Matt Schaub Season-Ending Injury: What Matt Leinart Must Do to Lead Texans

Just like many Texans fans, I was devastated when I heard the news that our signal -caller would be out for the season. And just like many sports-loving college students, I disregarded my homework to do a little research on the man now in charge of lining up under center. Sorry, professor...

We lost our star defensive player in Mario Williams and we recovered. We lost our best offensive threat in receiver Andre Johnson, and other players stepped up to keep the wins coming.

But Matt Schaub? Our Pro Bowl quarterback? There isn’t a chance that the Texans, who are off to their best start in franchise history at 7-3 could possibly survive this.

Or could they?

Matt Schaub. Matt Leinart. When it comes to the running game and high powered defense of the division leading Houston Texans, does which Matt is throwing passes really matter?

My first thought was that we were absolutely doomed. But after digging into some stats, I began to wonder just how much we were losing, if anything at all.

In Leinart’s last start (November 2009), the Cardinals informed Leinart he would be starting the morning of the game. While the Titans defeated the Cards on a 99-yard drive at the end of the game, Leinart threw for 220 yards and had no interceptions. While 220 passing yards doesn’t sound too impressive, after looking into Schaub’s stats for this season, Leinart appears more than capable of delivering exactly what the Texans need to win.

Out of the three losses on the Texans record this season, Schaub has passed for 373 and 416 yards in two of them. In the seven games the Texans have won, Schaub has passed for 242 yards or less in six of those games. Passing doesn’t appear as important to the Texans as I once believed.

We all saw what happened earlier this season when former USC quarterback Carson Palmer was thrown into a system and expected to play after just one half of football on the team. Leinart on the other hand, has had over a season-and-a-half to prepare for this moment.

At USC, Leinart was 37-2 as a starter. College might mean little to nothing at all once you get to the NFL, but he did prove in his time as a Trojan that he does know how to win a football game, and that counts for something. Right, Tim Tebow?

Leinart shouldn’t have to do much to win as a member of Texans, and maybe even lead them deep into the playoffs.

There are a few simple steps to make sure Houston continues its winning ways. If Leinart can successfully hand the ball off to Arian Foster and Ben Tate, then he is already well on his way to a winning record as the Texans QB. The duo has been frequently called the most dangerous one-two combination in the NFL this year, and should be able to take a lot of pressure of fLeinart as he adjusts to his starting role.

It’s always nice to score 40 points in a win, but we are talking about Matt Leinart, not Aaron Rodgers. While Houston may not have the Packers stud, they do have the No. 1 defense in the NFL.

Brian Cushing, JJ Watt and others have simply been playing out of their minds. You can’t win if you can’t score, and Houston’s defense has done a wonderful job at preventing the opposition from doing that all year.

The obvious decision to make for head coaches is to simply put nine in the box and stop the run game, correct? While that may slow down Foster and Tate, it will significantly open up the passing options available to Leinart.

Maybe I’m being to hard on the guy, but if Leinart can’t complete single coverage passes to Andre Johnson and company, maybe the Texans should consider sending a telegram to the old veteran out in Mississippi that his services are required.

I’m not saying this team is destined for a Super Bowl victory; I wouldn’t have said that if Schaub were still healthy. But I don’t see any reason why the Texans couldn’t go just as deep into the playoffs with Leinart as they could have with Schaub.

If I am Leinart, I am preparing for high percentage throws. I’m preparing to hand off the ball to Foster and Tate and let them do work. I am preparing to stand on the sidelines and watch my defense dominate like it has all year long.

Most of all, I’m preparing for January.

Brandon Wheeland can be contacted at [e-mail], or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BrandonWheeland