MVN - Most Valuable Network

Professor vs. Pupil

This week’s Thursday night game was chosen by the NFL Network for a clear reason.  This will be the first time in the regular season that long-time Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan will have to gameplan against Gary Kubiak, a man whose tenure with the Broncos started even before Shanahan’s did in 1984 as a quarterbacks coach. (A fun question to ask football fans is what quarterback the Broncos drafted in the famous Quarterback Class of 1983.  The answer, naturally, is not John Elway, but Kubiak.)

With Kubiak at the helm, I’ve since wanted the Texans to do well, as success for Kubiak is obviously a positive sign on Shanahan and the Broncos.  However, I never would have guessed that the Broncos and Texans would have equivalent records at this point of the year.  While both teams still both have fringe playoff hopes, that will almost certainly not be the case for the loser of this game.  Expect both Shanahan and Kubiak to pull out all the pages of the playbook, as the stakes mean more than just an honorable notation.

TEXANS OFFENSE

Unfortunately for the Texans, they will be without their usual starter with Matt Schaub.  However, they do have one of the most serviceable backups in the league in Sage Rosenfels.  The former Dolphin was impressive last week in stopping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from clinching the NFC South, tossing 209 yards and three touchdowns.  Things are make much easier for Rosenfels by having one of the league’s most underrated wide receivers in Andre Johnson.  Johnson has missed much of this season, but it’s safe to say that when he is in the lineup, the Texans are a different team.

Fortunately for the Broncos, they do have Champ Bailey to match up against Johnson—however I still expect even Bailey to get help matching up against him.  The rest of the Broncos secondary will also have to deal with a solid supporting cast, such as #2 receiver Kevin Walter, and to counter the more than adequate production Houston gets out of its tight ends.  They include the unheralded and underrated Owen Daniels, who quietly has 686 yards on the season, as well as former Bronco Jeb Putzier.

Historically, the Texans have been maligned for their poor offensive lines, and bringing in Kubiak and his knowledge of the famous zone-blocking system was a good step to try and turn it around.  One area of great improvement has been the number of sacks allowed, which stands at only 21.  However, the running game has not been as dynamic as one would have hoped for.  Ahman Green has proven to be past his prime, only getting 260 yards in six games thus far.  Things won’t be made easier on the Texans if team leading rusher Ron Dayne (another former Bronco) won’t be able to go with a bum ankle. 

A big question will be how the Broncos use their safeties.  How often will they be in the box or coverage?  Will they get sent on a blitz?  My choice would be to assure that the run game is shut down early and make the Texans more one dimensional—but then again, I surely haven’t been following the tape as long as the coaches have been.

TEXANS DEFENSE

Houston was decried on draft day 2006 when they chose defensive end Mario Williams over the electric Reggie Bush and hometown hero Vince Young.  But with both Bush and Young struggling this year and Williams very close on a double digit sack season, the Texans finally have a chance to laugh, even if it isn’t the last one.  Williams will need to be accounted for immediately so Jay Cutler can stay upright and not throw errant passes.  As such, I don’t anticipate much passing action from Daniel Graham, as he would be better suited in the blocking game.

The Texans also have an outstanding middle linebacker in DeMeco Ryans, drafted the same year as Williams and earning the Defensive Rookie Of The Year.  Ryans will be an excellent test for the Broncos’ own zone-blocking system.  If the interior linemen can peel off their blocks on the front four and limit the tackles that Ryans can make, it will be a major success and should open up holes for Selvin Young and Travis Henry.

The Texans rank low in run defense and average in pass defense, so I expect another typical “establish the run to set up the pass” type of game.  When the passing game does open up, the Broncos will benefit from not having to worry about Dunta Robinson, who suffered a season ending injury against the Raiders.  There are a lot of unfamiliar names in the secondary without Robinson (CC Brown, Von Hutchins, Demarcus Faggins), and I’m really curious to see if Cutler and his receivers can exploit some mismatches.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.