Houston Texans vs. Oakland Raiders: Complete Week 2 Preview for Houston
The Houston Texans have a great opportunity in front of them if they're able to step up and grab it. Not much was expected from the Texans outside of the fans who predict them to win 12 games every year, but the schedule is set up for them over the next several games to get off to a great start.
The Texans are a small favorite in their Week 2 game at Oakland; if they win that game, there's a good chance they'll be favored the next three weeks against the Giants, Bills and Cowboys as well.
I'm not willing to guarantee any win yet, but the Texans have a great chance to reach 5-0 heading into their Thursday game against the Indianapolis Colts. Getting to 5-0 wouldn't guarantee a playoff spot, but they would likely only need to finish 5-6 down the stretch to get in.
Before the season started, many fans would have taken a 3-2 start for the Texans, but I doubt those people feel the same way now. I don't think they'll start 5-0, but 4-1 wouldn't be surprising.
Their opponent this week is a familiar one. Other than division opponents, the Raiders are the opposing team the Texans have played the most—this will be their ninth meeting—during their 13-year history.
Houston owns a 5-3 record over the previous eight matchups.
The players on the Raiders roster are also familiar to the Texans and their fans. Of course, there are former Texans like Antonio Smith and Matt Schaub on the roster, but the familiarity doesn't end there.
Oakland also signed Maurice Jones-Drew at running back, whom the Texans faced many times while he was in their division with Jacksonville. The Raiders also drafted Derek Carr, the younger brother of David Carr, whom the Texans selected first overall in their first draft in 2002.
The younger Carr will be making his second NFL start and first start at home when the Texans come to town on Sunday. In his first start Carr played very well considering the talent around him, the game being on the road and having to face a tough defense.
Carr followed up a solid preseason with two touchdown passes, no turnovers and a 94.7 QB rating; it's hard to imagine that Schaub would have done any better. The Raiders are rightfully the underdog in this game, but I think they picked the right quarterback to be their future.
On paper the Texans have the better roster, but on paper will mean nothing once the two teams hit the field.
Houston Texans Week 1 Recap
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Overall, the Texans had a very solid performance in Week 1 with not much to criticize or complain about.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was efficient with no turnovers and a quarterback rating of 109.3; those numbers frankly surprised me. What I mean is, while watching the game I noticed him missing passes low and wide, and it didn't seem like he was all that effective.
However, the stats tell the story of an efficient game manager, which is what we all hoped Fitzpatrick would be this season. My eyes still tell me that he wasn't as good as the numbers indicate—the Texans only scored 10 offensive points—but overall the veteran quarterback had a solid game.
While Fitzpatrick did struggle with his accuracy in the first half, he rebounded late in the game with a couple of very sharp bullet passes down the field to pick up yardage and keep the clock moving. It will be important for him to continue to make passes like those to keep the defense from creeping up too close.
The run game was hit-or-miss. Arian Foster made the most of the holes that he had, but the line didn't get a great push, and his coaching staff didn't help him out as much as they could have. As a result, his per-carry average was less than four yards.
Foster looked like his old self by the way he was able to find the gaps, hit them quickly with a one-step cut and get up the field, but his blockers never seemed to move their men off the ball as well as they need to in order to be successful this season.
That issue showed up in particular in short-yardage situations where Foster was met in the backfield by defenders and had no room to run when the defense knew the Texans were going to run. That is because Ben Jones played nearly every snap at left guard.
Jones has his strengths, but he's not big or strong enough to move defenders off the line of scrimmage in the run game. The Texans need second-round pick Xavier Su'a-Filo to develop quickly to the point where coach Bill O'Brien feels comfortable putting him in the game.
Su'a-Filo had issues in pass protection during the preseason, which is probably why he didn't start or play much, but he's much stronger and more physically dominating in the run game than Jones.
With Su'a-Filo in the game, maybe the Texans will feel more confident in their blocking in short-yardage situations and run the ball out of heavy formations instead of going to four and even five-wide sets on 3rd-and-short like they did against Washington.
Foster turning the blocking he received into 100 yards speaks to his greatness and makes a believer out of me that he's still capable of playing at a very high level this year. With better blocking up front, he could be in for a huge season.
