A couple of days ago, I wrote this in the PGB:

11. I'm going to flesh this out in a separate post, but I'll tease it here: Should we be worried that the defense may be looking too good and thus enables Richard Smith to remain as DC in 2009?

Fact is that the defense has looked markedly better the last two (2) weeks. Granted, those performances haven't been against offensive juggernauts (no offense to fans of the Browns or Jags). What if your Houston Texans head up to Lambeau on Sunday and hold Aaron Rodgers & Co. to two (2) TDs or less? Unlikely, I know. But what if? What if the Texans defense follows up that hypothetical success by showing well against the remaining teams on the schedule, including but not limited to consistently blitzing and forcing turnovers? Would that be enough to call the dogs off Richard Smith?

We should all hope not. As Steph noted in a great post here (complete with damning statistics), your Houston Texans have fielded the worst defense in the NFL for the past four (4) years. The first year of that ongoing four-year drought was the final season of the notorious Capers-Casserly Era; Richard Smith wasn't here for that. The last three (3) seasons, however, have been under his purview. Even if you want to give Smith the benefit of the doubt for his first season (switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3, talent level on a 2-14 team leaves much to be desired, there's only so much that can be fixed in a single offseason, etc.), how can the 2007 and 2008 results be explained?

He's got Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans, for crying out loud. Those two (2) guys could start for any team in the league, and they arguably play the two (2) most important positions on the defense. Of the three (3) years he's been running the show, Richard Smith's also had about two (2) seasons worth of Dunta Robinson; prior to his injury, Dunta was playing CB as well as anyone in the league, and his productivity has improved exponentially since his return against Detroit. Throw in what we've seen from Fred Bennett (last year), Xavier Adibi, and Zac Diles (pre-injury), and there's no reason the defense should be as bad as it's been.

I'm not saying that there's enough talent on the Houston defense for it to be a top-ten defense. There isn't. There are still real deficiencies, be it from misjudging talent (Travis Johnson, Petey Faggins, Anthony Weaver, and likely Jacques Reeves) or simply not having sufficient talent (e.g., free safety and strong safety). That doesn't excuse Richard Smith's complete and total failure to put something resembling a statistically average defense on the field every Sunday. A late season surge should not exculpate Richard Smith for the last three (3) years. I hope Gary Kubiak feels the same way.

Howdy, Cheeseheads. I'm Tim, one of the writers over at SB Nation's site for all things Houston Texan, Battle Red Blog. Seeing as how Brandon was kind enough to head over to our neck of the woods to field questions about your beloved Packers, I figure it's only neighborly of me to extend the same courtesy to the great community at APC.

So hit me with your queries, Packer fans. I'll do my best to answer them. Want to know whether we have any regrets about taking that Mario Williams fella back in '06? I'll giggle and respond. Wondering about the state of the QBs in Houston? I'll rant about the Rosencopter, black out, and then remember that Matt Schaub should make his return to the field on Sunday. Want to prod me about how underwhelming the Houston defense has been? I'll solemnly nod and start to sob.

Have at it, folks. Best of luck on Sunday, and here's to a great game that sees everyone emerge healthy.

According to both ESPN and the Chronicle, Bryan Pittman won't be long-snapping for your Houston Texans for the rest of the 2008 season, if ever again. Pittman was one of the six (6) active players accused of violating the league's banned substance policy about five (5) weeks ago; we've been waiting for resolution of his appeal since then. As such, this doesn't really qualify as shocking news.

A simple search of BRB for "Bryan Pittman" will reveal that I'm not exactly broken up about this. Smithiak signed Clark Harris as a contingency plan for this very occurrence, so it hasn't caught the organization off guard. Thus, we're left with Harris getting his first taste of action in the friendly confines of Lambeau Field on Sunday in what's projected to be rather nippy, albeit clear, weather. No pressure, Clark. Here's hoping for an offense that is running on all cylinders, thus minimizing the number of times Harris has to see the field for punt duty.

