Sanchez leads Jets over Texans

After getting a pregame pump up session from Broadway Joe himself, Mark Sanchez couldn’t help but shine in his first appearance in the NFL. Sanchez, the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft, threw for 272 yards and a touchdown, Thomas Jones scored twice, and the Jets shut down Houston’s dynamic offense in a 24-7 win Sunday. Joe Namath took Sanchez away just minutes prior to pregame warm-ups. The rookie asked him regarding his first start and Namath said he didn’t remember it and that Sunday was about Sanchez, not him.

It was effortless to see Rex Ryan’s stamp on this defense in his first game as Jets head coach after leading the Ravens’ stingy unit for the past numerous years. Houston’s offense got past midfield just on one occasion in the first three quarters. The Texans were outgained 462-183, Steve Slaton was detained to 17 yards rushing and Andre Johnson had just 35 yards receiving. Sanchez was balanced and confident from the start, frequently evading the rush to complete key passes. He completed at least three passes as he was falling down, signs of a franchise qb.

ARIZONA (-5.5) vs. Houston

Arizona has started the season at 1-2 however they’ve also faced a pretty good teams that are a combined 9-3 straight up and about 6 points tougher than average (SF, Jack, and Indy). Arizona has been out-gained in those games 5.4 yards per play to 5.6 yppl, but that’s not bad considering those teams would out-gain an average team 5.7 yppl to 4.9 yppl. Arizona’s weakness, however, is their pass defense and Houston’s potent aerial attack (7.3 yards per pass play against teams that would allow 5.8 yppp) should thrive.

Arizona can also put up big passing numbers and Houston is even worse defending the pass, allowing 6.3 yppl to quarterbacks that would combine to average just 5.3 yppp against an average team. The math model picks this game 27-23 Arizona and there is totally no reason to deviate from that projection.

Texans Demolish Raiders

The Houston Texans weren’t left to respond to questions about their awful run defense and failure to stop big plays for the first time this season. On Sunday, the defense celebrated their best performance since 2004 as the Houston Texans demolish the Oakland Raiders 29-6. Houston only allowed 165 yards is the second fewest in the team’s franchise history and the fewest since giving up only 126 yards to Jacksonville 5 years ago.

Steve Slaton rushed for two touchdowns and Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff for a touchdown to assist in the victory. The Texans at last established their running game and figured out a means to shut down someone else’s as Houston’s NFL-worst defense held the Raiders to only 45 yards rushing. The Texans were allowing 205 yards rushing incoming this game. Houston also forced Oakland to 3 turnovers and got their first safety in almost 7 years. The Raiders sustained the struggle, with JaMarcus Russell only completing 12 of his 33 passes for 128 yards and Darren McFadden finishing the game with six carries for minus-3 yards rushing.

Jaguars Vs. Titans

I am rating Tennessee at just 0.6 points better than an average team heading into this season so it’s not such a huge surprise that the Titans are 0-3 after going 13-3 last season. The Titans have actually played at a continuously good rate, as they have out-gained the Jets, Texans and Steelers 5.6 yards per play to 5.1 yppl. Jacksonville, on the other hand, has been out-gained 5.6 yppl to another 6.3 yppl by teams that would out-gain an average team by 0.7 yppl, so the Jaguars haven’t played that bad either. My ratings favor Tennessee by just 1 point and using this year’s games only would result in a math prediction of Tennessee by 2 points. With that being the case, I’ll lean with the dog.

Question we can ask ourselves is will the Titans go 0-4? Who will start in week 4 for the Titans? Nevertheless, I’m going for the FG dog. Woof!

Jaguars Get First Win

Maurice Jones-Drew carried the Jacksonville Jaguars on his back en route to their first win and crushed all over the good feelings the Houston Texans had after their big win last week. Jones-Drew had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and scored three TDs to lead the Jaguars over the mistake-prone Houston Texans, 31-24. Jones-Drew scored the go-ahead touchdown on an 8-yard run early in the fourth and finished with a total of 119 yards rushing.

