(AP Photo/Morry Gash; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 24 Packers 21

Could the Texans actually be turning into a reasonably dangerous team so long as they hang on to the ball?

Despite four turnovers, the Texans (6-7) rallied late and beat the Packers (5-8) on a Kris Brown 40 yd field goal in the last minute.

But for the Texans’ turnovers, this game would not have been close. The Texans rolled up 550 yds of total offense, including 414 through the air from returning-from-injury QB Matt Schaub (28-42/414 yds/2 TD’s/1 INT). Schaub cooly engineered a 75 yard, nine-play drive in the last two minutes to set up Brown’s game-winning field goal.

Meanwhile, Texans stellar rookie RB Steve Slaton rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries and caught three passes for 40 yards, cementing his place among the top five players selected in the 2008 NFL Draft.

And, although bearing no similarity to the Ravens or the Steelers, the Texans defense continued its improved play overall, including a key sack that set up the Texans’ final drive.

So, the Texans are on somewhat of a roll as they prepare for next Sunday’s game at Reliant Stadium against the Titans (12-1). They then travel to Oakland to play the Raiders (3-10) the following week before returning home to close out the season against the Bears (7-6), who may still be in the playoff hunt at that point.

Win two out of those three games and the Texans will finish with the same 8-8 record that they finished with last season. Few people (including me) were predicting that just three weeks ago.

Moving on to the college game, with Oklahoma’s (12-1) expected demolition of Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game, the Texas Longhorns (11-1)  lost out on playing in the BCS Championship Game. So, the Horns will face Big Ten co-champ Ohio State (10-2) in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix on January 5.

Rice (9-3) will play Western Michigan (9-3) in the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium on December 30 at 7 p.m., while the  Houston Cougars (7-5) will take on Air Force (8-4) in the Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth on New Year’s Eve afternoon.

And the Texas Aggies stay home during bowl season once again.

(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Longhorns 49 Texas Aggies 9

As predicted in the previous weekly review, the Longhorns (11-1/7-1 Big 12) hammered the Aggies (4-8/2-6 Big 12), but still ended up behind Oklahoma (11-1/7-1 Big 12) in the Bowl Championship Series standings, so the Sooners will represent the Big 12 South in the Big 12 Championship Game next Saturday against Missouri (9-3/5-3 Big 12) in Kansas City. That gives OU the inside track to the BCS Championship Game.

if OU beats Missouri expected, then the Horns will have to settle for another BCS bowl game, probably the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe against Ohio State (10-2) on January 5th.

However, if Mizzou pulls off the upset, which is certainly possible given OU’s tough stretch of big games and last Saturday night’s injury to star OU QB Sam Bradford (he will play with a cast on his left hand against Mizzou), then the Horns would be a virtual lock for the BCS Championship Game against the winner of the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship Game.

As usual, QB Colt McCoy (23-28/311 yds/2 TD’s/0 INT/11 carries/49 yds/2 TD) was the star for the Horns, but what was most interesting about this game was how uncompetitive the Aggies were. First-year Aggie coach Mike Sherman certainly did not distinguish himself this season and his dubious decision-making in this game raises questions as to whether he has what it takes to rebuild the Aggie program.

Continue reading →

(AP Photo/Tony Dejak; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 16 Browns 6

A win is a win, right?

Well, maybe. But the reality is that the Texans (4-7) finally found a team in the Browns (4-7) that is more inept than them. The Browns served up five turnovers to the Texans, which allowed the bumbling Texans to win the turnover battle by +3.

Toss in a fairly balanced attack (383 total offense/271 yds passing/112 yds rushing) and a absolutely horrid Browns passing attack (13-32/143 yds/3 INT) and you have the Texans’ first road victory in over a year.

The Texans have an extra day to prepare this week for their first Monday Night game, the Monday after Thanksgiving at Reliant Stadium against the under-performing Jaguars (4-7).

Continue reading →

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy; previous weekly reviews are here)

Colts 33 Texans 27

Texans (3-7) backup QB Sage Rosenfels (13-18/192 yds/0 TD/1 INT) had another "Sage moment" (i.e., "what the hell was that?") when he threw his only interception of the game as the Texans were attempting to drive for a game-winning TD in the last minute. However, this loss was squarely on the shoulders of the Texans’ defense, which gave up almost 500 yards total offense and basically had no hope of stopping the Colts (6-4) after their receivers stopped dropping passes (they dropped at least a half-dozen in the first half, after which the Texans led 13-9). All Texans defensive coaches should have their résumés updated.

The Texans travel to Cleveland next Sunday to play the Browns (3-6) before returning home to play the Jaguars (4-6) on Monday Night Football the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Continue reading →

(AP Photo/David Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Ravens 41 Texans 13

Oh my. It’s going to be a long week for Houston sports talk show hosts this week.