Have to admit, people...Monday Night games are rather fun. Not that I have anything more than a single game point of reference, but I had a heckuva time last night at Reliant. Tailgating was top-notch (many thanks to GlassJoe and the Bellville crew for their hospitality), and the atmosphere was as good as it's ever been at Reliant, which is to say that it was on par with last year's Thursday night game against Denver and/or the inaugural win over Dallas. I had a blast. And the football wasn't too shabby either.

Just when we think the season's become a foregone conclusion, your Houston Texans go on a two (2) game winning streak, complete with a road victory over a team that won ten (10) games in 2007 and a prime time win over a division rival that many pundits had tabbed as a Super Bowl contender in 2008. While it goes without saying that things haven't worked out for those two (2) teams as they had hoped this season, winning streaks in the NFL are a rarity and should be enjoyed accordingly.

That said, we should remain realistic. The Texans aren't going to the playoffs, which means they won't be winning the Super Bowl this year. In the final analysis, that's what matters. We should celebrate the positives along the way, and we should study why other facets aren't working. Lest there by any confusion, there are still several things that should continue to raise the collective eyebrow of the Battle Red community, even after a big-time win. Fortunately, that's what we have the PGB for. Away we go:

1. One guy that doesn't concern me in any way, shape, or form is this dude. Five (5) tackles, three (3) sacks, and a forced fumble. I'm beginning to think the Texans' lack of prime time games is chiefly due to a conspiracy by Goodell, the Free Masons, and Opus Dei centered around keeping Super Mario from breaking the single-season sack record. Gushing aside, we need to start a serious discussion about whether Mario Williams is the best DE in the league. If not him, then who? At minimum, if Super Mario isn't considered one of the best five (5) DEs in the league, I'd like to know who you'd rank higher.

2. You're not fooling me, Corpse Formerly Known As Anthony Weaver. Two (2) good games does not justify $6,206,720.00 this season.

3. Pedestrian stats aside, last night may have been as good as Amobi Okoye played all season. Not tenth-player-taken-overall-in-2007 good enough, but improvement nonetheless. I'm intrigued by Matt's suggestion of temporarily moving him to DE, though I'm considerably less bullish about Okoye's ability to stop the run at the edge.

4. Another week of Frank Okam not even suiting up. Yet Travis Johnson continues to start. What is it we're missing here? In related news, DelJuan Robinson's forced fumble makes him a more productive Texan than Travis Johnson has been or ever will be.

5. Don't look now, but DeMeco Ryans has returned to form. That's too bad for the teams left on the Texans' schedule.

6. Xavier Adibi continues to excite me. His speed and nose for the ball make him the perfect complement for DeMeco. I said it last week, and I'll say it again: The potential LB triumvirate of Diles, Ryans, and Adibi in 2009 should be a joy to watch.

7. Speaking of last week, I said this about Jacques Reeves:

8. The stats indicate that Jacques Reeves played very well yesterday. And yes, he actually did make a nice play (with his hands!) in knocking away what could have been a TD pass to Braylon Edwards. And yes, he did show some nice awareness picking off a deflected ball. And yes, he did force a fumble. If he can replicate that effort in every game for the rest of the season, I will consider backing off my assertion that he is one of the, if not the, worst CB(s) in the NFL. Not until then.

I stand by that, even in the face of recent praise of his play. His pick last night was a thing of beauty, though, and the best read I've seen him make all season.

8. I'm still amazed every time I see Dunta Robinson on the field. I'm even more amazed that he looks significantly better with each passing week.

9. Fred Bennett, however, does not look good. At all. At one point last night, he got completely turned around and managed to lose both his assignment and the ball at the sideline. What happened to him? Do opposing teams have enough tape on him now to exploit his tendencies?

10. I continue to be impressed with Nick Ferguson and Eugene Wilson, especially in run support. Both of them, especially Ferguson, sure can hit. Neither guy is a long-term solution at safety, but they've stepped in and shored up what was a complete disaster of a secondary.

