Now in the playoffs for the first time, Houston hopes its highly rated defense can lead the team to a victory Saturday against the Bengals, the team Joseph played for before joining the Texans.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Joseph said about helping Houston to its first postseason game against his former team.

He has communicated with 20 to 25 of his former teammates this week and is proud of what the Bengals have done this season. But he certainly won’t feel torn Saturday.

“I’m a Texan now,” he said.

Phillips has had a difficult few weeks after having kidney and gall bladder surgery Dec. 15. He missed two games, but rejoined the team last week and coached from the press box Sunday.

He isn’t feeling great — he has a chair to sit in for parts of practice — but knew it was important to be with the team during this critical time.

“It’s taken a lot out of me but I’m working my back, doing what the doctors say, ready to keep building up,” Phillips, who wasn’t available to the media Wednesday, said recently.

Coach Gary Kubiak insisted the defense wasn’t any different with Phillips away, but acknowledged Wednesday that his return has given the unit a boost.

“I know from a confidence standpoint for everybody it’s nice to have him back in the locker room last weekend and have his presence throughout the course of the week, so that’s been a good thing,” Kubiak said. “We’ve got to make sure Wade gets good and healthy and everything goes OK.”

Linebacker Brian Cushing, who leads the team with 114 tackles, said Phillips’ importance to the team can’t be overstated.

“He’s been huge,” Cushing said. “For what he’s done in turning this defense around has been unbelievable. So much credit goes to him, from scheme, to coaches he’s brought to just the personality of the team.”

Joseph has helped Houston’s secondary go from allowing a league-worst 267.5 yards to just 189.7 this season — the third fewest in the NFL.

“To come in and be embraced by the guys and make such an impact to be counted and looked upon as a leader here has been a tremendous experience for me altogether,” Joseph said.

Houston has thrived in Phillips’ 3-4 defense even without 2006 top overall pick Mario Williams. The former defensive end was expected to star at outside linebacker in the new scheme, but had a season-ending injury during the fifth game.

That left the Texans shuffling people around. They moved the other starting outside linebacker Connor Barwin to Williams’ spot and rookie Brooks Reed took Barwin’s slot.

Reed filled the position ably and Barwin flourished this season, piling up a team-leading 11 1/2 sacks.

Barwin, another converted defensive end, said Phillips is quiet and stoic, but has a unique way of motivating players.

“Wade comes in with some gems,” Barwin said. “They might be short and quick but he’s wise.”

Phillips, who has more postseason coaching experience than any member of the staff with 26 games, encouraged the team to focus this week in practice with one of his “gems” of which Barwin is so fond.

“He walks out and says real mellow like he does: ‘Every single play is the playoffs now,’” Barwin said of Phillips. “So we knew every single play we do in practice is so important just because we’re in the playoffs now.”

DeMeco Ryans also credits Phillips for what has happened this year. Of course, the linebacker has helped out in the change this season, starting each game in 2011 after missing 10 games last year with an Achilles injury.

“The biggest key is that from the first day all the guys just bought into Wade’s system and how we were going to do things,” Ryans said. “Everyone in our room just wanted to excel and everyone wanted to be great in our defensive room.”

Ryans knew around the midway point of the season that this group could be special. Kubiak saw it a few weeks sooner, when the defense stopped Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger four times in the fourth quarter of a 17-10 win.

“That was special against a great quarterback in Ben,” Kubiak said. “So you could see the confidence starting to grow right there and they’ve been very consistent all year long. As a matter of fact they’ve been darn good and hopefully they will continue to be, because we will need to play great defense to continue to move on.”

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

When the Cincinnati Bengals travel into Reliant Stadium to take on the Houston Texans, they have more than a few reasons to be confident. I might even go as far as picking the Bengals to win this game.

Much has been made about the Bengals inability to beat a good team —they’re a whopping 0-7 against those within the playoff field. While those numbers do raise some alarm, they’re not as bad as they look on the surface. With the exception of their Week 13 game in Pittsburgh, they haven’t lost a game by more than eight points. Additionally, they don’t have any “bad” losses —losing to teams they shouldn’t (Denver might be an exception, though it’s hard to make that argument when they’re in the playoffs). I’ll readily admit that you need to be able to take down better teams, but the Bengals clearly show where they fall on the quality spectrum. They’ve probably been one of the best teams to set your watch to. They win when they should and lose when they should. They lost to the Baltimore Ravens by seven and eight points, respectively. They lost to the Denver Broncos by two and the San Francisco 49ers by five. Their other game against Pittsburgh found them losing by only seven. Lastly, they lost to the Houston Texans by one. This is a team that can compete.

