Having everything to prove to themselves and the league, the Texans went to Cincy with an agenda.

From Matt Schaub showing his ability to lead his team to victory to Brian Cushing proving he was the best USC linebacker taken in the draft, the Texans met their objectives.  The boys in Liberty White went to Ohio, and when it was all over, they left with nearly everything being crossed off their list.

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Sorry for the short notice, but if you live in the area - I'll be at the brand spanking new Fast Eddies on 1604 and Braun.   watching the game there.  Come out and have a beer with me.  Go Texans!

Uh.... Yeah!   They always said the third preseason game is the closest to the regular season game that a fan can get..  So far we have DeMeco wrecking shop, Mario with a sack, and Schaub coming up lame.  Yeah, it's pretty damn close.  Join us in the comments below for the second half of the Texans vs Vikes.  Favre be damned!

Yes, I'm still walking among the living, albeit in on a slightly different path.  Responsibilities at home and work have both increased two-fold, so my free time has been whittled down to near nil.  Check out  Energy Crisis by J. Martinez & McEnroe to get an aural rendition of the aforementioned explanation.  Not to say that I'm jumping ship; in fact, I fully intend to forge ahead, sleep be damned. 

With that being said, I thought it would be appropriate to touch on a few key points regarding last Sunday's Super Bowl. I'm sure if the Cards were setting a soundtrack to the days that followed the Super Bowl, my guess is that it would include this little ditty.

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Fresh off a rousing win over the Bears to close out the 2008 season, your Houston Texans are again 8-8.  Not the winning season we had hoped for, but not the dismal season we all envisioned after that 0-4 start.  Starting the game down ten and then rallying to win says a lot about the boys in deep steel blue. Bottom line is that we won.  And going 8-8 is a helluva lot better than 7-9 no matter how you slice it.  So feel free to express yourselves to the fullest in the Comments down below.

I know, I know... One subpar game by your standout rookie doesn't necessarily mean that he's hit the proverbial wall - but after last Sunday's performance, one has to wonder if he was really ready for the game in Oakland.  With Slaton shouldering the load for all but a handful of plays this season, I was left wondering if he has anything left in the tank for Sunday's season finale.   

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Steve Slaton, the Texans' sensational rookie runner, posted his second consecutive 100+ rushing game and his fourth of the season.  In the brutal cold (3° F), Slaton had a career high 26 carries for 120 yards.  More importantly, he became the second player in franchise history to rush for over 1,000 yards.  Currently at 1,024 yards, he only needs 164 yards over the next three games to break the Texans single season rushing record currently held by Domanick Williams (formerly Domanick Davis).  

As much success as he's had this season, Slaton is third in rookie rushing behind Tennessee's Chris Johnson (1,094) and Chicago's Matt Forte (1,081). While he may be trailing for the rookie lead in total yards rushing, he is the rookie leader in running plays over twenty yards (11) and is tied for the league lead in plays of over fourty (4). He's also among the league leaders in yards per carry with 5.0.

On the season, Slaton has hauled in 37 passes for 290 yards. As a rookie running back, he is second to only Forte in yards (395); however, unlike Forte, who hasn't had a single reception over 19 yards, Slaton has caught four of over twenty yards.

Even the most fervent Texans fan has to admit that Slaton's ability to shoulder the load has been a surprise. While I was fully on board the Steve Slaton Express from day one, even I've been wowed by just how good Slaton is becoming. And I use the word "becoming" because he seems to get better with each and every week.

So the question remains:  Just how good will Slaton become?

WR Kevin Walter is arguably the best unheralded wide receiver in the league.  He runs exact routes and has excellent hands.  Through the first thirteen games of the season, Walter has 851 yards and is among the league leaders in touchdowns (8).  Of the 31 players with at least 55 receptions, only Roddy White (ATL), Greg Jennings (GB), Steve Smith (CAR), and Calvin Johnson (DET) are averaging more yards per catch.  

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Sunday's match-up with the Browns will feature a familiar sight for Texans fans; CB Dunta Robinson will slide back into the starting line-up.  Playing primarily nickel back since the Detroit Lions game, D-Rob will resume his duties at the right cornerback slot.

