Final: Jags 31 Texans 24

The Texans showed you why you never bet parlays. I really thought the Texans would win this game handily, Jacksonville has not played well this season, especially offensively, and after the first quarter the Jags did whatever they wanted offensively, gaining almost 400 yards. The Texans were good offensively, matching Jacksonville's offensive output, but as has been the norm with this team in the past, they turned the ball over in the endzone with 2 minutes. Chris Brown fumbled at the goaline, and that basically ended the game. That series, the Texans had the ball first and goal from the one, threw it on first down. They would have had the touchdown, but Kevin Walter was called for offensive pass interference. They got back the 10 yards, but on 2nd down Brown fumbled.

Steve Slaton ran for 76 yards, his best effort of the season, but it was still Brown who got the goaline carries. Andre Johnson played well in the first half, but got banged up, and was a non factor in the 2nd half. The story of this game was the Texans defense, which was bad, especially the secondary. Dunta Robinson played well, but I can't think of a big play made by anyone else in the secondary either against the run or pass. The Texans are now 0-2 at home, and will host Oakland next week.

Glad I'm not Jim Zorn

The Redskins are down 13-0 at the half to the Lions. If they aren't able to comeback and win will Jim Zorn be fired:

a) right after the game before he gets back to the locker room

b) after the flight back to Washington

c) tomorrow morning

If the Lions win, shouldn't the fans at Ford Field storm the field and tear down the goalposts?

Halftime: Texans 21 Jags 17

Matt Schaub throws his third TD pass of the half with :19 remaining to give the Texans a 4 point lead at the half. Aside from an INT on the Texans first drive, Schaub has been outstanding. He has a 121 QB rating in the first half. He has also completed 15 passes to 7 different receivers. The Texans have tried both Steve Slaton and Chris Brown, but neither has been effective. David Garrard has been pretty good, but the Jags are in this game because of big plays on the ground. Maurice Jones-Drew has a 61-yard TD run, and Garrard also has a 30-yard which setup a field goal.

End 1st Quarter: Texans 7 Jags 3

If you take away the interception Matt Schaub played a great quarter. He was able to spread the ball around to 6 different receivers, including a TD pass to Jacoby Jones, his second straight game with a TD. Jags are driving as we start the second quarter, Texans are not putting much pressure on Garrard.

3:12 left in 1st Quarter: Jags 3 Texans 0

Texans will start a drive inside Jacksonville territory after playing a great series on defense forcing the Jags into a 3 and out. Amobi Okoye made a great play on first down bringing down Maurice Jones-Drew behind the line of scrimmage, then on second down Dunta Robinson made a great play batting down a pass from Garrard.

7:35 left in 1st Quarter: Jags 3 Texans 0

The Texans had good drive ended by a Matt Schaub interception. Rasheen Mathis made a terrific play to steal a ball away from Andre Johnson. The Jags get on the board with a 52-yard field goal by Josh Scobee. Big play in the drive was a 30-yard run by David Garrard. Jacksonville was forced into a FG attempt after DE Tim Bulman made a terrific play defending a screen pass on 3rd and 2. The Texans tried to establish Steve Slaton in the first drive, but he was ineffective.

Texans/Jags Inactives

Houston

WR Andre Davis

CB Antwaun Molden

S Bernard Pollard

CB Jacques Reeves

C Antoine Caldwell

TE Anthony Hill

DT Frank Okam

Jacksonville

CB William Middleton

S Courtney Greene

LB Adam Seward

LB Brian Iwuh

G Kynan Forney

T Jordan Black

DE Jeremy Navarre

By the way, the roof is closed.

Live: Jags at Texans

I am live at Reliant Stadium for Jags/Texans where the talk among the Houston media is the terrific game between Houston and Texas Tech last night, where as the Jacksonville media are all talking about Tim Tebow. The Jags come into this game playing after getting blown out at home last week against Arizona. Kurt Warner was able to throw all over the place and he threw just 2 incompletions. I would expect the Texans to attack the Jags secondary, especially since they haven't been able to run the ball through the first 2 games of the season. Jacksonville scored just 12 points in week 1 against the Colts, and 17 last week, although 14 of their points came late when the game was out of reach.

It is Battle Red Day at Reliant Stadium, which it seems like it always is when the Jags are in town, and it also means that the Texans will likely win, they are 7-2 when wearing the red jerseys, 4-1 against Jacksonville. I will blog throughout the game.

Coaches that are in Trouble

We are 2 weeks into the NFL season, so I thought I would take a look at the coaches that I think are on the hot seat and coaches that I don't think will make it through the season. Even though you have some big time coaches that are out there without jobs, I don't think you will see a ton of changes. First of all, there a lot of first year head coaches and the other is that teams aren't going to be in a big hurry to pay big buyouts only to have to pay a ton of money to big name coaches in what is going to be a bad economic season for the NFL. Here are my coaches on the hot seat:

Dick Jauron- Buffalo

Year 4 with the Bills, and he hasn't made the playoffs in the first 3. That spells make or break for any coach. His likable personality probably bought him an extra year, but I don't think it would be enough to get to year 5 without a playoff appearance.

Marvin Lewis- Cincinnati

This is his 7th season, and the last 3 have been disappointing. The good thing for Lewis is that the owner likes him, and the owner is very cheap and doesn't want to pay him off. I don't think he has to make the playoffs, but they need to have a good season. He's off to a decent start so far with a win in Green Bay after losing in Week 1 in the worst way possible.

Jack Del Rio- Jacksonville

Like Lewis he is in year 7, but the Jags seem like they are on the downturn after 4 year run where they were good, but never good enough to make big time playoff runs despite winning 12 games in '05 and 11 games in '07. They won just 5 games last season, and after 2 games this season it looks like '09 could be just as bad if not worse. I wouldn't be shocked if he is replaced before the season is over.

