Texans at titans: Gameday Blog

14:08 in the 1st Schaub's looking incredibly uncomfortable in the pocket, overthrowing every pass he's attempted. I'd be mad at the 3 and out, but Jacques Reeves just caught?titans QB Kerry Collins' first pass attempt. Now they're set up on the 16 on 3rd down and....sack. Matt Schaub needs watch how far he steps into the pocket unless he wants to tangle with Albert Haynesworth all game. Those two don't have a very food rapport if i'm not mistaken. Kris Brown field goal is good. Texans 3, titans o 10:02 left in the 1st. titans ball, busted play on 1st down and the QB scrambles for a 1st. Seriously?! Kerry Collins runs 10 yards untouched?! Overall this is not a very impressive defensive series for the Texans as the titans wide receiving corps is looking like they're on loan from New England. Now they're set up on the 11 yard line, 3rd down after Algernon Darius Crumpler III drops a wide-open pass in the end-zone. Chris Johnson catches a pass out in the flats and takes the ball up to the 2. titans go for it, running Lendale White up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown. The Texans defense is not looking good at all. Hopefully Schaub can settle down and keep them in this game, but I don't see a game against the titans being a shootout. Unless of course Rob Bironas is involved. 6:27 left in the 1st; titans 7, Texans 3 First play of the Texans ensuing offensive series is a Matt Schaub...touch--interception. Kubiak just threw the challenge flag seeing as Griffin was bobbling it near the sideline on the way down. It should be overturned after looking at the replay but of course, it is not. Demeco just recovered a fumble by Justin McCareins on a 2nd and 5 dump pass. Maybe Schaub will stop playing QB like he's playing Madden? Let's hope so because the run game isn't doing ANYTHING. *note* the second I typed that, Slaton kicks a handoff to the outside for a 50 yard run. Texans will start on the 9 yard line. Holding call on the defense?sets up the Texans with a 1st and goal on the 4 now. Schaub botches the snap and the Texans fall on it. Schaub's playing scared. 2nd down, Schaub throws behind Dre incomplete. 3rd down Schaub lobs it to Owen Daniels (who's double covered) and the pass falls incomplete. Schaub is now 0-6 with an interception. Good thing I have Kris Brown as my starting kicker, I suppose. Start of the 2nd quarter 3rd and 2 inside the 15 yard-line, Kerry Collins bootlegs out and dumps it to Bo Scaife who stretches out for a TD. Seriously...I don't understand it. That 68-yard march downfield was embarassing. Collins tacked on another big scramble for 17 yards along the way and it looked as if they were doing whatever they wanted the whole way to that TD. 10:06 left in the 2nd Texans 6, titans 14 Texans are knocking on the door at 3rd and inches and Schaub (tell me if you've heard this before) throws incomplete. They're going for it on 4th and Steve Slaton gets the first on the ground. Schaub's looking a little more comfortable and he's?been finding Owen Daniels along the way. Slaton slashes his way up the middle for a 6-yd touchdown standing up. ....bad snap on the PAT and Matt Turk flashes his athleticism by slipping on the turf on a rollout. Texans 12, titans 14 Here we go again. The titans are?just walking down the field. Oh and apparently the refs don't mind Justin McCareins forearming Jacques Reeves before hs snags a deep bomb inside the 3.?Collins rushes the offense back to the line and gets a snap off before the Texans can challenge. The following play is a Lendale White TD run up the middle. Texans 12, titans 21 4:16 left, and Dre catches his first pass. Slaton follows it up with a 25-yd highlight reel run.? Texans follow that up with a 3 and out. Molden slaps a Matt Turk punt away from the end zone setting up the titans with a 1st and 10 on the 8. Can they hold them off? no. Chris Johnson breaks a 14 yard rush up the right side on first down.? :29 left in the half The titans have a punter?! Texans force a punt finally and they'll have one last shot before the half to put some more points on the board. Instead, they'll play conservative and Slaton rushes to close out the half. Halftime: Texans 12, titans 21 So this defense looks AWFUL. They?started out promising with a Jacques Reeves INT but things quickly turned sour. Schaub looked scared and uncomfortable throughout most of the first half. He seemed to