The Texans, on the other hand, do have a few mind boggling losses. That being said, they also have some impressive wins —Pittsburgh and Atlanta specifically. However, they also carry losses to the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts. You can throw in the Oakland Raiders if you want as well. I’ll give a couple of those teams the benefit of being pretty decent, but they aren’t teams the Houston Texans should lose to. The Titans game gets a free pass because most of the starting Texans were on the bench. What’s more alarming for the Texans is their current three-game losing streak they’re riding into the playoffs —Carolina, Indy, and Tennessee. Being the Texans first ever trip to the playoffs, I’m sure the Bengals are going to run into a raucous crowd at Reliant Stadium. If Dalton and company can’t control that, it could get ugly.

What makes this game difficult is that you have two rookie quarterbacks. T.J Yates hasn’t thrown a touchdown in two-plus games and following Yates’ injury against the Titans, we don’t know if that shoulder will affect his performance. When you look at the numbers of the two teams, they’re relatively even. The slight edge goes to the Texans in most categories, but that also factors in the gaudy offensive numbers they were putting up prior to Matt Schaub’s injury. As it stands now, I think the game is pretty even.

Andy Dalton doesn’t give much more confidence. Despite Dalton having a stellar rookie season, you don’t often like the idea of rookie quarterbacks in the playoffs. In fact, the research I’ve found is that no rookie quarterback has ever won a Super Bowl. That’s an alarming trend for both Bengals and Texans fans.

We don’t need to talk about the Super Bowl yet. Yates and Dalton both have things to take care of before we start thinking about that. While I think it’s a virtual toss up, I think I like Cincinnati.

Bengals 20 Texans 17

Brian is a lifelong NFL fan, specifically of the Chicago Bears, having lived in Illinois his entire life and having followed the NFL throughout.

Sources

Bengals/Texans Preview

Bengals Schedule

Texans Schedule

T.J Yates Stats

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Houston Texans didn’t spend much time worrying about
Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.

They had much more important concerns with the first playoff
game in franchise history just six days away.

Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes and Houston botched a
2-point conversion at the end of Tennessee’s 23-22 victory at
Reliant Stadium.

The Texans (10-6) will play Cincinnati (9-7) on Saturday in the
first round of the playoffs.

“It’s going to be unbelievable,” said receiver Kevin Walter, a
former Bengal. “We are going to be ready, I tell you that for
sure.”

Tennessee (9-7) earned its first winning record since 2008 in
Mike Munchak’s first season, but its postseason fate depended on
the outcome of later games in Cincinnati, Oakland and Denver.

When the Broncos lost to Kansas City, the Titans were knocked
out of playoff contention.

“I was proud of the guys for bouncing back the last two weeks
and putting ourselves in the position to reach the playoffs,”
Munchak said in a statement, “But we also put ourselves in the
position of needing help and it didn’t work out for us today.”

Houston was locked into the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs
before the game began. With the playoff position secured and
nothing to lose but more players to injury, coach Gary Kubiak
called for a 2-point conversion to avoid overtime and win the game
in regulation.

“You would never go for 2 there in any other situation,” Kubiak
said. “But where we were physically, at the end of the game, I had
a tight end (Garrett Graham) playing linebacker. Our team, I had to
get them to next week.”

Now the Texans will prepare for the biggest game in the team’s
10-year history.

“It’s a different platform that we’ve never played at before,”
linebacker Brian Cushing said. “We’re really excited to showcase
what we’re about as a team and as an organization to the city and
to the fans. This is huge and from here on out this is big-time
football and we’re excited for it.”

Rookie starter T.J. Yates left the game after one series and was
replaced by Jake Delhomme. Kubiak said Yates had a bruised left
shoulder but could’ve returned if necessary.

“Obviously, I didn’t want him to go back in the game,” Kubiak
said. “We’ll know better where we’re at (Monday) at this
point.”

