Texans face one of their toughest road tests of the season

This weekend, the Texans face one of their toughest opponents on the season as they head into Baltimore to play the Ravens. It was going to be hard enough with everyone healthy, but now arguably without their best offensive player (Andre Johnson) and defensive player (Mario Williams), it is going to take an almost perfect effort from the Texans to come out on top. Here are my 2 players to look at followed by my 1 prediction.

1) Derrick Mason
This week, the Texans acquired wide receiver Derrick Mason from the New York Jets to help their thin wide receiver corps. It will be interesting to see what Mason does this weekend for the Texans. Can he get involved after such a short period of time? Another reason why he might be useful is that he played for the Ravens for the past 3 years so he might be able to dissect their defense and make it easier for the offense to get into a rhythm. I don't know how much he plays, but he is someone interesting to watch as he just joined the team. Any contribution from him on offense would be huge.

2) Brooks Reed
With Mario Williams out for the season, Reed now needs to step in at linebacker and keep the Texans' defense strong. Everyone knows that Reed will never be able to fill Williams' place, but he played very well last week after Williams left the game. Now, he needs to bring that effort every single week as the Texans need him more than ever. It starts in Baltimore, as the Texans need to be ready for an offense that has been rolling in the past couple of weeks.

For my prediction, this is a true test for these Texans as they are going into a hostile environment without some of their best players. They need to do what they have been doing well for the past year and that is run the football. If Arian Foster can get off, that will help Schaub and the receivers. On defense, it is going to be hard to stop running back Ray Rice and quarterback Joe Flacco. Without Williams, the Ravens run their offense with ease and the Texans struggle on offense, Ravens 30-14.

For more information on the Texans, visit John McClain's blog at Houston Chronicle.com and ESPN.com for an AFC South blog.

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