MVN - Most Valuable Network

Back in the Swing: Texans 23, Saints 10

Welcome back, Andre Johnson. Will you sign my forehead?

Sorry for the goofy intro, but it felt appropriate. Games like today, where the ball bounces your way time after time, aren’t common. So it’s important to savor the feeling, so you can remember later on that football, and the life that it is a part of, isn’t always cruel. Sometimes, you do get to play with your actual, honest to goodness starters!

That’s not to say today was nothing but luck. In fact, the game started with some decidedly bad luck. Vonta Leach fumbled the ball out of bounds on the first play of the game, and two plays later, Owen Daniels coughed it up in Houston territory. The Saints failed to do anything with the heavenly field position, though, and settled for three points. After that, chance sided with Houston throughout the day.

Matt Schaub went to work in a big way on the next drive, faking the Saints’ secondary out of their cleats on a play fake to Ron Dayne, which allowed Andre Johnson to get loose downfield with absolutely no one in the neighborhood. Schaub hit Johnson in stride, and #80 went for 73, and a TD.

The Texans, particularly the Texans’ defense, had a definite hand in creating it’s good fortune today. With the Saints knocking on the door after converting a 3rd and 20 a few plays earlier and the Texans nursing their 7-3 lead, Earl Cochran, best known for his work in NFL Europa, met Reggie Bush at the goalline and punched the ball out, then came up with the ball in the resulting scrum.

The Saints again took it deep into Houston’s territory on their next possession, and at Houston’s 29, Drew Brees fired for Marques Colston in the corner of the endzone, who appeared to reel in a pretty catch for the first Saints TD of the day. But luckily, it slipped out of his grasp just before he hit the ground. Two plays later, Drew Brees tried to get the ball to Eric Johnson, but it was deflected into the air, and Von Hutchins brought in the interception, ending another Saints’ drive prematurely.

New Orleans would eventually take the lead again, turning an Echemandu fumble (on his first and last touch of the game) into a TD pass to Devery Henderson. But once again, Matt Schaub answered, and this time it was for good.

Schaub took the Texans 70 yards on five plays, converting three first downs on the first three plays of the drive, then shooting a laser to Joel Dreessen in the back of the endzone from 10 yards out to give Houston back the lead for good.

The first half was where the big plays happened, and New Orleans still had a chance. The Houston defense solidified in the second half, while the formidable New Orleans passing attack withered. New Orleans could muster only 144 total yards and zero points in the face of mounting pressure from the Texan front four. Houston’s offense did not continue to churn out long gains at the same rate after halftime, but it eliminated turnovers, protected Matt Schaub, and kept the clock running with Ron Dayne, who wrapped up with 89 yards rushing on 20 carries.

The NFL touted this as the match-up of the top two picks of the 2006 draft, and that subplot also ended up going decidedly in Houston’s favor. Reggie Bush did wind up with 12 catches, but the 70 yards they produced were largely harmless. Bush found utter futility trying to run the ball, gaining just 34 yards with his 15 carries. This is one of the uglier 100-yard performances in recent memory.

Mario Williams closed the pocket on Drew Brees on several occasions, and his persistence finally paid off in the fourth quarter, when he sacked and stripped Drew Brees. If Mario had a chip on his shoulder about the post-draft criticism, this game should get rid of it.

After Brees’ second interception via a pass intended for Eric Johnson, Kris Brown would tack on a couple more field goals to put the game out of reach.

The two big positives in this win (other than the win itself) were the renewal of the Schaub/Johnson connection, and the secondary. Schaub looked way more comfortable throwing the ball downfield than he had in the games leading up to his injury, and that can just about all be credited to the return of Andre Johnson, who picked up right where he left off in week two. He had his third 100-yard performance in his three games this year, all of which have been Houston wins. Schaub was great from start to finish, feeding Johnson steadily throughout, but also found Owen Daniels, Andre’ Davis, and Kevin Walter multiple times. Schaub closed the day with 293 yards, two TDs, and more of my respect and admiration.

Drew Brees did manage to drop 290 yards passing on the Texans’, but it took 33 completions to do it. Houston allowed him only two pass completions for more than 15 yards, and without the big play, the offense of New Orleans sputtered badly.

You know, that bit about luck earlier, I don’t think it’s as simple as that. It may have looked like Houston was catching breaks left and right, but that’s what always seems to happen when a team is playing well, which is what this team did today. Whatever the Saints could do, the Texans could do better. This is certainly the kind of game that a team can look back on and be proud of, a confidence booster for a team that’s on the cusp of real, sustained success. Having passed this test, Houston will have to take it a couple notches higher next week, when they’ll fly to Cleveland to see how they stack up with the 6-4 Browns, who pulled off one of the more improbable victories of the season today in overtime. Until next time, rejoice, Texans faithful! We are 5-5 for the very first time.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 12:16 am 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.