Shoot Me In The Face

Over the past week, I made two mistakes. One, I under estimated the Cleveland Browns. And two, I gave the Houston Texans to much credit.

I over-hyped the Texans, thinking they could be a playoff contender, but I was sorely mistaken. As usual, the Texans went in reverse on Sunday bringing back their inconsistency on both sides of the ball. The Cleveland Browns had control of the game once the first quarter ended and never looked back. Quarter back Derrick Anderson found open receivers all day, and running back Jamal Lewis looked like his old self rushing for 134 yards and a score. Which brings me to a newly found mistake, I benched him in fantasy football.

The Texans lost their first game this season with Andre Johnson playing, but you wouldn't even notice he was there. Johnson had three receptions for 37 yards and couldn't be found because he was swallowed by the secondary. The Schaub was sacked twice although it seemed like 17, and could have been mistaken for David Carr with the way he was running around the backfield aimlessly. And a three-to-one turnover ratio was also difficult to overcome.

After the performance last week against the Saints, many would question if they were watching the same team. A Texans secondary, which shut down an explosive Saints offense last week, was completely lost on Sunday. An offense that ran smoothly on every aspect became helpless and lost.

So now the Texans sit at 5-6, still behind Cleveland and head to Tennessee next week. The only positive of the day, is that the Titans lost. But that could also be looked at as a negative, because had the Texans won they would have moved within a game of Tennessee. Don't count the Texans out yet, there is still hope and they are still in the hunt, but a goal for the playoffs is slipping out of reach.

My prediction: Titans 20, Texans 14.