War for Texas: Five Reasons the Houston Texans Should Worry About the Dallas Cow

Every year, the Houston Texans are the surprise team that is going to go 10-6 and make the wild-card game. Then the season actually starts and they finish 8-8 or worse and don’t make the playoffs.

This year looks different for them as they are off to a 2-0 start. They beat down their division foe, the Indianapolis Colts, in Week 1 and had a great comeback last week scoring 17 second-half points on the road.

This team has a good quarterback in Matt Schaub and two good wide receivers in Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter. Mario Williams really wasn’t the worst first pick ever as he has outplayed Reggie Bush in the NFL.

Riding this great wave of success, the 0-2 Dallas Cowboys come to town. This may look like a mismatch on paper, but the Texans need to be wary of this matchup and if they take it lightly they could lose.

Texans Defense

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LANDOVER - SEPTEMBER 19: Santana Moss #89 of the Washington Redskins runs the ball against the Houston Texans at FedExField on September 19, 2010 in Landover, Maryland. The Texans defeated the Redskins in overtime 30-27. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Imag

The Texans defense is bad...very bad.

Cowboys Defense.

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ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 19: Running back Matt Forte #22 of the Chicago Bears runs the ball against Anthony Spencer #93 of the Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium on September 19, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

On the flip-side, the Cowboys sport a top-10 defense and only allow 279 YPG and only allow 15.5 first downs per game.

Through the air, the Cowboys are ranked 18th with 215.5 yards passing allowed. This isn’t a bad number, but it will have to improve if they want to shut down the aerial attack of Schaub and company.

They are much better on the ground, only allowing 63.5 YPG. This will be key in slowing down NFL leading rusher Arian Foster.

If they slow him down, they can focus on rushing Schaub and breaking his rhythm. It goes like this: Basically, the Texans have a bad defense, the Cowboys have a good defense.

Advantage: Dallas

Tony Romo

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ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 19: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys looks to pass against the Chicago Bears at Cowboys Stadium on September 19, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Tony Romo is off to a very hot start.

Arian Foster Isn't as Good as We Think He Is

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LANDOVER - SEPTEMBER 19: Arian Foster #23 of the Houston Texans runs the ball against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on September 19, 2010 in Landover, Maryland. The Texans defeated the Redskins 30-27 in overtime. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Imag

Arian Foster got off to a blazing start. He went for 231 yards in the opening week drubbing of the Colts.

He followed that up with a pedestrian 69 yards against the Redskins, although they were playing from behind most of that game.

I think that he is more of the 69-yard rusher and less like the guy we saw in Week 1. He may be fine and he should be a guy that can establish the run game, but he isn’t going to go for a ton of yards every week.

The Cowboys have a good front seven and should be able to bottle him up. If they bottle him up it will all be on the passing game and they can pull it out, but it will be a tough task.

The Cowboys are Just a Better Team

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ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 19: Quarterback Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium on September 19, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

In all the analysis and picking of every stat, we sometimes forget the better team usually wins. This Sunday when these two teams meet, the Cowboys are the better team.

Their offense is comparable, if not better than the Texans, and their defense is light-years better. The Cowboys should be able to slow down the Texans offense and they should be able to move the ball.

The Texans had a great Week 1, but got really lucky in the second week. The Cowboys, on the other hand, got really unlucky in Week 1 and barely fell to the Chicago Bears in Week 2.

Their talent will finally rise to the top and show itself when they pull off the upset and get their first win of the year over the Houston Texans.