pedigree of the players. Is it coaching? Is it execution? Effort? Nobody knows. If the line can build on some of the success they’ve had against the run in the second half of games - and get to the quarterback - they stand a much better chance of finishing the season with a better record than last year.

Linebacker: C
DeMeco Ryans is all-world. I’ve seen people say he’s having an ‘average’ year, but I don’t see that. He’s had a game or two where he didn’t play his best game, but everyone has games like that. He’s been nails in his second season, and is far and away the brightest spot in the Texans’ linebacker corps. Because of the poor play of the defensive line, the LBs have had to make some plays they normally wouldn’t have to make - and the D-line has certainly made the LBs look bad in some instances where they did not deserve to look bad.

Danny Clark has done a pretty good job as a Texan this season. He earned a spot as a starter and has played well. Shawn Barber and Morlon Greenwood are just a couple of guys who play linebacker. The LBs don’t really have an identity, and though that’s certainly not the most important thing they need to work on - improved play by the D-line will go a long way to improving the linebacker’s grade.

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It’s report card time!

Much like myself years ago, I’m sure the Texans are hiding in their rooms, waiting to get the paddling of their lives as their parents… er… fans - pore over a lackluster effort. Unfortunately, the Texans don’t have the option of forging a teacher’s signature to get them out of the aforementioned paddling.

Hey, it worked for me until I got caught. (My mother is a teacher, and I clearly wasn’t very smart).

OFFENSE

Quarterback: C
Matt Schaub is an undeniable upgrade over David Carr. You can throw as many statistics as you want to about how they’re similar, or even the same quarterback - but any stats of that kind are deceiving. Schaub knows how to read defenses. He has leadership skills. He throws the ball down field. Carr had none of these abilities. So far, the upgrade hasn’t resulted in the victories as it should have - but it will come. If you’re a longtime observer of the Houston Texans, you can see Schaub move the ball with much more confidence than Carr ever did.

However, there’s one statistic that does not lie. Matt Schaub has thrown for only 5 touchdowns in eight games this season. That might be an acceptable number if the Texans had a dominant running game, or if they had a winning record. That’s obviously not the case, as Schaub has had problems in the red zone. For a team that is among the league leaders in passing, the Texans starter has very few passing touchdowns to show for it. Sage Rosenfels has inflated the numbers with good performances in garbage time - and with that near-miracle against Tennessee - but it does not disguise the fact that something bad happens to the passing game once it gets near the goal-line.

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