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Ready or not, Texans look to playoffs |
by Associated Press
khou.com
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:56 PM
HOUSTON — Ready or not, the Houston Texans are less than a week away from the franchise’s first playoff game. The Texans (10-6) will ride a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s game against Cincinnati (9-7) at Reliant Stadium. Last week, Texans players talked about the importance of regaining momentum after consecutive losses. They lost to Tennessee 23-22 in Sunday’s finale when they botched a 2-point conversion at the end, then said after the game that their three-game skid was irrelevant. Coach Gary Kubiak said Monday that his players have “got to let it go,” pointing out that a winning streak would’ve also had no bearing on what may happen in the postseason. “You’ve got to let everything go,” he said, “and start over.” Kubiak thought the Texans played better Sunday than they had in losses to Carolina and Indianapolis. His team has dealt with major injuries almost every week this season, and he said that’s led to constant transition that’s affected the level of play. Add one more injury concern leading up to Saturday’s game: Rookie quarterback T.J. Yates, who started the last five games, bruised his left shoulder when he was sacked on his first snap against Tennessee. Kubiak expects Yates to start against Cincinnati, though he acknowledged Monday the fifth-round pick is “sore.” Yates was a revelation when he first took over the starting role in the wake of season-ending injuries to Matt Schaub (right foot) and Matt Leinart (broken left collarbone), guiding the Texans to narrow victories over Atlanta and the Bengals to clinch the division. In Cincinnati on Dec. 11, Yates engineered two long scoring drives in the fourth quarter, rallying Houston for a 20-19 win. Yates struggled in the next two games and played only one series Sunday, but Kubiak says he still has enough confidence to play him over veteran Jake Delhomme. “He’s very young and this is a big, big game,” Kubiak said. “But he’s the best guy for our team, and if he’s able to go and do the things we need him to do in practice, then we’ll turn him loose and let him go.” Delhomme, signed out of retirement in late November, relieved Yates on Sunday and completed 18 of 28 passes for 211 yards without an interception. The 36-year-old Delhomme was seeing his first action since December 2010, when he played for Cleveland. He’s one of only a handful of current Texans with playoff experience and the only one who’s already played in a postseason game at Reliant Stadium. Delhomme guided Carolina to its only Super Bowl in February 2004, when the Panthers played Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Delhomme threw for 323 yards and three touchdown in the Panthers’ 32-29 loss. The Panthers had only one postseason victory in their history before that Super Bowl season, and Delhomme thinks inexperience could actually work to Houston’s advantage. “When you don’t know any better, to me, that’s a great thing,” Delhomme said. “If you play well during the season and prepare well, obviously you’re one of the better teams at the end of the year. So we just knew that if we just did what we did week in and week out, it would work.” The 2003 Panthers won their last three games, but they lost three in a row just before that, so Delhomme isn’t a big believer in needing momentum. “This is a young, hungry football team that works,” Delhomme said of the Texans. “I know I haven’t been here long, but last week on that practice field, just watching guys fly around you saw how important it is. This team is going to be ready and sometimes innocence is bliss.” Kubiak isn’t sure how much past experience helps in the playoffs, either, but he has plenty of it. He was an assistant coach on three Super Bowl teams, one in San Francisco and two in Denver. “All those things took place for me somewhere else, on a different team,” said Kubiak, Houston’s coach since 2006. “I’ve been growing as a head coach with this group I have, they’ve been growing with me as a team, so it’s our first opportunity together. That’s what’s most important.” Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has participated in his share of playoff games, too. Phillips coached from the press box Sunday, just over two weeks after kidney and gall bladder surgery, and Kubiak says he’ll work from the booth again for the playoff game. “That’s a long road back from what he’s been through,” Kubiak said. “We’re just trying to make sure he gets his rest, and he’ll be ready to call the game on Saturday once again.”
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Playoff-bound Texans can’t overlook 1-13 Colts |
After dominating the AFC South over the previous eight seasons, the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts have given way to the Houston Texans. Even though these teams’ most recent efforts more resembled previous seasons than the current one, this may be Houston’s best chance to finally win in Indianapolis. Looking to regroup from their first defeat in more than two months, the division champion Texans visit a Colts team looking to build on its first win of the season Thursday (8:20 p.m. ET).
