Texans vs. Eagles: Grading Each Team's Performance
On this episode of Thursday Night Football, the Houston Texans took on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Michael Vick was supposed to explode against a very porous Houston defense.
LeSean McCoy and the screen game was supposed to work perfectly.
So basically, the Eagles were expected to run up the score quite a bit.
At the same time, the Texans' offense isn't too shabby either. Matt Schaub, Arian Foster and Andre Johnson are always dangerous.
So how did they fare? Read on to find out.
Philadelphia Eagles' First Drive
1 of 22
Drive Stats
11 plays, 93 yards, 7:04 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
After winning the coin toss and electing to receive, the Eagles kicked off the game with a bang.
Jorrick Calvin took the opening kickoff back 102 yards for a touchdown and an early 7-0 lead, but the return was nullified by a holding penalty. Instead of starting with a score, the Eagles got to start out on their own 12-yard line.
It wouldn't matter though, as Michael Vick and his team got off to a great start. The quarterback hit DeSean Jackson for 30 yards on the first play from scrimmage and finished the drive off with a one-yard touchdown pass to LeSean McCoy.
On the drive as a whole, Vick was 7-of-8 for 89 yards. Not a bad start at all.
The Grade
A+
Houston Texans' First Drive
2 of 22
Drive Stats
Seven plays, 32 yards, 3:01 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis
Because of their starting field position, their own 31-yard line, it only took two big plays for the Texans to move into field goal range.
One was a 15-yard face mask penalty; the other was a 21-yard pass by Matt Schaub. After those two successive plays, the second and third of the drive, the Texans offense stalled.
A false start kicked off the new set of downs, and then Arian Foster gained one yard on two carries. After Schaub threw an incomplete pass, Neil Rackers came on and made a 48-yard field goal.
The Grade
B
Philadelphia Eagles' Second Drive
3 of 22
Drive Stats
11 plays, 72 yards, 5:25 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
Once again, this was the Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy show.
Vick completed just two passes on the draft, one a 21-yard strike to DeSean Jackson and the other a three-yard play to McCoy. The mobile quarterback also ran twice for 18 yards.
McCoy was even better on this drive. Not only did he catch Vick's pass on the penultimate play of the drive, he also recovered a fumble for his quarterback. Additionally, the running back ran four times for 31 yards and the touchdown.
The Grade
A+
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Houston Texans' Second Drive
4 of 22
Drive Stats
Five plays, 12 yards, 1:39 elapsed, punt
The Analysis
Arian Foster was good on this drive. Matt Schaub...not so much.
Foster ran on the first two plays of the drive, picking up 12 yards and the first down on a nine-yard carry and a three-yarder.
Schaub then threw three incomplete passes and the Texans had to punt.
Not exactly the ideal response to back-to-back touchdown drives by the Eagles.
The Grade
C-
Philadelphia Eagles' Third Drive
5 of 22
Drive Stats
Seven plays, 51 yards, 3:16 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis
Once again, as the team seems to do so often, the Eagles decided to go deep on the first play of a drive. This time, Vick hit Jeremy Maclin for 31 yards.
Five plays later, the drive stalled in the Texans' red zone, and David Akers strode onto the field.
He calmly hit a 36-yard field goal and gave his team a 17-3 lead.
The Grade
B
Houston Texans' Third Drive
6 of 22
Drive Stats
Eight plays, 82 yards, 3:57 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
With Philadelphia holding a 14-point lead, the Texans desperately needed a score on this drive.
Matt Schaub took the team on his shoulders and went 3-of-3 for 64 yards and a touchdown.
The biggest play was a 42-yard pass to Andre Johnson, but the touchdown went for eight yards to Jacoby Jones.
With that, the lead was just a touchdown.
The Grade
A+
Philadelphia Eagles' Fourth Drive
7 of 22
Drive Stats
Five plays, 19 yards, 2:34 elapsed, punt
The Analysis
This was the Eagles' first unsuccessful drive of the game.
It started out promisingly, as Vick completed a nine-yard pass to LeSean McCoy on the first play of the drive. After a two-yard run for the first down, things started to go downhill.
Vick completed a pass to his running back for eight yards and then threw an incompletion intended for DeSean Jackson. The final offensive play of the drive was a pass to McCoy for no gain.
Sav Rocca punted the ball away to end the drive.
The Grade
C+
Houston Texans' Fourth Drive
8 of 22
Drive Stats
Three plays, 28 yards, 1:44 elapsed, interception
The Analysis
Now this was a pretty crazy drive.
Matt Schaub threw an incompletion on the first play of the drive, but it resulted in a 15-yard gain when a flag was thrown for roughing the passer.
Then Arian Foster lost two yards on a run and Andre Johnson ran an end-around for three yards.
On 3rd-and-9, Schaub threw a 12-yard strike to Joel Dreessen, but he was picked off on the next play.
The pass intended for Foster was intercepted by Trevor Laws, but Foster forced a fumble. The Texans couldn't get it back, as it was recovered by Trevard Lindley.
The Grade
F
Philadelphia Eagles' Fifth Drive
9 of 22
Drive Stats
Seven plays, 14 yards, 0:59 elapsed, field goal
The Analysis
It's harder to get better field position than starting on your opponent's 18-yard line.
But the Eagles, even with their extremely potent offense, couldn't punch the ball into the end zone.
The Eagles only picked up one first down on the drive, which ended in a 22-yard field goal by David Akers.
