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October 2009
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October 2009 ArchivesIts the halfway point in the regular season as it is for us here at the 11 Sports office. At the start of the campaign, all of us, like all NFL teams had hope. But, then reality soon hits and we all realize how good some teams are...and how horribly bad others are...kind of like our pick abilities... So, here are some comparison's between a handful of NFL teams and us here in the Sports office. Matt Musil is in first place, therefore, he can be compared to the New Orleans Saints. While they are dominating now, no one knew if they had what it took to win the whole thing, but they have proved to have... Introducing your new Houston Astros manager...Boston Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills... What do you think? Well, for an organization that has made some questionable moves over the past couple of years, this might be a good start in the task of turning this thing around... ...I've had trouble reaching players reacting to new manager ....as expected .... But I did reach relief pitcher Tim Byrdak at his home in Chicago. He says," I don't know much about him ...just what I've read. Coming from the Red Sox is interesting. I think it's great, he'll bring a different viewpoint to the team." ...Well, that was way more interesting than it probably should have been. Texans built a 21-0 lead and they saw it almost slip away. Crazy second half but they pull it out improving to 4-3 on the season. ...Another SF possession and yet again, another touchdown from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis...this time from 23 yards out... They have made some adjustments in the 2nd half and found a weakness in that defense for sure... ...You have to ask yourself...why don't the Texans throw it to Andre Johnson a little more? BEcause, if it wasn't for his catch, that drive would have been dead... The Texans had the first down deep in Niner territory but a run, a sack, then another run on third and long followed by a personnal foul penalty set up the 50-yard FG attempt by Kris Brown and since he is so $$$, he knocked it through... Defense needs a big stop on the rejuvinated 49ers offense now... ...Things are getting interesting and the Texans defense is still in the locker room... Slaton's fumble led to another scoring drive for the 49ers making the score 21-14 as the game winds down. Vernon Davis and Alex Smith have torched the Texans defense after Shaun Hill was inefective in the first half. Texans though have the ball and they are driving...a great catch my Andre Johnson has put them into a great position to try and put the game away... ...I think it was the movie "The Replacements" in which Orlando Jones was asked to put some stick-em on his hands because he could catch a football... You think that stuff is available for Steve Slaton? The running back has lost 4 fumbles this season, and lost it 8 times this season, by far the most of any other running back in the NFL. They tried running the Gauntlet with him during the week, well, they might have to use something else to try and get him to stop losing the ball... 49ers have it again...and driving...Houston still leads it 21-7... ...The 49ers apparently figured out that Shawn Hill is not good... San Francisco replaced their first half QB with their former first overall pick Alex Smith and what does the former Utah Ute great do...leads the Niners all the way down the field for the score...a touchdown pass to Vernon Davis...who is a physical freak of nature... The Texans defense that looked so great in the first half...apparently stayed there for the first SF drive...let's hope it turns around... What a dominant effort by the Texans in that first half, by far the best FIRST half of football this team has played so far this season. I have been the first to tear this team up on how they are never prepared when they come out of the gate, and so far, they haven't been. But today, was a totally different story, in fact, through one quarter, the Niners had 1 YARD OF TOTAL OFFENSE!! Brian Cushing, Mario Williams look healthy and so does Bernard Pollard after suffering flu-like syptoms during the week. Great stuff... The offense for the Texans also looks good, that is...if they NEVER run the ball. T... Boy, this team is fired up today... Owen Daniels left wide open on a nice play action bootleg to the right...Matt Schaub finds him from 42 yards out. A couple of notes...Daniels has 5 catches for 100 yards today and that score...Schaub has now thrown for 16 touchdown passes this season...that ties a franchise SEASON mark set by David Carr...and we're in game 7!! I can't remember the last time the Texans were up 21-0 on a team in the second quarter and looked so dominant in doing so...SF looks awful and I think the Texans are making look worse than they really are...nice effort so far... Thank you Arnaz Battle... Why the grattitude for the SF wideout...well, he muffed the punt return which was recovered by Andre Davis of the Texans at the 9...and two plays later...POOF! TOUCHDOWN!! This time is was Slaton CATCHING the ball on a pass from Matt Schaub... The defense has allowed a total of 7 yards so far in this game...not bad at all... ...Steve Slaton actually scored a RUSHING TOUCHDOWN! The former West Virginia great pucnhed it in to the endzone after picking up the first down on a screen pass the play before.... But, despite scoring on the run, the Texans rushing offense is still lacking, so, in my opinion, just throw it all the time. They were successful on several plays down the field, one to Owen Daniels the other to Kevin Walter, both of which set up the scoring touchdown. The one thing though about this game that is looking impressive is the defense...they are looking sharp and have a swagger about them...NICE! ...This is always a cool site...former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. bush were on hand for the coin toss and National Anthem...
