Texans Play Consistently Inconsistent

After Week One against the New York Jets, there were all sorts of concerns about the Texans on both offense and defense, such as how well can Matt Schaub play from his back?

After the Week Two victory over Tennessee, the major concerns revolved around the run defense. 

In Week Three, the Texans defense again struggled to stop the run as Maurice Jones-Drew ran for three touchdowns. 

Two weeks ago against the Raiders, the defense held strong, but after a prolific first half, questions aroused about the offense's ability to put the opponent away.

Last Sunday, the team struggled mightily in the first half, and then rebounded nicely in the second half only to have the game ripped away from them in another heart-breaking defeat.

Throughout this, the team has had almost 100 percent turnover in the starting secondary and special teams have provided as many blunders as spectacular plays.

Notice a trend?

Me neither.

The fact is, the Texans have a lot of problems.  At some point this year, every aspect of the team has been looked at with a critical eye.

What makes this even more maddening is that each of these units has had shining moments of brilliance—however brief they may have been—yet only the passing game has shown the consistency needed for the team to be a contender.

The problem-du-jour is the running game which has been a liability more often than not. 

The team has managed a measly 3.0 yards per carry—only San Diego has a worse average—and has lost two games in large part because of their inability to score from the one-yard line.

From Slaton not being as decisive and aggressive as he was last year, to the interior line being pushed around more than a Swiffer, to a myriad of fumbles, to the goal line failures, the entire offense is to blame.

Before the running game was the major concern though, the rush defense was the major culprit—although they have been spared recently after a stint of good play.

That play, however, coincided with the team facing two of the worst running offenses in the league in Arizona and Oakland. 

While the pass defense hasn't received nearly as much scrutiny, they were amongst the worst in the league last year and have faced only one quarterback who ranks in the top 15 in quarterback rating (Kurt Warner at 13). 

They game up 262 yards in the first quarter alone to Arizona and have intercepted only two passes all season—a figure that has them tied for last in team stats and which has been bested by eight individual defensive backs.

The special teams have also been as up and down as the rest of the team with as many terrible plays as great ones. 

Sunday was a perfect example as they had two great returns, but were hampered by a blocked field goal.

Lastly, the area where much of fan's recent vitriol has been directed has been the coaching staff.

The most specific example is the last running play at Arizona where the play called from Chris Brown, who has historically struggled in short yardage situations, to run behind Chris Meyers, who couldn't block my 5-year old niece, and Mike Brisiel who was injured earlier in the game. 

Coincidentally, this was the same play that failed as the final play against Jacksonville.

More concerning than that, however, is the fact that in three of the five games this year, the team has been badly outplayed early and fallen behind. 

The fact that they have been able to overcome that deficit twice—even winning the game at Tennessee—suggests that they have the talent to compete, but the fact that they continue to put themselves in that hole points to poor preparation.

We must always be grateful to Gary Kubiak for the turn around he has made with this team.  The fact that we even have these expectations is a tribute to his work.

I still believe that he can lead this team to glory and I am not yet in the "fire Kubiak" camp, but I'm closer than I was a few weeks ago.

Perhaps no team in the NFL had a wider range of possibilities as to what this season could be than the Texans and perhaps no team still has that variation.

We always knew the team could throw the ball, but none of the other questions surrounding the franchise have been answered. 

We still have reasons to think that the team has the potential to be great, but we still don't have reasons to believe it will happen.