Houston wins key AFC showdown over Baltimore, 43-13

Ravens vs. Texans, Week 7: Houston fans impressed by defense in blowout victory

The Houston Texans made a statement on Sunday, hammering the Baltimore Ravens 43-13 at Reliant Stadium. Matt Schaub threw for two touchdown passes and Arian Foster ran for two more, as the Texans took advantage of a Ravens defense missing several key starters.

While Baltimore's defense was certainly banged up, their offense was relatively healthy. and Texans blogger Vega at SB Nation's Battle Red Blog was very pleased with how Houston shut down the Ravens' offense:

There's no question that the Ravens have suffered some key injuries, but their offense was pretty healthy coming into this game and was ranked fifth in yards, eighth in points, and eighth in DVOA. With J.J. Watt having his quietest game of the year (though still making a significant impact), the Texans' defense absolutely shut them down. And oh yeah, the Texans are also missing their emotional leader (and better performing) middle linebacker.

So, don't let anyone tell you that this victory is tainted because of injury.

Vega also noted how this performance was a brilliant way to answer some critics after a thumping at the hands of the Green Bay Packers last Monday night. Some had begun to worry that maybe Houston was not as good as they seemed.

Houston will get to savor this victory for a while, as it heads into the bye week with a 6-1 record and a commanding lead in the AFC South. Up next is a date with the defenseless Buffalo Bills on Nov. 4
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Ravens vs. Texans, Week 7: 'Possibly the worst performance in Ravens history'

The Baltimore Ravens looked miles worse than the Houston Texans in a matchup of the only two one-loss teams in the AFC, losing 44-13 in a disappointing outing.

The Texans set a franchise record for points in their first ever victory over Baltimore. The Ravens were playing without Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb, both of whom suffered season-ending injuries last week, but it didn't seem like any amount of missing players would have helped in a game that was never really close. Zachary Beard of Baltimore Beat Down described his team as "awful in just about every facet" of the loss in his postgame recap:

After an encouraging first five minutes or so, in which the Ravens looked to have solid momentum both offensively and defensively, the game just went out of control from there. Getting blown away both offensively and defensively, it is safe to say that the Ravens were dismantled and demoralized all the same. I think the turning point of this game was when Joe Flacco threw his first interception (for a touchdown, no less) of the game. From that point forward Ravens fans just had a sense of "Oh boy, this is going to be a long day" to them.

The Ravens are still the second-best team in the conference - at 5-2, they're two games ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North - but this loss made that gap seem relatively wide. The Ravens are on bye before facing the Cleveland Browns in two weeks.

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