Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans: It Could Be a Long Afternoon

A simple word of warning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

You better buckle up those chinstraps, this one will be really, really tough.

The Houston Texans come to town Sunday and this is a football team that no one talks about. These guys fly totally under the AFC radar. You hear all about the Steelers, the Ravens, the Patriots, but these guys are playoff-bound, the favorites to win the AFC South, and they do it the old-fashioned way.

The Texans run the football and play defense.

That could make for a very, very long afternoon at Raymond James if the Buccaneers don't bring their "A" game.

This Houston defense is nasty. It limited the Cleveland Browns to 172 yards of total offense last week in a 30-12 win. This 3-4 scheme of Wade Phillips has to be licking its chops. The linebackers will show the Buccaneer linebackers what it's supposed to look like.

We'll also get a look at rookie defensive end J.J. Watt, a player the Bucs didn't consider in last year's draft.

Want more bad news? This Texans defense is second-best in the league against the pass, fourth against the run.

There's more bad news on the offensive side of the football.

Got two words for you: Arian Foster.

Foster went for 124 yards last week, and if that wasn't enough, his backup, Ben Tate, went for 115. Guess who's third on the depth chart? Remember Derrick Ward?

The running game takes a lot of heat off quarterback Matt Schaub, who has been very effective as these Texans are 6-3 and they've reached that mark for the most part without the NFL's best wide receiver, Andre Johnson. It would be Tampa Bay's luck to have him back this week. He didn't practice on Thursday and perhaps the Texans believe they can fare just as well without him.

They may be right—it's not like these Buccaneers are run-stoppers extraordinaire.

Don't fret, after all, the Bucs have Fat Albert Haynesworth to clog things up like hair in a drain pipe.

Better buckle up those chinstraps.

And, by the way, tell Michael Koenen he should get a lot of punting practice.