The Ravens (6-3) manhandled the Texans (3-6) in the 4th quarter Sunday afternoon to put away the victory. The Texans had pulled to within 19-13 by the end of the 3rd quarter and really should have been leading by a point but for a bonehead Sage Rosenfels (23-38/294 yds/1 TD/4 int) in the first half.

But then the chronically shaky Texans defense allowed the Ravens to drive 78 yards on nine plays to go up by 14 and then Rosenfels set up the final two Ravens scores by throwing interceptions deep in Texans’ territory.

So, where do the Texans stand midway through Year Seven of their existence?

Unlike the Chronicle cheerleaders (at least one of whom is now leaving the booster club), I’ve always thought that the decision of Texans owner Bob McNair to hire Gary Kubiak was a questionable one under the circumstances. Now, over two and a half years into the Kubiak era, the defense still stinks, the QB play remains inconsistent and the Texans are staring straight at the probability that they will win only 4-6 games this season.

But who knows? The Texans looked dead in the water after 12 games last season before winning three of their last four to finish 8-8.

My sense is that Kubiak survives for at least another season, but that McNair will require assistant coaching changes on the defensive side. The Texans now go on the road the next two Sundays at the Colts (5-4) and the Browns (3-6) before returning home to face the Jaguars (4-5).

Continue reading →

(AP Photo/LM Otero; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texas Tech 39 Texas Longhorns 33

As predicted, the top-ranked Horns (8-1/4-1 Big 12) were not able to run the table through four straight games against top-10 ranked teams.

The loss dropped Texas to fourth in the BCS rankings, behind Alabama, Tech, and Penn State. Florida and Oklahoma are close behind the Horns.

The Horns remain in the hunt for the BCS Championship Game, but by a thread at this point. Alabama will probably lose to either LSU next weekend or to Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and Tech and OU must both play each other as well as Oklahoma State.

However, Penn State has a much easier schedules the rest of the way and is not likely to lose another game. So, the Horns will need help from other teams and probably a victory in the Big 12 Championship Game to attain a BCS Championship Game berth.

Now, to the game. Normally, when the Horns’ defensive unit gives up almost 600 yards, 30 points (the Horns’ offense gave up the other 9) and the game-winning TD pass with one second left, you would be inclined to blame the defeat on them. However, playing Texas Tech (9-0/5-0 Big 12) is anything but normal.

Truth be known, the Horns’ defensive unit played well enough for the Horns to outscore Tech and win the game. However, Texas’ offensive unit was completely flummoxed by Tech’s defense for almost the first three quarters of the game, and that lack of productivity ended up being the difference in the game.

Tech’s defense played a soft zone pass defense with two safeties deep and either five or six defenders playing between 5-7 yards off the line of scrimmage. Then, Tech would run a series of stunts with the three or four defensive lineman who were essentially pass-rushing on every play.

The strategy effectively took away Texas’ mid-range passing game. Moreover, through almost three quarters, Texas inexplicably played into Tech’s hands by failing to force the Red Raiders to defend the running game, which was there for the taking with so many Tech defenders running around in the defensive backfield. As a result, the Horns fell behind 22-3 and 29-13 before closing to within 10 at the end of the third quarter.

After finally forcing Tech to defend the running game toward the end of the third quarter, the Horns moved the ball at will against Tech’s defensive unit in the fourth quarter and almost pulled the game out. However, it’s simply unreasonable to expect a defensive unit to do much better than hold Tech’s explosive offense to 10 points in a half, which is precisely what the Texas defensive unit did in the second half on Saturday night. The Horns’ failure to score double-digit points in the first half cost them this game.

The Horns play resurgent Baylor (3-6/1-4 Big 12) next Saturday in Austin before traveling the following weekend to Lawrence to face a dangerous Kansas (6-3/3-2 Big 12) squad.

Continue reading →

(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews are here)

Texans 35 Bengals 6

The Texans (3-4) won their third game in a row for the first time in franchise history by drubbing the Bengals (0-8), who are truly dreadful. The Texans still have not beaten a good team this season, so it’s not time to start printing playoff tickets just yet.

However, one thing struck me about this game and almost every other one that the Texans have played during the 2+ years of the Kubiak era — the Texan players appear to play hard, if not particularly well all the time, for Kubiak. That effort reflects that at least the players think that he is the man to lead them to greater success. In contrast, it is clear that a number of Bengal players have packed it in on Bengal Coach Marvin Lewis. The Texans attempt to even their record next Sunday against the Vikings (3-4) in Minneapolis.

Continue reading →