The Texans avoided disaster yesterday when Kris Brown’s 57-yard field goal eeked its way through the uprights. As the Texans lined up for the try, I was already accepting that we were going to overtime, and that’s okay. I mean, really - you can’t get mad at a kicker for missing a 57-yarder after he’s already kicked two from 54, and two others from from 43 and 20. Luckily, we didn’t have to face the dark specter of Cleo Lemon leading his team down the field in overtime against the Texans underachieving defense.

The defense disappoints… again

Once again the Texans defense was downright scary, and not in a good way. Trent Green is in no way a quarterback to be feared in this league, so when he went down early in the game it seemed like the Texans would have some success on defense.

Well, that didn’t happen. Cleo Lemon and the Dolphins moved the ball well, but like the Texans, couldn’t punch it into the end zone. However, the Texans secondary wasn’t nearly as bad as it has been. Demarcus Faggins played MUCH better, and rookie Fred Bennett returned from a hamstring injury to play well off the bench. Who knows if Faggins’ improvement is a result of all the criticism, but hey - whatever gets the job is fine by me. CC Brown notched an interception - the first turnover the Texans have gotten since the win over Carolina.

 The defensive line didn’t put much pressure on the quarterback yet again. Ronnie Brown had a huge day, but he’s one of the best backs in the league… it’s the lack of QB pressure that was so frustrating. Mario Williams had a nice sack, and helped to blow up the play that gave us that wonderful little ‘meeting’ that Travis Johnson and Trent Green had. Amobi Okoye made a couple of nice pursuit tackles, but other than that the Texans D-line continues to prove that if you give an NFL quarterback enough time, just about anyone can have success. Last week - Joey Harrington. This week - not just any backup quarterback - but the guy who backs up 37 year-old Trent Green, Cleo Lemon.

At this point in the season, it seems to me that the defense (especially the defensive line) has a classic case of ‘playing to the level of the competition’. While Amobi Okoye and Mario Williams are steadily improving, the line as a whole continues to play poorly, especially in the first half… then for whatever reason they kick it up a notch in the second half. Most people would say that’s all about coaching and adjustments… that’s part of it, but I truly think it’s more about effort. There’s really no other way to explain why so many first round draft picks would continuously play with such mediocrity against inferior opponents.

The TJ/Trent Green situation deserves its own discussion. Watch this space for more during the week.

The running game needs to be dealt with RIGHT NOW

Listen. I like Ahman Green. I was happy about them bringing him in, but I also thought we were playing with fire. At the time, it didn’t concern me too much, because we had Chris Taylor as a solid guy to pick up the slack when Green would inevitably go down with injury. Only problem is, I didn’t consider two things. 1 - that Chris Taylor would be out for the season, and 2 - that Green’s injuries would start in week 2. I thought he’d at least get to game five or six before his health became an issue.

This is going to be a problem all season long. Even if Ahman comes back next week, the Dolphins game won’t be the last one he misses. Chris Taylor was poised to become an important piece of the Texans present and future this year… but now we’re stuck with Ron Dayne as the backup. He’s a capable 2nd running back - but not as a starter. Dayne is what he is - a guy who can come in on short yardage and move the pile. He’s about as far from an ‘every-down back’ as there is in the NFL. Problem is, there aren’t very many options at this point. Later in the week, I’ll go over some of the often-suggested options and we’ll expand the discussion.

Kubiak gets it right with the final drive

After taking heat from myself and many other fans, reporters, bloggers, etc., Gary Kubiak got it 100% right at the end of regulation. It is an absolute embarassment to the great fans of Houston that there were people booing Kubiak’s decision to run the ball on the first play of the game-winning drive.

You’re backed up to your goal line. You absolutely must give your quarterback room to work. It’s not time to go out and gunsling. The Texans had enough time outs to work that last drive in a relatively conservative manner. Kubiak played it perfectly. If you run and get your QB some room to work, you kick it up and start playing for the win. If you can’t get him breathing room, you have to force the Dolphins to either burn up a time out, and if that doesn’t work, you play overtime. You just don’t come out from the one yard line and chuck the ball around like you’re playing Madden football on X-Box.

Matt Schaub at his worst, still pretty damn good

Matt Schaub would probably be the first to admit that he had his worst game as a Texan on Sunday. He frequently overthrew his targets, and had a couple of underthrows as well. He had an interception that should have been caught - but was certainly not a perfect pass. It was his fault and he’ll say it’s his fault. On top of that, he’s playing with a nasty deep thigh bruise that he suffered last week.

One great thing about Schaub and his character is that he’ll never use that as an excuse - but you could see him limping during the game. Another statement of his great character is that he put the Texans in a position to win at the very end, despite his tough outing to that point. Considering that there was no running game to open up the passing game, and that he had no Andre Johnson or Jacoby Jones - Schaub made the most of his shaky game and fearlessly got the Texans out of the shadow of their own goalpost to give Kris Brown a chance at the game-winning kick.

Tough game on the horizon

The Texans travel to Jacksonville next week to face one of their most bitter rivals. The Jaguars are coming off a road win in Kansas City, and these two will be playing to keep pace in what is turning out to be the best/toughest division in football. You know the Jags will be primed to stop the bleeding against the Texans, who always seem to beat them no matter how good or bad their record at the time is. If the Texans can get Ahman Green and Jacoby Jones back on the field as expected, they have a pretty good shot. The fluffy part of Houston’s schedule is over, and here come the big boys. In the next three weeks the Texans play Jacksonville, Tennessee, and San Diego. If they can get 2 of those 3, the Texans will be sitting at 5-3, which is better than anyone could have expected.

If you like what you've just read, there's plenty more at www.HoustonDiehards.com

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