11. I'm going to flesh this out in a separate post, but I'll tease it here: Should we be worried that the defense may be looking too good and thus enables Richard Smith to remain as DC in 2009?

12. Bryan Pittman is the Travis Johnson of the special teams unit. He underwhelms every week, yet manages to hold onto his job. Why? I can't imagine that finding a decent long snapper who hasn't (allegedly) run afoul of the league's substance abuse policy is that tough to do.

13. Three (3) punts by Matt Turk, all of them inside the twenty, and one of them was on the JAC 1. Nice work.

14. Kris Brown has been the most consistently excellent Texan throughout the franchise's history. Andre Johnson's been the best, but you can set your watch to Kris Brown. Which is why I do not understand Kubes' refusal to let Brown tee it up from 54 yards toward the end of the first quarter. It worked out, as Turk boxed 'em in at the JAC 1, but still...let Brown boot that and take the points.

15. That last point underscores a very distinct feeling I got from Kubes once your Houston Texans went up ten (10) points: That we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Steve Slaton rendered that feeling obsolete with his fourth quarter heroics, but the calls still struck me as too conservative.

16. That previous point begs the question as to why Kubes played it so close to the vest. The answer, I'd bet, is that he doesn't trust Sage Rosenfels. That's well and good; I can understand that. If Kubes really doesn't trust Sage, then why wasn't Matt Schaub starting?

17. The most unfortunate byproduct of Kubes/Shanahan not opening things up was that they implicitly reduced Andre Johnson's impact, which should have been much greater, especially when Rashean Mathis left the game. And that's not even playing up the fact that Owen Daniels and Kevin Walter were afterthoughts in the offensive scheme as well.

18. This is all palatable, of course, because of the singular brilliance of Steve Slaton. 182 total yards? Two (2) TDs? Are you kidding me? Now the rest of the country knows what we've known for months: Steve Slaton was the steal of the 2008 draft. If Smithiak brings in an effective short-yardage RB to shoulder some of the load next season, the running game will have been completely transformed in one year's time.

19. A big part of that transformation has been the development of the OL. They were brilliant again last night, opening up holes and not yielding a single sack. I don't know what Bob McNair is paying Alex Gibbs, but it's not enough.

20. Fake Game Balls: Offense--Steve Slaton; Defense--Mario Williams; Special Teams--Matt Turk.

21. One final point: Last night's open game threads (here and here) were the best we've ever had at BRB, both in terms of number of participants and quality of comments. Thanks to all of you; you make BRB what it is. Special thanks to HuskerDolphin and Mike Clark for being tremendously classy fans on a foreign site. Hope to see all of you back here.

Your Houston Texans have a short week before they travel to the Frozen Tundra to take on the Packers of Green Bay on Sunday. That's a tall order for any team, and it's an especially tall order for a young team that's trying to handle an unfamiliar bout with success. I don't love our chances, but we'll worry about that in another day or so. Until then, let's just savor the first Monday Night game, and the first Monday Night victory, in franchise history.

Final stats here. Much more to come on this later, including a detailed PGB, but I will leave you for now with this:

Your Houston Texans have never lost on Monday night. Discuss.

It's still Monday Night Football, and it's still your Houston Texans. Keep those Comments coming, people.

Back in April when the schedule was first released, I reacted in predictably reserved fashion:

Finally...a Monday Night Football game at Reliant! Against a division rival! I think I just pissed my pants a little bit.

Now, seven and a half months later, much has changed. Not my bladder control problems, mind you. The stakes, which we hoped would be substantial, are now negligible. Some fans of our beloved 4-7 team would even argue that accumulating losses, so as to improve draft positioning, would actually be preferable to notching any more wins.

Not me. Not tonight.

It's Monday Night Football, folks. Your Houston Texans are the only football game on television this evening. I'm not naive enough to say that all eyes are going to be on Reliant, because they're not. But every eye that wants to watch some football tonight will be, and that's good enough for me. Additionally, don't underestimate the value of putting on a good show as justification for future prime time slots. Regardless of the record, your Houston Texans need to play well tonight or risk being banished to an immediate future of nothing but Sunday noon starts.