The 36-year-old Delhomme, signed Nov. 29 in the wake of
season-ending injuries to starter Matt Schaub and backup Matt
Leinart, completed 18 of 28 passes, including a 5-yard touchdown
pass to Bryant Johnson with 14 seconds left.

Kubiak called for a 2-point conversion at the end. But after a
false start penalty, backup center Thomas Austin snapped the ball
over Delhomme’s head and the game was over.

The Texans certainly weren’t happy about losing, but won’t spend
any time thinking about what happened on Sunday.

“We’re ripping off the rear-view mirror,” tight end Joel
Dreessen said. “The regular season is over with, and the Texans are
officially invited to the postseason. We open up at home, in one
week. And that’s our focus right now. It’s a whole new season, and
we have to play at our best.”

Chris Johnson ran for 61 yards, and Rob Bironas kicked three
field goals for Tennessee. The Titans needed a Bengals loss and
victories by Oakland and Denver to earn a postseason rematch with
the Texans back in Houston next week.

The Texans had other concerns after the loss.

Yates was sacked on Houston’s first snap by Jurrell Casey and
Derrick Morgan. He completed passes to Dreessen and James Casey for
first downs, before Tate and Derrick Ward started alternating
touches for the rest of the drive.

Tate finished that drive with a touchdown, but Yates came off
the field favoring his left shoulder and went to the locker
room.

Titans defensive end Dave Ball sacked Delhomme and knocked the
ball loose, and safety Chris Hope recovered at the Texans 33.
Hasselbeck threw a 25-yard pass to Jared Cook, then found Donnie
Avery in the corner of the end zone to move Tennessee in front.

Delhomme threw a 16-yard pass to Andre Johnson to get Houston
moving again. Johnson caught two passes and sat out the second half
after missing the previous three games with a strained left
hamstring.

Neil Rackers kicked a 52-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the
first half, but Bironas booted a 43-yarder on the final play before
the break to put Tennessee up 13-10. Bironas extended his own NFL
record by kicking a field goal of 40 yards or longer for the 10th
consecutive game.

The Texans rallied to tie it at 16-all, but Kubiak had most of
his defensive starters on the bench in the fourth quarter. Nate
Washington got behind rookie cornerback Brandon Harris and
third-string safety Quintin Demps for a 23-yard touchdown with 4:31
remaining.

Texans linebacker Jesse Nading recovered a fumble by Ahmard Hall
with less than two minutes left, and Delhomme completed 5 of 6
passes to drive Houston for the late touchdown.

Notes: Wide receiver Andre Johnson played about 20 snaps. Kubiak
said he isn’t ready to play 70 plays next week, but that he should
be able to go 45-50. … Kubiak said Houston OLB Bryan Braman has a
stinger. … Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips worked from the
press box after missing two games following kidney and gall bladder
surgery.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 1, 2012

HOUSTON — The Houston Texans talked all week about the importance of beating Tennessee on Sunday to enter the playoffs on the right track.

In the end, coach Gary Kubiak decided keeping his key players healthy entering next week was more important than a victory.

Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes and the Titans kept alive their playoff hopes briefly with a 23-22 victory over Houston on Sunday after the Texans failed to convert a 2-point conversion attempt that would have won the game.

Houston (10-6) will head into its first postseason on a three-game losing streak. The Texans were locked into the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs and Kubiak played mostly reserves in the second half.

“You would never go for two there in any other situation … but I had to get them to next week,” Kubiak said.

The Titans (9-7) earned their first winning record since 2008 in Mike Munchak’s first season, but their postseason fate depended on the outcome of later games in Cincinnati, Oakland and Denver.

Tennessee got some early help when the New York Jets lost in Miami, but was knocked out of playoff contention when the Broncos lost to Kansas City in a late game.

Rookie starter T.J. Yates left the game after one series and was replaced by Jake Delhomme. Kubiak said Yates had a bruised left shoulder but could’ve returned if necessary.

“Obviously, I didn’t want him to go back in the game,” Kubiak said. “We’ll know better where we’re at (Monday) at this point.”

The 36-year-old Delhomme, signed Nov. 29 in the wake of season-ending injuries to starter Matt Schaub and backup Matt Leinart, completed 18 of 28 passes, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to Bryant Johnson with 14 seconds left.