Robinson is ready to prove to everybody that he's ready to be the player that was he was before he suffered a near career ending knee injury. 

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With two of the NFL's most potent offenses squaring off, it was all but certain that last Sunday's game would have its share of fireworks.  With both teams dug in, the game a Lucas Oil Staduim was a steady shootout.  Each team fired on target, seemingly at will.   As time was running out, and the Colts dead in their sights, the Texans' last shot misfired - leaving them to be done in by the Colts' Bullitt.     

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Games that result in 41-13 blowouts usually have several reasons for the disparity in scoring.  Oftentimes, games that are that lopsided are a result of turnovers, and last Sunday wasn't any different.  With Sage throwing four interceptions (three in the second half), the Texans were unable to stay competitive. 

As detrimental as the turnovers were, there was another key component to the Texans demise: penalties.  Sunday, the Texans were flagged ten (10) times  for a total of 76 yards, by far the most this season.  Through the first eight contests, the Texans were averaging only 3.5 penalties a game, nearly a third less than their total last Sunday. 

Being that the Texans are one of the least penalized teams in the league, it became obvious that something else was at play.   If the Texans were playing away from home, in front of a hostile crowd, I could understand the sharp spike in called penalties, but seeing as how the game was at Reliant, there must have been something else at play.

So were the Texans' inflated penalty numbers a result of mental miscues or over officiating?  After scratching my head for a second, I went on a fact-finding mission.  And what I found all but confirmed my hunch.   

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Watching Sunday's game took me back to a time in my mind, back to 1995.  It was the Edinburg North High School campus sometime just after the day's final bell.  Teenagers were being teenagers, enjoying the end of another skull-numbing day.  I was walking and talking with a friend, heading out to my car when I saw something about to pop off.

This kid (who we'll call Red) was marching down the corridor with a group of his homeboys following close behind.  First thought - there's gonna be a gang fight - let's go check it out.  So I see this kid and his cadre of compadres set their sights on this guy sitting down at a table talking to his chick. We'll call that guy Blue.

So anyway Red demands that Blue gets up.  Blue tells him to fuck off.  Being goaded by his homeboys, Red pushes a still-seated Blue.  So Blue, alone in front of this ever growing crowd of bystanders, gets up.

Red again pushes a now-standing Blue.  And with amazing quickness, Blue unleashed a flurry of pounding punches, pummeling Red's nose, chin, neck, mouth, eye...  each shot echoed louder than the last.  I mean seriously, Red got the ever living crap out beat out of him.  It was so bad that even Red's friends started to slink away.   After a couple of minutes, security guards came in and rescued Red from the savage beating.

The story is hardly football related, but the Texans' performance on Sunday reminded me a lot of that one-sided fight I saw some thirteen years ago.  Like Red, the Texans made mistake after mistake and wound up getting embarrassed in front of their home crowd.

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Normally I outline, draft, and edit my front page posts...This is not one of those times.  I was busy at work, so I didn't hear about Schaub's injury until early this evening.  All I can say is 'what the fuck?!' Everything I'm about to write is coming through unfiltered.  Call it therapy, call it bitching.. call it whatever.  The following is my visceral reaction to news surrounding the extent of Matt Schaub's injury.

First and foremost - Jared Allen is a cheap shot artist who intentionally injured Matt Schaub.  Diving at a quarterback's knees is inexcusable, indefensible, and intolerable.  With that one play, Jared Allen killed any chance of  the Texans having a winning season.  Fuck you Jared.

So Sage jumps up the depth chart.

What is that?  Sage was 4-1 as the starter last year?  Okay, yes he was - unfortunately it was before he decided to go '93 Oilers on us.  He cost us the game against the Colts and threw a red zone pick on third and inches last Sunday that essentially ended the Texans' day. 

As much as I would love to see a healthy Schaub under center, the Texans have no choice but to go with Rosenfels.  Am I happy about that?  No, but here is the rub.  Even with all the faith I've lost in Sage this season, I still consider him a capable quarterback.   

If there is any room for optimism, it lies in this inevitability: Sage will get exclusive work with the first team.  The coaching staff knows what he does well and will look to coach him up the best they can. 

