Houston Texans 2009 Preview

Since their inception in 2002, the Houston Texans have yet to reach the playoffs—or for that matter post a winning season.

The 2008 season was expected to be the potential coming out party for Gary Kubiak's Texans, and then Mother Nature decided to throw the young franchise a major curveball who went by the name of 'Ike'.

That is.. Hurricane Ike.

The deadly hurricane that ravaged the coast of Texas also damaged the Texans Reliant Stadium, forcing the Texans to take their bye week in Week Two of the season and play three consecutive road games to start the year before finally having their home opener in October against the defending AFC South Champion Colts.

And that contest against the Colts, kind of set up the rest of the season for the young Texans. Entering the game, the Texans were without their starting quarterback Matt Schaub due to an illness Schaub sustained shortly before kickoff, and they turned over the offense to journeyman backup Sage Rosenfels.

In one of the more memorable games of 2008, Rosenfels turned the ball over twice in under two minutes - leading to the Colts storming from 17 points down in the 4th quarter to shock the Texans 31-27 and send them to an 0-4 start.

But after that game, the Texans learned a lot about themselves, they realized then and there that they can hang with the best the league had to offer if they only played smarter football. If they could only stay hungry for all 60 minutes and not most of those 60 minutes.

The Texans would go on to win their next three games, and quickly inch back to a 3-4 mark. Incredible considering all the emotional pitfalls the team had already gone through in only half a season.

And then—yet again, the Texans would have another curveball thrown their way. Matt Schaub would sustain a knee injury before the end of the first half in what would become a blowout loss on the road against the Vikings.

Schaub would miss the next month of play with a sprained knee. The Texans would go 2-2, and with Schaub ready to return—Gary Kubiak posed one goal left for his Houston club.

"Finish .500. Finish the season strong, and give us something to build on in 2010."

With Schaub back in the lineup, strong running from rookie Steve Slaton, and great performance after great performance by one of the best receivers in football, Andre Johnson, the Texans did just that as they closed out the season winning four of their last five games to cap off the year 8-8, giving the franchise its best record yet.

And with the 8-8 mark came the one thing Gary Kubiak was hoping to see out of this young bunch. Something to build upon.

The passing offense finished 4th overall in the NFL—in large part to the play of Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson's 115 receptions for 1575 yards and 8 touchdowns. As an entire unit, the Texans offense was a force to be reckoned with as it finished 3rd overall.

Rookie Steve Slaton rushed for 1282 yards and 9 touchdowns, and may have won Rookie of the Year had it not been for Matt Ryan's outstanding first season.

Defensively though, the Texans still had a few holes to shore up. As a unit they finished 22nd overall and of the Texans eight losses in 2008, four came by a touchdown or less, and defensive inefficiency coupled with costly turnovers would be the culprit.

And if you took away the play of sensational defensive end Mario Williams and his 12 sacks in 2008 - the Texans unit as a whole would have only contributed 13 sacks on the season.

Needless to say, even the best offenses in football need a more consistent effort from its defense than that.

LB Cato June (Tampa Bay)
DE Antonio Smith (Arizona)
DT Shaun Cody (Detroit)
QB Rex Grossman (Chicago)
QB Dan Orlovsky (Detroit)
G Adrian Jones (Kansas City)
LB Buster Davis (Indianapolis)
RB Clifton Dawson (Indianapolis)
FB Boomer Grigsby (Miami)

2009 Trade Acquisitions:

S C.C. Brown (NY Giants)
CB Demarcus Faggins (Tennessee)
S Glenn Earl (Chicago)

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