Kubiak called for a 2-point conversion at the end. But after a false start penalty, backup center Thomas Austin snapped the ball over Delhomme’s head and the game was over.

The Texans certainly weren’t happy about losing, but won’t spend any time thinking about what happened on Sunday.

“We’re ripping off the rear-view mirror,” tight end Joel Dreessen said. “The regular season is over with, and the Texans are officially invited to the postseason. We open up at home, in one week. And that’s our focus right now. It’s a whole new season, and we have to play at our best.”

Chris Johnson ran for 61 yards, and Rob Bironas kicked three field goals for Tennessee. The Titans needed a Bengals loss and victories by Oakland and Denver to earn a postseason rematch with the Texans back in Houston next week.

The Texans had other concerns after the loss.

Yates was sacked on Houston’s first snap by Jurrell Casey and Derrick Morgan. He completed passes to Joel Dreessen and James Casey for first downs, before Tate and Derrick Ward started alternating touches for the rest of the drive.

Tate finished that drive with a touchdown, but Yates came off the field favoring his left shoulder and went to the locker room.

Titans defensive end Dave Ball sacked Delhomme and knocked the ball loose, and safety Chris Hope recovered at the Texans 33. Hasselbeck threw a 25-yard pass to Jared Cook, then found Donnie Avery in the corner of the end zone to move Tennessee in front.

Delhomme threw a 16-yard pass to Andre Johnson to get Houston moving again. Johnson caught two passes and sat out the second half after missing the previous three games with a strained left hamstring.

Neil Rackers kicked a 52-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the first half, but Bironas booted a 43-yarder on the final play before the break to put Tennessee up 13-10. Bironas extended his own NFL record by kicking a field goal of 40 yards or longer for the 10th consecutive game.

The Texans rallied to tie it at 16-all, but Kubiak had most of his defensive starters on the bench in the fourth quarter. Nate Washington got behind rookie cornerback Brandon Harris and third-string safety Quintin Demps for a 23-yard touchdown with 4:31 remaining.

Texans linebacker Jesse Nading recovered a fumble by Ahmard Hall with less than two minutes left, and Delhomme completed 5 of 6 passes to drive Houston for the late touchdown.

Notes: Andre Johnson played about 20 snaps. Kubiak said he isn’t ready to play 70 plays next week, but that he should be able to go 45-50. … Kubiak said Houston OLB Bryan Braman has a stinger. … Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips worked from the press box after missing two games following kidney and gall bladder surgery.eld favoring his left shoulder and went to the locker room.

Titans defensive end Dave Ball sacked Delhomme and knocked the ball loose, and safety Chris Hope recovered at the Texans 33. Hasselbeck threw a 25-yard pass to Jared Cook, then found Donnie Avery in the corner of the end zone to move Tennessee in front.

Delhomme threw a 16-yard pass to Andre Johnson to get Houston moving again. Johnson caught two passes and sat out the second half after missing the previous three games with a strained left hamstring.

Neil Rackers kicked a 52-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the first half, but Bironas booted a 43-yarder on the final play before the break to put Tennessee up 13-10. Bironas extended his own NFL record by kicking a field goal of 40 yards or longer for the 10th consecutive game.

The Texans rallied to tie it at 16-all, but Kubiak had most of his defensive starters on the bench in the fourth quarter. Nate Washington got behind rookie cornerback Brandon Harris and third-string safety Quintin Demps for a 23-yard touchdown with 4:31 remaining.

Texans linebacker Jesse Nading recovered a fumble by Ahmard Hall with less than two minutes left, and Delhomme completed 5 of 6 passes to drive Houston for the late touchdown.

Notes

• Hall and Titans LT Mike Otto left with “probable” concussions, Munchak said. WR Damian Williams has a rib injury, Munchak said, and would be re-evaluated Monday.
• Chris Johnson is the third player in Titans history to reach 1,000 yards rushing in at least four straight seasons, joining Eddie George (1996-2000) and Earl Campbell (1978-81)..
• Bironas extended his own NFL record by kicking a field goal of at least 40 yards in his 10th consecutive game.
• The Texans dropped to 5-1 in season finales under Kubiak.
• Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips worked from the press box after missing two games following kidney and gall bladder surgery.

