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.”

 

 

When the Houston Texans got off the team bus after they got back from Cincinnati as AFC South champions, the first person to greet them was of great significance.

“When the buses parked last night, the first guy waiting on us in the parking lot was Mario (Williams),” coach Gary Kubiak said at his Monday news conference. “He did not make the trip. That meant a lot to the team. And Mario had brought a lot of the guys’ families over. I told Matt (Schaub) this after the game: ‘I know it’s a great day for you, but I know it’s a tough day for you because you’re not out there playing.’

“I let Andre know how I felt about him after the game, but I could sit here and talk about Mario, I could talk about Matt Schaub, I could talk about (Daryl) Sharpton. I could talk about all those guys that have been a part of this that unfortunately are not going to be a part of it as we move forward. We’re here today because of a lot of people, and out players understand that, we respect that. We carry those guys with us every week that we go on.”

Williams (pectoral) and Schaub (foot) have been a big part of the Texans’ franchise building, but are among the players on IR who aren’t a part of what’s been happening on the field.

Andre Johnson (hamstring) didn’t play against the Bengals and has missed significant time, too. Kubiak gave Johnson a game ball after the Texans clinched the division thanks to a combination of their win in Cincinnati and the Titans’ loss to New Orleans.

Now the Texans will be without right guard Mike Brisiel, who suffered a fractured fibula and had it repaired Monday morning. He will be replaced by Antoine Caldwell, but the Texans hope Brisiel won’t miss extensive time. Safety Danieal Manning missed three games and four weeks after the very same injury and surgery.

One player who won’t be part of things going forward is veteran receiver Derrick Mason. The Texans cut him to create some roster flexibility as Kubiak said they can use a special teams’ contribution from their fourth receiver.

The Texans were delighted by the response they got after returning to Houston. (Here are some players addressing the crowd.)

Kubiak grew up in Houston and once greeted the Oilers at the Astrodome when they returned from an AFC Championship Game loss in the late 1970s.

“I’m a proud Houstonian like everybody,” Kubiak said. “…I grew up five miles down the road, so it’s special to see that excitement. I know the hard work that’s been put in, the job that the coaches and players and this organization has done. To walk around our building today and see how proud everybody is that works here and is part of this organization, it’s a great day.”

The coach said he had good conversations on the plane and upon the team’s return with players about staying focused and keeping blinders on.

“They’ve got to keep going,” Kubiak said. “They understand.”

This team’s done an excellent job of refocusing week-to-week.

I expect it to do the same as it prepares for a visit from Carolina. The Texans said clinching the division and a playoff spot was only step one. They currently hold the AFC’s No. 1 seed and all indications are they’ll put a premium on holding on to it.

Not anymore.

Even as they seem to lose a key player every week, the Texans (9-3) have stayed on point, winning six straight games and surging to the doorstep of that elusive first postseason berth.

Houston plays at Cincinnati (7-5) on Sunday and can clinch the AFC South with a victory and a Tennessee loss to New Orleans, but no one in the locker room is talking about the potential milestone nor the magnitude of the moment when the young franchise finally makes its breakthrough.

Maybe that says it all about how much this team has grown up, and where it seems to be heading.

“You don’t hear much about it, you don’t hear a lot of talk about it,” said right tackle Eric Winston, a third-round pick in 2006. “It’s just, ‘Hey, we need to take care of our business, and do our deal.’

“If we keep racking up wins, no matter if it happens this week, or in two weeks, it’s going to happen.”

For most of the team’s history, it seemed as though it never would.

The Texans beat Dallas 19-10 in their inaugural game in 2002 — still one of the franchise’s greatest victories — then languished through five losing seasons.

Houston went 8-8 in 2007 and expectations began to swell, but just when the Texans seemed poised to take flight, something bizarre always seemed to knock them down.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike damaged Reliant Stadium, postponing Houston’s home opener and forcing the Texans to begin the season with three straight road games. The eventual home opener then turned disastrous, with backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels’ fumbles and interceptions helping Peyton Manning and Indianapolis rally from 17 points down in the fourth quarter for a 31-27 victory.

In 2009, Arizona stuffed Houston on three plays from the 1-yard line in the final minute of a 28-21 Texans loss. Later that year, Kris Brown missed last-second field-goal tries in consecutive weeks, and coach Gary Kubiak signed off on a halfback pass that Jacksonville intercepted, sealing a 23-18 defeat.

Last year, the Texans lost middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans, then lost games on a last-second pass from midfield (at Jacksonville), a last-minute, 72-yard drive (against the New York Jets) and an interception return in overtime (against Baltimore).

Fans began calling for Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith to be fired, while inside the locker room the team bonded together.

“It would’ve been pretty easy at a lot of junctures last year, for this team to split apart,” right tackle Eric Winston said. “We never did, and I think that says a lot about the character of the guys. Everyone believed we were on the right course. We just hit a bad detour.”

At times, things seemed to be falling apart again this season.

Star receiver Andre Johnson hurt his right hamstring without anyone touching him and sacks leader Mario Williams tore a chest muscle in consecutive weeks. Key offseason acquisition Danieal Manning then broke his left leg intercepting a pass, Matt Schaub broke his right foot on a quarterback sneak, of all things, and backup Matt Leinart broke his left collarbone less than two quarters into his first start in two years.