With Manning under centre, Indianapolis had won seven of the past eight South titles and made the playoffs in all nine years since the division was created in 2002 — Houston’s inaugural season. The Colts had been 15-1 in this series before losing two of the last three meetings, including a season-opening 34-7 defeat at Houston on Sept. 11. However, the Texans are 0-9 all-time at Indianapolis, giving up an average of 32.6 points, but this is the first time they’ve played there without having to face Manning. Then again, Indianapolis (1-13) is coming off its first win, shocking Tennessee 27-13 on Sunday. “I think [the Colts are] feeling very good after what happened last week,” Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said. “… You know, the Thursday night game gets a lot of attention. We know they’ll play well. Like I said, our history in that building hasn’t been very good, so we’re going to have to go change that and play much better.” The Texans secured their first post-season berth and division title in Week 14. They entered Sunday having won a franchise-record seven straight and coming off a last-second 20-19 victory over Cincinnati, but they lost 28-13 at home to a sub-.500 Carolina team. Houston had been tied for the conference’s best record but fell one game behind New England and is now one of three AFC teams at 10-4. ‘Wake-up call’“It is a wake-up call, and it’s up to us as leaders to let our team know what exactly this game is,” defensive end Antonio Smith told the team’s official website. “I wouldn’t say it has to happen, but if it does happen, it’s needed for you to be battle-tested in a situation like this, for us to grow as a team. You got to take your [knocks]. You got to take your hits on the chin.” “When you become ‘the team,’ just like when we face teams that people give high praise, you got the underdog coming to knock you right off the pedestal.” The Texans find themselves in a similar situation Thursday and likely know better than to overlook a Colts team that has plenty to celebrate following a 0-13 start. Indianapolis rallied in the second half to defeat the Titans, posting its first victory without Manning in more than 14 years. “Any time you get a win, it’s good, and these guys have been working hard,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “The guys haven’t been complaining, they’ve worked together, they’ve fought together, so it’s good to get a good result. I think it gives our guys a little bit of a lift.” Making his third consecutive start, Dan Orlovsky was just 11 of 17 for 82 yards but threw for the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, and no Colts passes were intercepted for the first time since Week 5. Donald Brown carried 16 times for a career-high 161 yards, including an 80-yard TD run late in the fourth. “It means a lot [to win], but we’re a proud ball club so one game out of 13 or 14, we still have a ways to go,” defensive end Robert Mathis said. A big reason Indianapolis dominated this series was the Texans weren’t very good defensively, but they’ve made major strides this year, ranking second in total yards allowed at 277.9 per game and fifth against the run (96.8 ypg). However, they gave up a season-worst 166 yards on the ground Sunday and two rushing TDs, one more than they surrendered during the seven-game win streak. Rookie T.J. Yates, thrown under centre with season-ending injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, also had a forgettable performance as he went 19 of 30 for 212 yards and two interceptions. “We’ve got a lot of things to fix and maybe just a quick turnaround is the thing,” Kubiak said. With Yates still getting accustomed to his new role, the offence continues to lean on Arian Foster. The Pro Bowler had his fifth 100-yard rushing effort and eighth touchdown in eight games Sunday, running for 109 yards and catching five passes for 58. In two career meetings with Indianapolis, Foster has totaled 405 yards from scrimmage and four TDs. He rushed for a career-high 231 yards and three scores during a 34-24 win Sept. 12, 2010. All-Pro wideout Andre Johnson will miss a third straight contest and ninth this season due to a hamstring injury. It’s unknown if defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who went on medical leave after undergoing kidney and gall bladder surgery last week, will be available to coach. Feel free to leave your comments below. |
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Houston Texans hope to end Colts’ streak tonight |
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Rookie QB T.J. Yates rock solid in first 2 NFL… |
Pressed into action following injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart, Yates led the Texans to their first postseason berth last Sunday. He also became the first rookie quarterback in at least 20 years to lead game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in each of his first two starts. “Winning the last couple of games has been a wild experience,” Yates said, “just coming from where I was earlier in the season and all the stuff that’s happened to this team. It’s happened so fast, and how we’ve been able to keep it going, to keep winning. It’s been awesome.” The Texans (10-3) play Carolina (4-9) on Sunday, with home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs within reach. And Yates has proven to his coaches and the team’s long-suffering fans that as long as he’s the quarterback, any goal seems possible. Last week in Cincinnati, Houston trailed 19-10 in the fourth quarter before Yates engineered two 80-yard scoring drives in the final 5 1/2 minutes. His 6-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Walter with two seconds left tied it, and Neil Rackers’ extra-point kick gave Houston a 20-19 victory. “Well, obviously a winning performance,” Houston coach Gary Kubiak said. “You don’t, as a quarterback in this league, go 80 (yards) twice. He took us 80-plus yards for the field goal and he took us 80 to win the game only the road. That’s exceptional, what he did.” A week earlier, Yates orchestrated a 19-play, 85-yard touchdown drive for the decisive score in the fourth quarter of a 17-10 win over Atlanta. He’s the first rookie to guide winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime of his first two starts since at least 1991, according to STATS LLC. “It’s very impressive,” Walter said. “He’s solid, he’s confident. He doesn’t look like he gets rattled out there. Everybody’s looking at him and he’s saying the right things, doing the right things.” Yates made his pro debut three weeks ago, when Leinart broke his left collarbone in the second quarter against Jacksonville. Schaub was already out for the season with a right Lisfranc fracture. The 24-year-old Yates hasn’t been perfect. He threw an interception in Cincinnati. He’s lost two fumbles and been sacked eight times. But he’s also run 11 times for 43 yards, including a 17-yard scramble on Sunday to keep the winning drive alive. Walter, in his ninth season, says that even in pressure situations, Yates has never wavered in the huddle. “You can tell some people, quarterbacks or any position, you can tell if they’re nervous or not,” Walter said. “But for him, you can tell he’s confident. He’s like, ‘Let’s go, it doesn’t matter if I’m a rookie or not, I’m still going to go out there and perform. I have a job to do, just like everybody else.’” Pro scouts were aware of Yates before the draft. He set virtually every significant school passing record in four years at North Carolina, running an offense that’s virtually identical to the one Kubiak and the Texans use. Thanks for visiting our blog =). |
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Texans’ Wade Phillips condition upgraded to good |
The Houston Texans announced today that defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ condition continues to improve after undergoing surgery on his kidney and gallbladder yesterday. “His condition has been upgraded to good,” the Texans said in a statement. It was reported on Wednesday that 64-year-old Phillips would be taking a medical leave of absence from the team. He is expected to return to the club sometime this season. Under Phillips, the Texans defense has allowed the fewest amount of yards per game in the NFL this season. The club has also allowed the fourth fewest points against in the league. Despite the team’s offensive injuries, the Texans have posted a 10-3 record, which ranks them atop the AFC South. Gotta run!. |
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