The Houston Texans talked all week about the importance of
beating Tennessee on Sunday to enter the playoffs on the right
track.

In the end, coach Gary Kubiak decided keeping his key players
healthy entering next week was more important than a victory.

Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes and the Titans kept
alive their playoff hopes with a 23-22 victory over Houston on
Sunday after the Texans failed to convert a 2-point conversion
attempt that would have won the game.

Houston (10-6) will head into its first postseason on a
three-game losing streak. The Texans were locked into the No. 3
seed in the AFC playoffs and Kubiak played mostly reserves in the
second half.

“You would never go for two there in any other situation … but
I had to get them to next week,” Kubiak said.

The Texans will face Cincinnati in Houston next Saturday
afternoon at Reliant Stadium.

The Titans (9-7) earned their first winning record since 2008 in
Mike Munchak’s first season, but their postseason fate depended on
the outcome of later games in Cincinnati, Oakland and Denver.

Tennessee got some early help when the New York Jets lost in
Miami, but was knocked out of playoff contention when the Broncos
lost to Kansas City in a late game.

Rookie starter T.J. Yates left the game after one series and was
replaced by Jake Delhomme. Kubiak said Yates had a bruised left
shoulder but could’ve returned if necessary.

“Obviously, I didn’t want him to go back in the game,” Kubiak
said. “We’ll know better where we’re at (Monday) at this
point.”

The 36-year-old Delhomme, signed Nov. 29 in the wake of
season-ending injuries to starter Matt Schaub and backup Matt
Leinart, completed 18 of 28 passes, including a 5-yard touchdown
pass to Bryant Johnson with 14 seconds left.

Kubiak called for a 2-point conversion at the end. But after a
false start penalty, backup center Thomas Austin snapped the ball
over Delhomme’s head and the game was over.

The Texans certainly weren’t happy about losing, but won’t spend
any time thinking about what happened on Sunday.

“We’re ripping off the rear-view mirror,” tight end Joel
Dreessen said. “The regular season is over with, and the Texans are
officially invited to the postseason. We open up at home, in one
week. And that’s our focus right now. It’s a whole new season, and
we have to play at our best.”

Chris Johnson ran for 61 yards, and Rob Bironas kicked three
field goals for Tennessee. The Titans needed a Bengals loss and
victories by Oakland and Denver to earn a postseason rematch with
the Texans back in Houston next week.

The Texans had other concerns after the loss.

Yates was sacked on Houston’s first snap by Jurrell Casey and
Derrick Morgan. He completed passes to Dreessen and James Casey for
first downs, before Tate and Derrick Ward started alternating
touches for the rest of the drive.

Tate finished that drive with a touchdown, but Yates came off
the field favoring his left shoulder and went to the locker
room.

Titans defensive end Dave Ball sacked Delhomme and knocked the
ball loose, and safety Chris Hope recovered at the Texans 33.
Hasselbeck threw a 25-yard pass to Jared Cook, then found Donnie
Avery in the corner of the end zone to move Tennessee in front.

Delhomme threw a 16-yard pass to Andre Johnson to get Houston
moving again. Johnson caught two passes and sat out the second half
after missing the previous three games with a strained left
hamstring.

Neil Rackers kicked a 52-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the
first half, but Bironas booted a 43-yarder on the final play before
the break to put Tennessee up 13-10. Bironas extended his own NFL
record by kicking a field goal of 40 yards or longer for the 10th
consecutive game.

The Texans rallied to tie it at 16-all, but Kubiak had most of
his defensive starters on the bench in the fourth quarter. Nate
Washington got behind rookie cornerback Brandon Harris and
third-string safety Quintin Demps for a 23-yard touchdown with 4:31
remaining.

Texans linebacker Jesse Nading recovered a fumble by Ahmard Hall
with less than two minutes left, and Delhomme completed 5 of 6
passes to drive Houston for the late touchdown.

Notes: Andre Johnson played about 20 snaps. Kubiak said he isn’t
ready to play 70 plays next week, but that he should be able to go
45-50. … Kubiak said Houston OLB Bryan Braman has a stinger. …
Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips worked from the press box after
missing two games following kidney and gall bladder surgery.