It's been a disappointing season in Houston. We know it, and the organization knows it. Let's forget all of that for one glorious night and make this the first of several Monday night games at Reliant. Soak it in and enjoy it.

As always, leave your pre-game, in-game, and post-game observations, death threats, and tributes to Mario Williams in the Comments below. A second-half open thread will post to the main page at 9 p.m. CST, so move the party there at the appropriate hour. GO TEXANS!

You know the drill, so let's get cracking. Three (3) things that are destined to happen at Reliant tonight when the Jags come running out of the tunnel:

1. Steve Slaton did a whole lot of nothing in his first meeting against Jacksonville. It won't happen again tonight. I'm feeling 108 total yards from Slaton this evening, 35 of which will be via a scamper into the end zone. In the second quarter.

2. Owen Daniels came up big against the Jags earlier this season, and I like him again tonight to the tune of 75 yards and a TD. Bonus passing game prediction: 'Dre will not be a decoy tonight, but he won't break 100 yards. I'm calling 89 yards and a TD for him.

3. Remember what happened the last time Super Mario played in prime time? So do I. Expect a slightly less impressive performance, which is to say two (2) sacks instead of 3.5.

PUT YOUR NAME ON IT: It's Battle Red Night. It's Monday Night Football. It's a struggling Jacksonville squad. Not even the potentially absurd decision to declare that Matt Schaub's healthy enough to be the No. 2 QB yet not healthy enough to be the No. 1 is going to screw this up. Jags 24, Texans 31.

Updating this story, word now is that Matt Schaub's best case scenario tomorrow night is to enter the first Monday Night game in Texans history (and the first Monday night game in Houston in more than fourteen (14) years) as the backup to Sage Rosenfels. According to Kubes, Sage will be under center on Houston's first offensive possession:

"Sage will start," coach Gary Kubiak said after Saturday’s practice. "Matt’s made a lot of progress, and he’s gotten better each day. He took all the reps today with the scout team.

"If we feel good about his practice, then he’ll go into the game as the backup. But if we don’t feel good about it, he won’t suit up."

In my humble opinion, this is a mistake. If Kubes "feel[s] good about [Schaub's] practice," Matt Schaub should start at QB tomorrow night. In other words, The Schaub should be starting tomorrow night unless the team deems him unfit to play. Medical clearance should equal Matt Schaub's return to action.

Consider me more excited/supportive of the apparently distinct possibility that Matt Schaub will take the field on Monday night against the Jags than scared/pessimistic about said possibility.

I'll state at the outset that I'll believe Schaub plays on Monday night when I see it. This could be nothing more than subterfuge, making the Jags prepare for two (2) QBs instead of only Sage. Plus, I recall how there was a time last season when we thought 'Dre was going to return within a few weeks of spraining his knee, only to see him miss seven (7) games instead. What's more, as I'm sure Smithiak knows, your Houston Texans ain't making the playoffs this year. Knowing that, there's something to be said for not rushing your franchise QB back to the field when all that's on the line is pride and/or draft position, the latter of which would likely be adversely impacted by his presence. Given all that, my hopes for Schaub playing in the first Monday Night game in franchise history aren't exactly sky high.

Do I want him to play? Heck yeah I do. Most importantly, Matt Schaub's the best QB on the roster and gives the team the best chance to win. He torched Jacksonville earlier this season. And the fact remains that we still don't know what we've got with him, so the more opportunities he has to definitively answer that question, the better. If this was September, I'd be much more cautious. In December, though? Roll the dice, I say. The season's almost over, and Schaub will have an entire offseason to recuperate in the event disaster strikes. If the trainers clear him to play, get him out there.

The floor is yours, BRB. Do you want to see Schaub under center on Monday night? Or is it not worth the risk?