Here are the line-up changes/notes for both teams heading into this game... Roof: Open (FINALLY!) Texans Inactive Players: 49ers Inactive Players: Thats should do it...ENJOY the game and keep it right here... Hello football fans and after a couple of weeks away from the friendly (or non-friendly given the Texans record) confines of Reliant Stadium...it is a gorgeous day for football and the Texans try to get over .500 for the first time this season...crazy I know... Today's opponent the San Francisco 49ers. What can we expect out this once great team? Well Pro Bowl running back Frank Gore is back after missing a couple of weeks so that will be a factor against this much much improved Texans rush defense. Rookie Wide receiver Michael Crabtree finally decided that it is better to play football than talk a big game... Well...this thing might have just turned into a four man race. Through six weeks, the five of us were seperated by 5 games. Then came Week 7 and POOF! Mr. Daniel Gotera is now 10 games back... I guess it's because I am new in town, but it all started with the Texans. These guys know that they win games they're not supposed to. Case in point: Texans 28, Bengals 17. From there a couple of upsets didn't happen and before you know it...a 7-7 week. What can I say, at least I'm not making a living reading palms and predicting the future...that would probably lead to some bad things... The winner this past... I don't USUALLY root for any specific player, especially if they are from a team that I have never really had any attachment to. But in the case of Oklahoma stars Jermaine Gresham and Sam Bradford, thats exactly what's happened. It's funny how things work out. For years, students have been encourgaed to finish their degrees and make sure they have firm education foundation, before taking the money of the pros. That, and the hopes of winning a National Championship, were reasons enough for them to come back. But 2009 has turned out to be nothing what they expected. ...So, you might have realized a mistake in last week's totals. There is a perfect reason why I am in the journalism/writing field. That is because I cannot count. I accidentally added two games to last week's schedule not realizing that 4 teams has a bye. I know, I know...I need to go back to 1st grade, but being Billy Madison doesn't really sound like a good idea. As for what actually transpired with our picks, well Mr. George Jensen has sky rocketed up the rankings after the past two weeks. He is now only two games behind the leaders, Butch Alsandor and Bob Luna. Matt Musil dropped to second followed by the... The work week is over, and once again, football takes center stage. Last week's NFL slate saw a lot of good games, the best being the Ravens/Patriots, Jets/Saints, Cowboys/Broncos. Now, realistically speaking...did anyone see the Denver Broncos being 4-0?!? Thats crazy, but it proves that defense wins championships as the boys from Mile High have only given up 26 points all year...ridiculous... As for our fearless progonosticators...well, most of us did pretty well. 4 of us went 13-3, while George Jensen, who was close to giving up going into the week, went 15-1 and vaulted into a tie with me (that, however... Mario Williams and the defense came up big again...Mario stripped Russell of the football forcing a fumble, Connor Barwin recovered it giving the Texans great field position deep inside Raiders territory... But, the Texans go three and out and Brown misses a 33 yard FG... One note to pass along, Vonta Leach came back in the game soon after coming out in the first half...he should be fine... Another note...Brian Cushing is having his best game of the season...no doubt... ...The Texans are well on their way getting their second win of the season and their first here at Reliant Stadium...they lead 29-6 at the end of the third quarter... All in all, good performance by the team, but it still brings up the question, is it the Texans playing well, or is it the Raiders playing bad? ...After a bad three and out on their first offensive possession...Texans punter Matt Turk pins the Raiders back at the one yard line...first play by Oakland...Brian Cushing gets a safety to make it 22-6... It was the Texans first safety since December 15, 2002. On the ensuing kick-off...Jacoby Jones houses it 95 yards to the endzone making it 29-6 Texans with 8:41 left in the 3rd quarter...this one looks like its pretty much in the books...excellent effort all around so far by the Texans... ...The Texans had a chance to add some more points before the end of the first half, but Schaub was picked off...that was really the only bad thing that happened to the