Those spread sets were another surprise to me during Week 1. With DeVier Posey a healthy scratch for the game—their third receiver—I assumed that the team would lean on formations featuring either a fullback or second tight end.
That wasn't the case for most of the game, and the offense struggled because I don't think the spread plays into its strengths. The Texans have two very good receivers at the first and second spots, but the talent past that is untested, especially with Posey out of the lineup.
I'm not against sets with three or more receivers; I just have more faith in their second tight end and fullback than their third, fourth and fifth wide receiver. It showed on the field, as the Texans ran better and hit the big touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins out of a heavy formation.
The Texans defense played well in Week 1, as evidenced by the six points they allowed, but outside of the spectacular performances of a few, some question marks still remain going forward.
In particular J.J. Watt was amazing. He stuffed the stat sheet with a sack, tackles for loss, QB hits, a blocked extra point and a pass defensed. He was just an unstoppable force on the defensive line.
D.J. Swearinger and Brooks Reed also played well, in particular against the run.
The play of Watt covers up a lot of mistakes, but the performances of Jerrell Powe and Jared Crick were awful. They got no push in pass-rush situations and were pushed the other way by Washington linemen in the run game.
The Redskins averaged close to six yards per carry for the game; why Washington didn't run the ball more I'll never know. I doubt the Texans will continue to give up yards on the ground at that rate for the whole year, but if the opposing yards-per-carry average is even close to what it was in Week 1, they won't win many more games.
In the secondary the Texans tackled well, and Swearinger played great as I mentioned earlier, but they allowed way too many quick and easy receptions. Their strategy appeared to be to play back and keep the Redskins' deep threats in front of them, but they have to contest the quick passes more than they did.
Washington's passing game seemed out of sync, so they didn't get hurt, but allowing quick and easy throws like they did in Week 1 against a better offense could spell trouble and a lot of allowed points. Even against a poor passing attack, giving away easy throws is a good way to help the opposing offense find a rhythm.
News and Notes
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Whitney Mercilus Ready to Step in for Jadeveon Clowney
The often criticized former first-round draft pick hasn't shown much of the potential the team thought he had when it selected him in 2012. Mercilus was brought in to be a disruptive force on the edge, but over his first couple of seasons, he's too often looked like he's been glued to the blocker in front of him.
The flash of athleticism and burst off the edge that fans and the team saw from him in college have seemed to disappear as he has struggled to adjust to the NFL game. What he's capable of now is hard to guess, but he'll get another chance to prove he's the real deal while filling in for another Texans' first-round pick.
Mercilus believes he's ready for the opportunity, according to Drew Dougherty of HoustonTexans.com. "Just pretty much just doing extra things after practice. Make sure that my technique is right. Make sure that I stay consistent throughout the game, and I try to make sure that I do that at practice, too."
Most fans are probably in a "we'll believe it when we see it" feeling with Mercilus, but I hope he's ready to prove his critics wrong, because the Texans desperately need another pass-rusher to emerge while Clowney is out.
Garrett Graham Hopes to Play Against Oakland
Texans' veteran tight end Garrett Graham missed the Week 1 victory over Washington due to a back injury. He had a solid season last year after he took over for an injured Owen Daniels and hopes to continue that performance during the team's Week 2 game in Oakland.
"Garrett Graham hopes to play vs. #Raiders. Will see how it goes this week.
— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) September 10, 2014"
With rookie tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz missing practice on Wednesday and probably not at 100 percent even if he plays on Sunday, the Texans need Graham to return. With only three tight ends on the roster, being down to just two players at the position could be a big problem with how often they use two-tight end formations.
Graham isn't much of a blocker, so he won't replace Fiedorowicz if the rookie misses the game, but Graham is the most polished receiving threat at the position and has an important role on the team when healthy.
Texans Managing Snaps for Brian Cushing
After back-to-back seasons that ended early due to knee injuries, there has been understandable concern from everyone involved about the health of Brian Cushing. From Tania Ganguli of ESPN.com, coach Bill O'Brien is closely watching and evaluating the situation:
"I think it’s important not to just throw him in there and let him go play 80 to 85 plays in the game. I think it’s what’s best for the player, what’s best for Brian Cushing, is to manage him back through these first few weeks. We’ll look at it every single week to determine by gameplan and by how he feels -- it’s all in consultation with him -- to determine how much he plays each and every week.
