Something about the color red usually brings out the best in the Houston Texans. Thursday night was perhaps the best ever example of that bizarre phenomenon. Mario Williams, clearly sick and tired of all the talk surrounding his draft position, went absolutely ballistic and obliterated the Broncos offensive line for 3.5 sacks. Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler will be waking up in a cold sweat with the Super Mario Brothers theme bouncing around in his head for weeks. (It was either that, or some bad ‘Broncos sent to the glue factory’ line, but I thought that was in bad taste.) The Texans rolled to a 31-13 win on a (sort of) national stage, and technically remain alive in the playoff chase.

It’s mid-December, and the Texans are still in the hunt.
Let’s get this out of the way. The Texans aren’t going to the playoffs this season. Not because they can’t win their last two games, but because there’s just no way all the other contenders are going to lose the rest of their games. Unfortunately, that’s what needs to happen for Houston to make the playoffs, in addition to them winning out over the Colts and Jaguars. The scenario is so ridiculous, I’m not even going to lay it out. Plus, this isn’t a math blog. It’s just not going to happen. What can happen, is that the Texans could finish with their best-ever record if they can at least split the last two games against Indianapolis and Jacksonville, respectively.

Super Phenomenal Mario!
Jay Cutler had only been sacked 17 times this season, but Mario Williams and the Texans’ defense brought him down five times on Thursday. Mario had 3.5 sacks and now leads the AFC with 13. He’s only a half sack behind the NFL leader, Seattle’s Patrick Kerney. As great as Mario was, he was within an eyelash of piling on two or three more sacks in the same game. He was a constant terror Thursday night, and was every bit the #1 pick that everyone hoped he would be. Multiple times during the game, the Houston fans were chanting his name, which in my opinion is the highlight of the 2007 season. Williams clearly was feeding off the energy of the fans, and that performance may have punched his ticket to the Pro Bowl.

The defensive superiority continues.
It wasn’t all just about Mario. The Texans’ defense shut down their second playoff-contending opponent in four days. Though Cutler was able to complete passes at will against the secondary, the red zone defense was fantastic, and held Denver to 13 points. The defensive line was once again strong. In addition to the five sacks, the Texans pressured Cutler the entire game, and shut down the Denver running attack. Broncos running backs combined for only 61 yards. Houston held Denver to 4/12 on third down, and 0/3 on fourth. The third down defense has improved dramatically in recent weeks, and defensive coordinator Richard Smith deserves a ton of credit for turning it around.

Sage Rosenfels continues to assert himself.
Sage continues to chip away at my hardened “Matt Schaub is the starting quarterback, period” exterior. Despite his 3-0 record as a starter this season, and his 12 touchdown passes to Schaub’s 9 - I still say Schaub is the unquestioned starter. However, Sage should absolutely get every fair opportunity to compete for the starting job during next season’s training camp and pre-season. It seems that there are three possibilities for Sage’s future with the Texans, and I see them all as positives for the team:

Scenario 1 Rosenfels continues to be the best backup quarterback in the NFL, and is an excellent option to fall back on if Schaub gets injured again next season.
Scenario 2 Rosenfels proves to be the better starter next season, and continues playing at the high level he’s currently showing. Schaub is demoted to being a backup or part-time starter, and the Texans have the best one-two punch in the NFL for as long as their combined salaries can allow it.
Scenario 3 Rosenfels’ trade value skyrockets, and the Texans are able to replenish some lost draft picks, including at least one in the second or third round.

Of course, Sage could revert to his inconsistent ways against two excellent teams the rest of the season, and the team starts next year the same way they started this year. Even if that does happen, Sage deserves at least a chance. He’s earned it.

Ron Dayne continues to amaze.
For all the heat he’s taken, Dayne has come up huge this season in relief of Ahman Green. He came off the bench Thursday, sore ankle not-withstanding, and brutalized the Denver defense for 67 yards on only 11 carries, and a touchdown. He and Darius Walker provide a nice change of pace from each other, and Houston rushed for a combined 158 yards. Of course, let’s not get crazy. Denver’s got one of the worst run defenses in the league, and it showed. Walker was able to pick up blocks fairly well, and he held on to the ball. Those were the two biggest concerns about his game, and what kept him on the practice squad as long as he was this year. It will be a much taller order for this team to run the ball against the Colts and Jaguars, but for one night we saw these guys compliment each other nicely, and they absolutely bowled over the competition.

Kubiak severely out-coached his mentor.
Coach Kubiak called a fantastic game against what he described as his “football life.” He out-called Mike Shanahan at every turn Thursday, and considering how similar the two teams are offensively, it’s impressive how often the calls worked. No two teams use the bootleg and play-action more than Houston and Denver, yet the bootleg worked against Denver almost every single time. On the other hand, when Denver ran bootlegs against the Houston defense, Cutler would end up with multiple Texans in his face. Because of his outstanding skill, Cutler was often able to complete his passes anyway - but he was running for his life all night.

On offense, Kubiak’s aggressive play-calling paid off. Knowing that the offensive line was having a great game, Kubiak allowed Rosenfels to go downfield throughout the game. Owen Daniels had a 29-yard catch. Andre Johnson had one for 28. Kevin Walter had a 25-yard grab. Andre Davis caught a pass for 20 yards. That’s a big-play offense, folks. The offense and the coaching combined to exploit every weakness they could on that side of the ball.

Was Thursday night a sign of things to come?
Normally, my answer to that question would be “let’s not overreact. It’s one game.” However, let’s get a little perspective here. The Texans won big over a good - not great - Denver team who was in the thick of the playoff hunt. They did it without their starting:

Quarterback (Matt Schaub)
Running Back (Ahman Green)
Center (Steve McKinney)
Right Guard (Fred Weary)
Cornerback (Dunta Robinson)
Saftey (Glenn Earl)
Kickoff Returner (Jerome Mathis)

Every season, every single team has to deal with injuries, but the Texans have had so many - and to so many key positions - that you have to be impressed with how they’ve handled it. Who knows, maybe this team would be no better with their full compliment of players… but that’s hard to imagine, especially without Weary, McKinney, and Robinson. If this team can come back healthy next season, continue to improve, and get those turnover numbers down - then maybe what some of the nation saw on NFL Network will become the norm. If Mario Williams has anything to say about it, then you can bet it will.

Please visit www.HoustonDiehards.com for much more Texans commentary, and the 2006 Draft Tracker!

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