[ESPN] Len Pasquarelli - Game Ball = David Carr

[TexansFan.com]

Game ball David Carr, Texans QB
By - Len Pasquarelli

In a battle of hot, young quarterbacks, David Carr of Houston out-dueled Jacksonville's Byron Leftwich and, as a result, the Texans are suddenly 4-3 and just a half-game out of first place in the very competitive AFC South. The first overall choice in the 2002 draft, Carr has made dramatic progress in his third season as the Texans starter. In training camp, Houston offensive coordinator Chris Palmer acknowledged that Carr "just gets it" more now than he did during his first two seasons. That has been tough to argue in general this season, as Carr has answered back at the skeptics beginning to wonder if he would ever live up to his billing. On Sunday, he completed 26 of 34 passes for 276 yards, with a touchdown pass and no interceptions as Houston won for the fourth time in its last five outings.

Link: ESPN Article - Game Ball David Carr

[Vinny]

Peter King's THE FINE FIFTEEN

1. Philadelphia (7-0). Some games are survival games. That's what the contest with the Ravens was. And when Donovan McNabb hit Terrell Owens (eight catches, three drops, 101 yards) in stride for a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to make it 15-3, the battle of wills had been won by the better team.

2. Pittsburgh (6-1). Nothing fluky about it. The Steelers were better in every way. This game proved the Steelers will be major factors in January.

3. New England (6-1). Pats finished the game with left tackle Matt Light, cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole, running back Corey Dillon and wideout Deion Branch missing from the starting lineup due to injuries. This is the same team that goes to St. Louis and Kansas City in the next three weeks.

4. New York Jets (5-1). I bet there'll be more Marino and Namath jerseys, combined, at the Meadowlands tonight than Pennington/Fiedler.

5. New York Giants (5-2). If Tiki Barber isn't on your top-five MVP ballot right now, you aren't watching football on Sundays.

6. Green Bay (4-4). Favre giveth. Favre nearly taketh away.

7. Indianapolis (4-3). Swiss-cheese defense. Tony Dungy's a cool guy, but I swear I could see steam coming out of his ears on the highlights last night.

8. San Diego (5-3). How do you pick the order in these standings of Indianapolis, San Diego, Kansas City, Houston and Jacksonville? Colts trounce Pack, split with Jags. Bolts beat Texans and Jags, lose to Falcs. Chiefs lose to Texans and Jags, put up a century on Falcs and Colts. Texans lose to Chargers, but beat the Jags and Chiefs. Jax pulls four out of a hat, wins at Indy, gets routed at Houston. It's all guesswork right now.

9. Kansas City (3-4). Last eight days: Chiefs have 101 points; Redskins have scored 98 this season.

10. Houston (4-3). Next three weeks (at Denver, at Indy, Green Bay) should tell the tale of the Texans' season.

11. Jacksonville (5-3). Top three teams in the AFC South are separated by a half-game. Jacksonville has the bye this week. If the Colts beat Minnesota at home and the Texans win at Denver, three teams atop the AFC South will be 5-3 at the halfway point.

12. Minnesota (5-2). Talk about defensive frauds. Vikes allowed the hardly explosive Giants to score 29 and 34 points at the Metrodome 53 weeks apart. The Jints came into the House of Moss when Minny had 6-0 and 5-1 records, respectively, and won both games by double digits.

13. Baltimore (4-3). The passing game, or lack thereof, will make it hard for them to play deep into January. But the Raves will scare someone if they make the playoffs.

14. Atlanta (6-2). Mike Vick had 110 rushing yards in Denver ... by halftime.

15. Denver (5-3). The alarming thing is in the span of two games (against two defenses that can be had (Cincinnati and Atlanta), the Broncos have scored 10 and 28 points.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...cks/index.html

[edo783]

Peter King is right on that. If we could get a 2-1 split it would be MAJOR ups for us particularly if one of the wins would be Indy. I think we will have a tough time pulling a win in Denver this weekend. They are on a 3 game losing streak and for them to lose a 4th at Milehigh/Invesco would be a bit hard to imagine, but not out of the realm of possibilities. Tough defense, but with Lynch out we MIGHT be able to get some running working. Not sure how they are against the pass. Probably need to hit the long ball early to take the crowd out of it and before the thin air hits the WR's to hard. If we can get to Plummer by either hitting him or pressuring him while keeping him in the pocket, he has shown that he will throw the INT pretty regularly. Again, like most games, if we win the turn over battle, we rack up a "W".