Gary Kubiak- Houston

Like Jauron, Kubiak is in year 4, and still looking for that first playoff appearance. He has won 8 games the last 2 seasons, and its time for his team to take that next step. Unless they collapse this season he will finish it, but if they don't make the playoffs he won't be back in '10.

Norv Turner- San Diego

Norv will always be on the hot seat. Through 2 seasons he has made 2 decent playoff runs despite slow starts and injuries. I think he will make it to next season, but in the minds of all fans he will always be on the hot seat because of his struggles in Washington and Oakland.

Tom Cable- Oakland

I put him on this list only because he is being investigated for beating the hell out of an assistant, which in all honesty could solidify his spot with the Raider. The other reason he made this list is because its Al Davis and you never know.

Jim Zorn- Washington

Zorn has 3 things going against him. An average team, in a good division, with a very impatient owner. I would be shocked if Zorn survives the season.

Wade Phillips

I think Phillips will survive the season because its not really the style of Jerry Jones to fire a coach midseason, he never has before. He has to have a good season to keep his job, especially with the coaches that are out there to replace him. I don't think he has done as bad a job as people think, but he's in a tough spot. It was a little surprising he wasn't fired after the way last season ended, so that makes this season a make or break for him.

Mike McCarthy- Green Bay

Probably shouldn't be on this list, but they had a bad season last year, and he can't afford to have another one.

Lovie Smith- Chicago

Hasn't made the playoffs since going to the Super Bowl in '06. The Bears have a lot of expectations because of Cutler. I think he can survive an average season, but if for any reason its a disaster he could be gone.

John Fox- Carolina

He's in year 8 with the Panthers, and has had a great run, but I think its run its course. The Panthers are a little old, and look like they are on their way to a miserable season which comes after a bad home playoff loss. Might not survive the season.

Is Jordin Sparks a Good Luck Charm for the Giants

Jordin Sparks is the daughter of former Giants corner back Phillipi Sparks. She sang the national anthem before the Giants upset over the Patriots in the Super Bowl, and she sang it again last night in Dallas, a game the Giants also won. Coincidence?

BREAKING: Astros Finally Fire Cooper

With 13 games left in the season the Astros have fired manager Cecil Cooper. He is the third straight Astros manager that has been fired before the end of the season (Jimy Williams- All Star Break '04, Phil Garner August '07). The only surprise to me is that it didn't happen sooner. I thought that he would be fired in June, but the team started to play very well and got into contention briefly, but then fell back into oblivion, which includes an 0-6 road trip last week. The Astros failures aren't Cooper's fault, but in the end Cooper was his own worst enemy.

It started last season when he lied to his players in a team meeting. And it all snowballed into one stupid blunder after another. His players didn't like, but whats worse is that they didn't respect him. He was also bad with the media, that sort of stuff has a lasting impact on Drayton McClane who is all about public perception. When your manager looks like an ass on TV dealing with the media it reflects poorly on the rest of the organization.

Dave Clark will be the manager these last 2 weeks, after that its anybody's guess.

Memo to the Mountain West: Shutup

Yesterday was a bit of a check yourself moment for the Mountain West Conference. BYU and Utah played unranked, but still good BCS conference teams, and got rolled, including BYU getting embarrassed at home. The Mountain West is still a good conference, but it doesn't deserve an automatic BCS berth. Not after what I saw Saturday. Both Utah, who played at unranked Oregon, and BYU, who hosted unranked Florida State, were badly outplayed and never had a lead. The BYU loss is what kills the Mountain West. 54-28 AT HOME!!?? They allowed 54 points and 512 yards to a team that scored 7 points the week before in the first 59 minutes of a game against Jacksonville State. That is the best team in a league that I am suposed to take seriously? The Noles ran for 313 yards, and BYU turned the ball over 5 times.

Not all is lost for the Mountain West, TCU is still undefeated, and they have a big game coming up this week at Clemson. The Mountain West deserves BCS consideration, but they have no business with an automatic berth, and this weekend helped prove that. I better not see their commissioner in front of Congress after this season demanding they be included, one bad loss at home to Florida State did more to hurt than the win against OU did to help.

Speaking of automatic BCS berths: Can we PLEASE take away the Big East's?

Quick Thoughts on Week 1

Here are my thoughts on Week 1:

• Darren Sproles is the Chargers best running back. I think LaDanian Tomlinson might be the next version of Shaun Alexander.

• The Pats offensive line is really average. One of the keys to their offense in '07 was the OLine.

• I feel like the Broncos could be better off without Jay Cutler. Something about that guy just gives off a negative vibe.

• The Redskins are in a bad situation, they play in a good division, they aren't going to be horrible, but they won't be good enough to contend in that division. They will basically be between the 7-9 win range again.

• People have been waiting on the Niners to get good, this could be the year.

• I'll be surprised if the Dolphins win more than 6 games. They just aren't good enough offensively.

• The Jets was as aggressive as I've seen from them. They have a lot of playmakers on that side of the ball.

• I wouldn't be surprised if Donald Brown overtakes Joseph Adai for the #1 back in Indy.

• For once the Cowboys come into a season with little hype, that could be a good thing for them.

The Humidity is like a Punch in the Face

Well, I am now back in Houston for the foreseeable future now that my season in Casper has ended. I thought I would be able to blog during the season, but that obviously didn't happen. Starting now I will be blogging regularly as I was before the season started. Anyways, the first thing I noticed when I got back to Houston was the humidity. I guess I got a little too used to the 20% humidity everyday for the last 4 months. Wasn't quite prepared for the 110% back home.