Matt Schaub, QB of the Houston Texans, threw for 300 yards in the game and had three touchdowns in the first half, but was cold as ice after halftime, hitting nothing figuratively. Houston rookie Brian Cushing tipped one pass and broke up another, but a late hit penalty late in the third quarter helped push the drive that put the Jaguars up 31-24. And along with that drive also came the Jaguars first win in the 2009-2010 season.

The Offseason for the Houston Texans

The offseason for the Houston Texans was a busy one, with free agent signings of safety John Busing, defensive tackle Shaun Cody, linebacker Buster Davis, running back Clifton Dawson, fullback Boomer Grigsby, guard Adrian Jones, linebacker Cato Jone, QB Dan Orlovsky, and defensive end Antonio Smith. 

The team also drafted big in the recent draft, with signings of linebacker Brian Cushing, defensive end Connor Barwin, outside guard Antoine Caldwell, cornerbacks Glover Quinn and Brice McCain, tight ends Anthony Hill and James Casey and safety Troy Nolan.

This major makeover makes the Houston Texans one of the surprise dark horses for the coming season. Though there have been losses from its roster, the signings of veterans and the grooming of these rookies would surely make for a raucous and strong season ahead for the Houston Texans. This together with other major changes to the Titans and the Colts allows the Texans the leverage to make a major splash this coming season.

Robinson tagged as Franchise Player

Dunta Robinson felt he had been shortchanged when the Houston Texans exercised its franchise tag for the very first time on him. By taking this action, the cornerback would be unable to deal with other teams as an unrestricted free agent. Robinson intimated that Texan General Manager Rick Smith assured him weeks prior that he will not be tagged. By placing the tag, Robinson stands to be offered a guaranteed deal worth the average year’s contract for the top five cornerbacks in the NFL, which is roughly $9.97 million. Other teams can still make an offer for the services of the Robinson, and the Texans have the option to match it or receive two first round picks in exchange for Robinson.
The Texans on their part released a statement on the matter saying that the cornerback is an integral part of the team and despite best efforts, an agreement for long term services could not be reached. This action can be deemed as another way that the Texans can keep the services of the cornerback and hopefully buy more time to reach an agreement.

Dan vs. the Texans

The mini camp drills of the Texans have been in question for quite a while, and it’s proving to be a very controversial issue. It was Dan Stevenson that first came out and filed a  grievance against the team. He claims that because of the mini camp drills, he sustained injuries that are possibly career ending. The Texans responded and said that all their drills were legitimate and that the injury wasn’t because of the minicamp.

What Stevenson did was to record the minicamp drill videos that was saved on a Texans’ computer. He recorded the dates and the games themselves, and it seemed like the players were made to do blocking drills, even in the absence of pads. NFL minicamp rules clearly state that there are to be no pads and no contacts.

It really is difficult for a player not to follow the drills since he would like to get on the best side of the coach. He would want to show his full potential, and wouldn’t want to be beaten by another player. This makes it difficult for them to say no.

No Contact Please!

American Football is one of the most exciting games that anyone could play or watch. It simply is a good release of agression, and it let’s you be healthy as well. The problem is that the human body has it’s limits, and it sometimes just breaks down. This makes football a dangerous sport as well, because of the serious injuries it can cause. Without the proper safety measures, one could end his career in an instant.

For this reason alone, the NFL has certain rules to keep the players safety in check. One of them is the rule of “no contact and no pads” during offseason mini camp. It would be heartless of a coach to break such a rule, because it is for the safety of their players.

The NFL is now questioning the mini camp of the Houston Texans. There were several team player representatives that have already complained to the NFL about coach Gary Kubiak’s methods, still it seems as if the rule is still constantly broken. Because of this, 3 players suffered injuries that were season ending.

It’s really upsetting that a coach would do such a thing and jeopardize the dreams, aspirations, and careers of his dedicated players.