Sage is a prototypical game manager; unfortunately, the Texans offense is driven by the pass.  If Slaton is the only back available, the offense is going to struggle to get going.  I love me some Steve Slaton, but he doesn't have the size or the savvy in his rookie year to shoulder the entire offensive load, so Sage has to step up and play his way back into the hearts of Texans fans.  I just don't see it happening.

The season is on a runaway train and it's picking up steam...

Damn it.

Remember the "We want Sage" chants?  Well, there you go, fuckheads.

To say that Sunday was a good day would be a bit of an understatement.  Have I had better, sure - but last Sunday was the culmination of a week's worth of planning that came to fruition.  I caught a ride to the bar, met up with some buddies, and was able to watch the Texans dominate the Bengals for the better part of four quarters. Mix in a night of steady drinking, and you get another fuzzy rundown of another Texans win...

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If you live in and around the San Antonio area, you know how shitty life can be on a Sunday when the local media snubs the Texans in favor of Bull Riding (irony notwithstanding).  Also equally shitty is finding yourself alone in a room full of people as you clammer to find a seat at the bar and beg for a TV to watch the unheralded Houston Texans.

If we are ever going to have a voice in SA, we need to show a united front.  Several members of the unrivaled Texans message board, TexansTalk.com, have decided on a show of solidarity at the Buffalo Wild Wings on DeZavala for this Sunday's game.  It's west of I-10 off the DeZavala exit. 

I plan to be there, drinking beer and rocking my gear.  Even if you have the NFL Sunday Ticket, come out and support the team with your Texan brethren.  Hope to see yall there.

This post-game recap comes with a huge disclaimer:  I didn't get to see the first twenty-five minutes of the game or the first three Texans scores.   I assumed that I would be watching the Texans in the comfort of my own living room, while a pan of chicken wings fried outside.  I had a fridge full of beer and a 5 lb bag of chicken wings - it was going to be beautiful - until the assholes who run the local networks screwed me out of my game.

Anyway, I hit my local watering hole only to find that it was CLOSED.  WTF?!  Then I head over to the bar that's three doors down and the idiot bartender couldn't figure out how to work the remote. I'm serious. The fucking idiot is standing there with five remotes in his hand and he can't figure out how to get the Texans game on the screen.  I figured screw it - I'll drive the 20 minutes to Champps, where I knew for sure they would have the game. 

Oh, and if being a Texans fan living in San Antonio didn't suck enough, local AM radio stopped carrying Texans games this season.  Not to harp on the whole "San Antonio hates the Texans" thing, but how is it that SA has two dedicated sports talk radio stations, plus have a news talk station that also broadcasts games, but I can't get one of them to beam me in some Texans football? Es una disgracia.

So anyway, I walk into Champps just as Hanson is booting his first 54 yarder (21-3).   I make a beeline to the back and find some other dude who was also scrambling to find a place with the game.  Mix in my buddy who showed up at halftime, and the afternoon went from being utterly craptastic to pretty kickass. 

With all that being said, here is that disclaimer:  After an hour of sheer frustration, I drank and I drank and I drank as I watched the game and since I don't have the luxury of DVR to help me out with this, I'm left to my foggy memory to recap what I saw.

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College football brought a bevy of highly touted running backs to the 2008 NFL Draft.  With the talent pool being so deep at that position, it was inevitable that a few impact runners would fall to the middle rounds.  Two beneficiaries of that inevitability were your Houston Texans and their opponent this Sunday, the Detroit Lions.  Both teams used their third overall pick on bona-fide game changers.  

Like Steve Slaton, whose recent play has all but cemented his spot in the starting lineup, Kevin Smith has reenergized the fan base with his mix of speed and vision.  He has even had a few mentioning him in the same breath with the Lions' legendary Barry Sanders.  While Smith himself is quick to downplay any comparison to Sanders, he is supremely confident in his ability to run the ball. 

The Texans would be well served to keep an eye on Kevin Smith as two teams desperate for a win square off in the Bayou City.  He certainly has the skills that could give a defense fits from start to finish.

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