be settling down towards the end but the question is whether the halftime break will ruin any sort of groove he might've been working himself into. Slaton has looked ridiculous when he gets in open space and is the sole reason the Texans are only down by 9. This game is not over yet. If the defense can force the Titans to beat them through the air by shutting down the run, the Texans might force more than one punt in the second half. Schaub needs to find Owen Daniels more and if Slaton continues to run as well as he did in the 1st half, it will force the defense up and could lead to Dre possibly double his reception total before the end of the game. Let's see what happens as the?titans will have the ball to start the second half. 12:49 left in the 3rd Let it be known that C.C. Brown is terrible. He's tryin to play like a hard-hitting safety, but doesn't have enough power to knock anyone over. Result? C.C. Brown has bounced off of several sure tackles if he did this thing called WRAPPING UP. 3rd down, Mario rushes up the middle after Collins forcing a dump off pass to Chris Johnson. Demeco introduces himself to the rookie by unloading on him for a 5 yard loss. PUNT!!! 6:36 left in the 3rd Kerry Collins has given the titans a passing game. Another bomb to McCareins leads to a Bironas FG. At least the defense looks like it took the field this half and has started to slow down the titans. 1st play for the Texans offensive series is a play-action bomb to Andre Davis for 49 yards. I've been waiting for it all game and finally we get a roughing the passer call against Haynesworth. The titans take them to 4th down and the Texans go for it. Dump pass to Slaton and stopped short. Turnover. 3:25 in the 3rd Another defensive stop sets the Texans offense up on the 48 yard line. nothing decelops and a Jevon Kearse sack on 3rd down?forces a punt. The Texans defense is definitely doing it's best to give the offense some opportunities to get back into this game, but Schaub and co. aren't taking advantage at all. That's what makes this team so frustrating at times. 12:51 in the 4th Schaub's found Owen Daniels several times on the current drive and they've slowly worked their way inside the 25 yard line. Slaton converts a 3rd and 1 and if the Texans can focus and keep the wheels from falling off, they have a chance to make this game a lot more interesting. Another 3rd and 1 and Schaub dumps it out to Slaton who's stopped in the flats. They're going for it again on 4th down and in the process killing my fantasy football team's potential score (Kris Brown isn't causing me nearly the headache that Ronnie Brown has caused since I benched him). Dre grabs his 2nd reception and converts a critical 4th down. This titans defense is NUTS. Sitting on the 3 yard line, they've once again forced a 4th down attempt and Houston takes a timeout. At this point I have no idea what would work. There's no fail-safe play but throwing seems the smartest idea. Ball snapped, and Slaton takes a draw handoff to about a blade of grass-width away from the endzone. The Texans turn the ball over on downs and more than likely left any chance of winning this game inches away from the endzone. 5:01 in the 4th Following the turnover, the Texans force a quick 3 and out which should set them up with good field position (as if they've beebn able to capitalize on that at all today). Texans start on the titans 48, and on 1st down Matt Schaub throws incomplete to Dre. And whaddya know, it's 4th down again with 10 to go. Schaub targets Dre and Michael Griffin picks it off. Lame. 2:44 left in the game The titans are just running the clock out and the Texans force a punt. Jacoby makes a move and breaks open the punt return down to the 37. A late-hit penalty pushes them to the 22 and Schaub fires things off with an 12-yard cannonshot into Andre Davis' chest. Slaton catches a pass out in the flats, makes a titan defender look stupid and runs it up to the 5. 2nd and 3 and Slaton gets stuffed. 3 and 4 and Schaub is sacked knocking them back to the 11.?And on 4th down Schaub completes his third pass to a titans defensive back. Cortland Finnegan returns the INT 99 yards for a touchdown and slams the door in Houston's face. Schaub has made some moronic throws, and that's putting it nicely. The Texans run the clock out and fall to 0-2. If Schaub continues to play like this...he wont be starting very long. Texans 12, titans 31 FINAL.