What a heartbreaking loss this was for the Texans, even if they did not deserve to win the game. Quarterback Matt Schaub had the ball on the 5 yard line with 7 seconds left for the win and threw an interception, which lead to the Texans' second loss of the season, 25-20. With the injuries piling up, can this be a momentum killing loss for the Texans? With Baltimore next week, it is not going to be easy. Here are my 3 impressions from this week's loss to the Raiders.
1) The Loss of Mario Williams makes it that much harder for the defense.
For about the first quarter and a half, the Texans were dominating the Raiders offense. Oakland did not get a first down until the second quarter as the front 7 of the Texans handled McFadden and the Raiders with ease. Then, Mario Williams left with a pectoral injury and after that, the Raiders did whatever they wanted to on offense. After the game, it was revealed that Mario Williams was out for the season. This is a major blow to the Texans defense as you can not replace Super Mario. Rookie linebacker Brooks Reed will step in, but he has big shoes to fill, figuratively and literally. The Texans can still win the division, but their task just got much harder as they lost their best defensive player.
2) Foster could not get any good runs
After a great day against the Steelers last weekend, running back Arian Foster seemed to take a step back as he only got 68 rushing yards on 22 carries against the Raiders. Granted, he did get 116 receiving yards, but still the lack of a Texans rushing attack put that much more pressure on quarterback Matt Schaub to pass the ball. You have to give the Raiders some credit as they played some great rush defense, but still the Texans should of gotten more than 68 rushing yards from Foster. The Texans were too one-dimensional on offense and that played a big factor in the loss.
3) Can Schaub take this team far?
This was my first thought after the loss on Sunday. Can Schaub take the Texans to the promise land? I had mixed feelings about that after Sunday's loss. You have to cut him some slack because he was missing the best receiver in football, Andre Johnson, which left the receiving corps very thin. He did put his heart into the game and never quit as he made some clutch throws to keep the Texans in striking distance. At the same time, he made way too many mistakes during the game and in the 4th quarter especially, with the drop of a ball out of shotgun that led to a 13 yard loss and the mess of an interception he had at the end of the game. It makes me question whether Schaub can lead the Texans to the playoffs and further.
In my next post tomorrow, I will mention my 2 players I think will be important to the Ravens game and I will give my one prediction.
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