The Grade
B
Houston Texans' Fifth Drive
10 of 22
Drive Stats
Four plays, 54 yards, 0:21 elapsed, end of half
The Analysis
This drive went from good, to bad, to worse for Matt Schaub. Literally.
It started out with a 20-yard completion by Schaub to Joel Dreessen.
Then he threw an incompletion intended for Andre Johnson.
He was also injured on the play and replaced by Dan Orlovsky for the last play of the half. Schaub would return on the first play of the second half.
The Grade
Incomplete
Houston Texans' Sixth Drive
11 of 22
Drive Stats
11 plays, 79 yards, 6:11 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
It was extremely important for Houston to come out firing in the second half and close the lead to just one score. They did.
This drive was all about Matt Schaub and Arian Foster, appropriately ending in a pass from one to the other for 13 yards and the score.
Schaub was 6-of-6 for 61 yards and the touchdown, while Foster had only two yards running but 26 receiving.
The Grade
A+
Philadelphia Eagles' Sixth Drive
12 of 22
Drive Stats
Three plays, 20 yards, 1:36 elapsed, interception
The Analysis
Michael Vick went four years without throwing an interception but then only four days before his next one.
That pick came on this drive on, surprise, the fourth play of the drive.
The Grade
F
Houston Texans' Seventh Drive
13 of 22
Drive Stats
13 plays, 86 yards, 6:23 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
Once again, it was all about the quarterback and the running back.
Matt Schaub had three completions on five attempts, but none were bigger than the 31-yard pass to Andre Johnson on 3rd-and-17.
Arian Foster had six carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a pass for five yards.
With the three-yard touchdown from this season's breakout player, the Texans took their first lead, 24-20, thanks to 14 unanswered points in the second half.
The Grade
A+
Philadelphia Eagles' Seventh Drive
14 of 22
Drive Stats
Six plays, 61 yards, 2:46 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
The drive started out promisingly with 14 yards and a first down on the first two plays.
It continued on into the fourth quarter as the final period began with a two-yard run by Michael Vick. On the next play he threw a deep pass to DeSean Jackson for 33 yards.
After a nine-yard completion to LeSean McCoy, Vick ran it in from two yards for the touchdown to take back the lead.
Talk about a nice response.
The Grade
A+
Houston Texans' Eighth Drive
15 of 22
Drive Stats
Five plays, 19 yards, 2:54 elapsed, punt
The Analysis
For some strange reason, the Texans completely abandoned the run game on this drive. Schaub threw on all five plays of the possession.
It obviously didn't work.
He completed three of those passes but only picked up one first down before his team had to punt the ball away to the Eagles.
The Grade
C
Philadelphia Eagles' Eighth Drive
16 of 22
Drive Stats
Eight plays, 76 yards, 5:52 elapsed, touchdown
The Analysis
With just 10:10 left in the game, the Eagles received the ball on their own 28-yard line with a chance to score a touchdown and secure the victory.
They seized the opportunity.
One of the best plays of the drive was a 19-yard pass on 3rd-and-18 from Michael Vick to Brent Celek. It was only ruled a first down after a coach's challenge. But that challenge gave viewers the opportunity to hear the announcers debate about whether or not Celek's "left butt cheek" hit the ground or not.
Talk about a classic moment in televised sports.
The drive ended with a five-yard touchdown pass to Owen Schmitt.
The Grade
A+
Houston Texans' Ninth Drive
17 of 22
Drive Stats
Five plays, 30 yards, 1:01 elapsed, turnover on downs
The Analysis
Once again, the Texans decided to not use the running game at all, this time because they needed to stage a furious rally to come back.
Matt Schaub completed a pass to Joel Dreessen for 15 yards on the first play but couldn't pick up another first down.
The turnover on downs essentially ended both the Texans' shot at winning this game and their shot at making the playoffs.
The Grade
F
Philadelphia Eagles' Ninth Drive
18 of 22
Drive Stats
Three plays, -1 yard, 0:20 elapsed, punt
The Analysis
The Eagles didn't really need to do anything on this drive, even though it would've been nice to just end the game. So they didn't do anything.
Three plays, negative yards and a punt.
The Grade
C
Houston Texans' 10th Drive
19 of 22
Drive Stats
Two plays, 32 yards, 0:38 elapsed, fumble lost
The Analysis
After a 39-yard completion to Andre Johnson, Schaub dropped back and was sacked for a loss of seven yards. He also lost a fumble on the play that was recovered by the Eagles.
If we couldn't say the game was over before, we definitely could now.
The Grade
F
Philadelphia Eagles' 10th Drive
20 of 22
Drive Stats
Three plays, -1 yard, 1:57 elapsed, punt
The Analysis
The Eagles didn't really need to do anything on this drive, even though it would've been nice to just end the game. So they didn't do anything.
Three plays, negative yards and a punt.
Feel like you've read that before? You have. Check out the last Eagles' drive again.
The Grade
C
Houston Texans' 11th Drive
21 of 22
Drive Stats
Two plays, 22 yards, 0:22 elapsed, end of game
The Analysis
Schaub was 2-of-2 for 22 yards, but then the game ended.
Too bad, as things were finally starting to look good for Houston. Kind of.
The Grade
Incomplete
Overall Grades
22 of 22
Houston Texans
The Texans had a subpar first half, got off to a great start in the second half but then couldn't get it done when it mattered.
B-
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles flew out to a quick lead but let the Texans back in the game. They did pull away in the end, but against a historically atrocious defense, they should have won by more.
A-
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