Wow, I'm actually quite surprised at how much respect you Pats fans are giving my lowly Texans. I sure appreciate it, but I have to assure you that y'all have absolutely nothing to worry about at all.
Overall, the Texans offense has been absolutely awful. Look for them to dunk pass you to death. Carr has thrown ONE TD pass in the past SEVEN games, dreadful really. Not only that, but he has a propensity of fumbling the ball while getting sacked. He makes terrible decisions and will not throw the ball downfield even if his life depended on it. But I don't know if it's all his fault or if it's the despicable play of the O-line who will "Ole" your defenders right into Carr's face. They can runblock at times, but should you really be concerned about a team with RON DAYNE as the starter? I don't think so.
Andre Johnson is a very good receiver expect when it comes to catching a long pass where he tends to drop a lot of easy receptions. Eric Moulds gets a couple of touches a game, but not nearly enough. Owen Daniels is a very good 4th round pick TE who can block and catch passes, but again he also rarely gets a chance to show what he can do since Carr doesn't scan the field and will instead throw a short pass to the RB's. The Texans only do 3-5 step drops and Carr usually has about half a second to throw before he is ravaged by the defense. Look for your team to come out with about 6 sacks against us unless we decide to run the ball the whole game which is what we did against Oakland after David Carr fumbled the ball THREE possessions in a row.
Defensively, we're a little better. As another Texans poster mentioned, Mario Williams really hasn't done much since he hurt his tootsie. 3 of his 4.5 sacks this year have come from him flopping on the QB that slipped, not an auspicious start for him, especially as the #1 overall pick that the Texans screwed up on. DeMeco Ryans, first pick in round 2, is a stud ball hawk. He's good for 12-15 tackles a game and is always in the right places. Overall though, the DL and linebacking corps leave much to be desired.
The Texans have probably the worst secondary in the NFL. Dunta Robinson is more designed as a free safety, not a #1 CB, he gets burned a lot but hits VERY hard. Our #2 corner is Demarcus ***gins, who got burned by a Mr. Lee Evans from Buffalo a few games ago giving up 2 84-yard TD's in a row. He's been playing a bit better lately, but doesn't really shut anyone down. Glenn Earl, the SS can hit a little but covers like crap and is generally ineffective. Our FS, CC Brown is awful, he can't cover or hit or walk and chew gum at the same time.
Watch out for the special teams, though. Our KR, who I'm sure you'll see a lot of, Jerome Mathis, is FAST and is probably one of the best KR's in the league, he was in the Pro Bowl last year but just came back from injury a couple of weeks ago. PR is Dexter Wynn, who's been doing alright. Chad Stanley, the Punter is dreadful. He's good for the nice 30-yard punts when the team needs to put the opponent deep. He's good at shanking punts too. Kris Brown the kicker has been doing better. Coverage teams on kicks and punts have been excellent this year.
Overally, I look for the Pats to cover the 11.5 point spread easily and paste the Texans. But thank you kind New Englanders for allowing the Texans to step on the same field as y'all. Maybe in a couple of years, the Texans will have a smidgen of a chance, but not '06. But anyways, here's to an injury-free game. I'm sure the Pats are licking their chops for this joke of a team.