"
Cushing played more snaps than any other linebacker on the team but played on only 65 percent of the team's total defensive plays. Very few linebackers play on every down in the NFL, but Cushing in the past has been a three-down linebacker who rarely came off the field.
His snap count merits watching as we see how he's able to handle the increased workload.
Injury Report
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| Jadeveon Clowney | Out |
| Garrett Graham | Questionable |
| C.J. Fiedorowicz | Questionable |
| Shiloh Keo | Questionable |
| Andre Johnson | Questionable |
| Johnathan Joseph | Questionable |
| A.J. Bouye | Probable |
| Brian Cushing | Probable |
| Arian Foster | Probable |
| Tim Jamison | Probable |
| J.J. Watt | Questionable |
Courtesy of CBS Sports. Information was as of Thursday night.
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X-Factors and Matchups to Watch
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Raiders Rushing Offense Against the Texans Rush Defense
Something has to give. Last week the Texans defense was awful against the run, allowing the Redskins to rush for 131 yards on 5.7 yards per carry. Washington's running game led by Alfred Morris is one of the best in the league; let's just say the Texans won't be facing an equal rushing attack this week.
Against the Jets last week, the Raiders rushed for just 25 yards on 15 carries; yes, that's correct—25 rushing yards on 15 carries for the entire game. Making matters worse for the Raiders this week is the injury status of Maurice Jones-Drew, who is questionable with a hand injury.
If the Texans can't stop this rushing attack, it will be time to reach for the panic button over their rush defense.
Brooks Reed and Whitney Mercilus Against the Raiders' Offensive Tackles
With Jadeveon Clowney definitely out and J.J. Watt questionable for the game, the Texans' two most criticized outside linebackers will need to play big this week. Getting a pass rush is important every week, but it takes on even more importance when facing a young quarterback.
Derek Carr will be making just his second NFL start, so he's not likely to go through his reads quickly. His clock will be slow as he learns the game, so if the Texans are able to get pressure and speed him up, they'll be able to shut down the Raiders offense and likely cause a few turnovers.
As a former first-round pick, Mercilus in particular needs to prove his value to the team this week.
X-Factor for Week 2: D.J. Swearinger
The role that D.J. Swearinger plays on this defense is unique, important and very difficult. He's not only asked to play deep zone coverage or man coverage on a tight end or line up in the box as a blitzer or run defender; he's asked to do all of the above.
How well he wears all of those hats and is able to execute multiple responsibilities will be a big factor in the success of the defense each and every week this season.
The Texans play a lot out of their sub-packages with extra defensive backs on the field. When they do so, Swearinger is often asked to come down and play as a linebacker in the dime defense. From that spot he'll need to cover the linebacker, blitz and play sound assignment football against the run.
Swearinger got his first NFL sack against Washington last week and will likely be called on as a blitzer quite often against Oakland, as Romeo Crennel tries to confuse Derek Carr.
Prediction
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This is a game the Texans should win, but as any longtime Texans fan will tell you, "should win" means nothing historically with this team.
Arguably, the Texans have the advantage at just about every position, so why is there any room for doubt about the outcome? Beyond the "any given Sunday" line, the first road game of the year—especially one featuring a trip across two time zones—is tricky for a team with so many new faces.
Will the young guys who stepped up in Week 1 step up again or take a small step back as they learn how to prepare themselves for an NFL road trip against a team that is playing its first game at home and will be hungry to get its first win of the season?
Also of concern is an offense that rushed for just 3.5 yards per carry—while the defense allowed 5.7 per carry to Washington—and scored just 10 offensive points. Rookie Alfred Blue picked the team up with a special teams score, but obviously Houston won't win many games while scoring only 10 points.
Despite those concerns, the Texans have a massive advantage in quarterback experience and more overall talent. While it's still early to tell, I believe they have the better coach too.
I see no reason big enough to pick against them this week.
Prediction: Texans 21, Raiders 13
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