[TexansFan.com]

Originally Posted by Vinny

10. Houston (4-3). Next three weeks (at Denver, at Indy, Green Bay) should tell the tale of the Texans' season.

I predict the Texans will be 2-1 over that stretch. 6-4 just past the half way point is not bad at all. The remaining schedule:

Nov. 28 Tennessee
Dec. 5 at N.Y. Jets
Dec. 12 Indianapolis
Dec. 19 at Chicago
Dec. 26 at Jacksonville

[JDizzle]

Our buddy Pete Prisco (snicker) had this to say about Carr :

David Carr is a player. The Texans quarterback won the shootout of young quarterbacks, outperforming Jacksonville's Byron Leftwich. Carr went 26-of-34 for 276 yards. It seemed as if he could complete a pass anytime he wanted to in that game. The Texans have a franchise passer for years to come. They are now 4-3, having won four of five with the only loss to the Vikings in overtime. Now they have two tough road games against Denver and Indianapolis.

While I still think Carr could have had a much better day had our running game been a bit more explosive, I still think he did good.

A 2 - 1 record over the next 3 is a pretty lofty expectation, though certainly not unreasonable. If we can stay healthy and get our running game going, we should come out okay. Also, FYI to anyone with an HDTV set, this sunday's game against Denver will be broadcast in HD.

[utahmark]

you missed one. thats only 15 games.

[TexansFan.com]

Originally Posted by markbeth

you missed one. thats only 15 games.

Oops! You are right: Jan. 2 Cleveland 1 p.m.

[RunninRaven]

The thing that has impressed me the most about Carr so far this season is his dramatic increase in pocket sense. You don't see him holding on to the ball too long anymore. You see him rolling out in the right directions at the right times to buy himself a few more seconds to make the right throw. In Sunday's game, the lone TD pass was a good example of that. Carr sat in the pocket a few seconds, it started collapsing, so he rolled out. He could have rolled out in the direction of the line of scrimmage in case he wanted to run, but he saw (or sensed) that Dominick Davis was over there to give him a block, so David stepped out around him, and it bought him just enough time to find Bradford. It was a beautiful microcosm (to me) of what Carr is doing right this season that he was messing up in seasons previous. I love it.

[El Tejano]

My biggest thing about Carr is his ability to play hurt and when I saw him on the sideline after the late hit, he looked so mad that he wanted the ball back again to make the opponent pay for what happened. Grit. Dude has grit.

[shinerbock_girl]

Speaking of playing hurt, i was curious about something. Do you think alot of times football players fake being hurt worse then they really are to make the opponents think they will have an easier game against them?

[TexansTrueFan]

Yeah it prolly happens alot with players overreacting, but carr already had a tender ancle and it was a pretty bad twist ! But the man is tough and is a player i see us exploting the Broncos D and carr having a 300 yard day !

[El Tejano]

Originally Posted by texansgal8

Speaking of playing hurt, i was curious about something. Do you think alot of times football players fake being hurt worse then they really are to make the opponents think they will have an easier game against them?

See Houston Oilers vs Kansas City in the playoffs with Joe Montana as QB. I swear that dude was faking.

[jnhcarrfans]

He is matureing like we knew he would.
it takes time in this league to grow. for
what he's been through on an expnsion team
it's amazing to see his talent is catching up.we are
lucky to have that kid from fresno state.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by RunninRaven

The thing that has impressed me the most about Carr so far this season is his dramatic increase in pocket sense. You don't see him holding on to the ball too long anymore. You see him rolling out in the right directions at the right times to buy himself a few more seconds to make the right throw. In Sunday's game, the lone TD pass was a good example of that. Carr sat in the pocket a few seconds, it started collapsing, so he rolled out. He could have rolled out in the direction of the line of scrimmage in case he wanted to run, but he saw (or sensed) that Dominick Davis was over there to give him a block, so David stepped out around him, and it bought him just enough time to find Bradford. It was a beautiful microcosm (to me) of what Carr is doing right this season that he was messing up in seasons previous. I love it.

I agree 100%. He stated he was going to watch a lot of film this off-season and it shows. His vision has improved greatly and the scary thing is that he still has a ways to go and will get better.

[jnhcarrfans]

Originally Posted by Vinny

I agree 100%. He stated he was going to watch a lot of film this off-season and it shows. His vision has improved greatly and the scary thing is that he still has a ways to go and will get better.

He's going to get alot better vinny. he did the same thing here a fresno state.once he got the feel for the game he was unbelievable. can throw from anywhere. the bullets just keep comming.....