It appears that last year's Houston Texans have returned. Before the season, expectations were very high for this team to go 10-6 and then the bar was only set higher after the Week 1 win over the Colts. Since then, however, bad defense and terrible play calling has led to let downs week after week.
At 4-4, the Texans are proving to be a mediocre team once again who is capable of making big plays and winning, but also capable of coming out flat and making stupid decisions. The poor defense aside, the play calling has been atrocious all season with something different in every game. Week 9 against the San Diego Chargers was no different in terms of play calling.
With over 5 minutes left and behind by only 6 points, the Texans went into a very fast paced two minute drill. This makes sense to me because they were facing the best defense in the league statistically, so they may not have a chance to score on that drive and were going hurry up to give themselves a chance to have two drives. On the first drive they faced a 4th and long 1 on the Chargers side of the field. Instead of handing the ball off to Foster, who had been getting over 5 yards per carry, they called a quarterback sneak and didn't make it. It's this type of play call that has been killing the Texans all year.
Whether it is a call like that or completely abandoning the run way to early, the Texans really need to take a look at their play call schemes. To his credit, Kubiak took a lot of flack about abandoning the run against the Colts and rightfully so, but I did see him adjust in this game and get the ball to Arian Foster 30 times a game. And look what it did. The Texans could've and should've won that game. Keeping the running game going all game really helped keep the Texans in the game.
Credit to the defense for coming up with a few big stops when they were needed and playing better than they have overall. They do look like they are improving just a little week by week. Will it be enough?
It's hard to believe that two weeks ago the Texans were in first place of the AFC South then only two weeks later at the bottom. That said, they are only one game out of first place, so they may be down but not out.
On the bright side, this is still a very young team - the youngest team by average age of player in the league in fact. There is a lot of room for growing and getting better on both sides of the ball.
And - as far as playoff hopes, all is not lost. The Texans still have a chance of making the playoffs. In fact, they I'd even go so far as to say that they control their chance at making the playoffs. The wild card will not come out of the AFC South. But the Texans are only one game out of first place in the AFC South and winning the division will have them in the playoffs automatically.
The Colts, who currently have 1st place, are severely beaten by injuries and showed that they are capable of losing to any opponent by losing to the Eagles in Week 9. With strong defensive teams like the Chargers, Titans (twice), Patriots, Bengals and even the Raiders left to play, there is a chance the Colts lose 4-6 games putting them somewhere between 9-7 and 7-9 by the end of the season.
The Texans play both the Titans and the Jaguars two more times each this season. If the Texans could miraculously win 3 or 4 of those games, they should be in good position to win the division. If they were able to win all 4, they would have a very strong chance at taking 1st place in the division and getting their first playoff birth.
Like the Colts, all three of the Texans division foes have a chance to lose 4-6 games. The Titans have an easier schedule than both the Colts and the Texans, but still have to get past the Texans themselves, the Dolphins, Redskins and Cheifs - all of which could be losses. Jacksonville probably has it the worst in the remaining games having to face the Titans, Colts, Giants and Texans twice. Looking at the schedules, it would appear that the Titans are going to be the roadblock and with the addition of Randy Moss may be even stronger.
Let's just keep our fingers crossed for a sweep for the rest of the division games and see what happens.
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