Where do I begin? I could start off with the fact that Mario Williams has more touchdowns this season than Reggie Bush. Or that I contemplated buying a Mario Williams jersey. Or that I definitely gave the Kansas City Chiefs too much credit.
We will hear this until next week: The Texans shouldn't take too much pride in the win because after all, they beat a team that wasn't picked to do much of anything. Well, Kansas City has one of the top five running backs in the NFL in Larry Johnson, and the Texans held him to 43 yards on 10 carries. The defensive side of the Texans looked possessed. The Texans caused four turnovers out of the Chiefs offense, and held them to 219 total yards. Mario Williams added two sacks to his fumble recovery touchdown. The only bad thing that happened on defense was Jason Simmons’ injury, which unfortunately, sidelined him for the rest of the season.
On the offensive side of things for the Texans, there was a bit of inconsistency. Matt Schaub made an out-of-character pass that was intercepted, but turned that around with his touchdown pass to Andre Johnson. The only thing I am still worrying about is the Texans offensive line. They are adjusting from David Carr to Matt Schaub. Carr would always take off and run with the ball if he was hurried out of the pocket, and Matt Schaub sits back and buys time to throw. That's why those "ineligible receiver downfield" calls kept occurring. The offensive line would start running down the field, thinking Carr was following. Schaub was also sacked twice and hurried nearly every other play.
A positive note on offense, however, was Johnson. If he can manage a 140-yard game every week, then I will need to add more wins to my 9-7 record prediction.Nevertheless, it was a great win for the Texans, and their first opening-day win since 2003. These guys actually looked like a mature and professional team. But then again, that could be because we aren't put through the torture of watching David Carr.
The difference in this season from years past will be that Texans fans can actually be confident about their football team. And, fans won't have thoughts of jogging off a cliff after a game. Next week, the Texans travel to Carolina to take on the Panthers, and I think everyone will be able to see if this team is for real or not after that. My prediction: Carolina 20, Houston 17.
(This column appeared in the September 10, 2007 edition of The Huntsville Item.)
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