Texans in that first 30 minutes of play... A couple of things to take note of from the first half... -Steve Slaton and the running game finally got moving in the second quarter. Slaton ran for a touchdown and caught another. The Texans had 82 rushing yards in the first half. -Matt Schaub threw for 200 yards and made some good decisions for most of the first half, with the exception of course being the last offensive play. Wide r... Oakland tacked on FG on their last drive to make it 20-6. The Texans got the ball back and they drove the ball all the way down the field, but Matt Schaub was picked off in the endzone on a pass intended to Andre Johnson... Johnson didn't even have a shot at it...not a good throw at all by Schaub... ...The Texans are on their offensive game today for sure...another quick drive this time only taking up 4 plays and going 61 yards in 1:52...it ended on a 18 yard touchdown reception by Steve Slaton on screen pass set up by Matt Schaub... The big play in the drive was a 41 yard pass completion to Owen Daniels...the longest catch of his career... Either the Texans are playing really well, which is true, or the Raiders are horrifically bad...which is also very true... ...Steve Slaton atones for the fumble he had earlier in the first half with a 32 yard touchdown run...the Texans finally got the running game going with a combination of Moats and Slaton...the drive went 67 yards in 6 plays spanning 3:02 culminating in the first rushing touchdown of the season for th Slaton and the Texans... Vonta Leach came of the field with an apparent ankle injury...James Casey played a couple of snaps on the drive... We'll keep you posted on Leach... ...Kris Brown does come through once again...this time a 34 boot...Texans moved the ball well, thanks in large part to another break down in the Oakland secondary...this time Kevin Walter was the recipient of the long pass from Matt Schaub...it went 41 yards... Just getting the second quarter started, let's see if the Texans defense can keep up the intensity of the first half... ...With the Texans getting the ball after another bad Oakland possession, Steve Slaton fumbled it inside Houston territory. It looked like the ground might have caused the fumble and that no one touched him, but none the less...it was a turnover... Oakland recovered...Sebatian Janikowski kicked a 46 yard FG to tie it...and that was all the action the first quarter saw... Texans are about to kick a FG as they are looking a 4th down once the quarter begins... ...Texans K Kris Brown nails a 26 yard FG to give Houston a 3-0 lead with 8:06 to go in the 1st Quarter...big play on the drive...62 yard pass completion from Schaub to Johnson... The drive spanned 61 yards on 6 plays in 1:28...but once the Texans got in the redzone, they stalled...Slaton was stuffed at the line and Schaub misfired on two passes... Still, the Texans got on the board first...3-0 Houston... ...The Texans and Raiders have both had one offensive possession each and neither looked very good... Steve Slaton showed some bursts in the first drive, but the drive stalled after a sack on Matt Schaub. As for the Raiders, they, as I thought, would come out passing, two of three plays in the air. Darren McFadden was brought down in the backfield on their only run by Antonio Smith. Russell did complete a pass on 3rd down but they came up short... Texans again with the ball... ...Greetings once again Texans fans! Last week at this time we were all excited about the possibility of the team going not only 2-1, but 3-1 by the end of week 4. Well, like Herm Edwards says, "You play to win the game", and the Texans have yet to figure out how to do that at home. Last week, the Texans lost to the Jaguars 31-24 in a game that once again proved Houston can't stop the run to save their life. Today, they take on an Oakland team that loves to run, but fortunately has one of the worst quarterbacks in the league in Jamarcus Russell. So, the Texans should win...but then again...you never k... The NFL season is three weeks in and our attempts as a sports staff to pick each of the games that have been played...well, have turned out to be quite futile. The leader in the clubhouse coming in was Butch. But the best prognosticator so far this season has some company at the top. Matt and Bob have caught up with him and have forced a 3-way tie. They have picked the favorites, others, like myself, have gone with upsets. Sometimes, it works (How 'bout them Bengals?) Other times...not so good (Falcons at Patriots?!?! What was I thinking...)...maybe thats why I'm lagging... There are 7, 0-3 teams left in th... |
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