I slightly improved last week. I went 11-5 which brings my grand total to 21-11 and 66 %. But the season is still young so onto other things.

At this moment I could be playing quarterback for the Steelers. Ben who? Charlie Batch led the Steelers to a victory over the Titans and looked better than…well, past Charlie Batch.

Who would have known we would have been seeing Kerry Collins this early in the season? And without Vince Young having some sort of mental breakdown. Sometimes I wonder why the Titans don’t just let Collins start. So does Vince Young ever start another game for the Titans this season?

It’s all about quarterbacks this week because my main man Kevin Kolb is playing second banana to Michael Vick. And Andy Reid is looking foolish with the media, he seriously looks like some sort of confused security guard. Ah…enough.

Tennessee at NY Giants

Yuck. Is this game watchable? Tennessee didn’t look good last week and their win over the Raiders is nothing to brag about. I’m going to go with the Giants because of homefield advantage and the fact that they have a Manning at quarterback.

Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay

Is Tampa Bay serious? Tampa Bay being 2-0 is a bit strange. I feel like I’m being Punk’d or something. Only one of these teams can remain undefeated and logic says Pittsburgh will win. I think it’s going to be hard for Josh Freeman to look as good as he did the past two weeks against the Steelers and I have faith that even if it’s David Carr playing quarterback for the Steelers they can score somehow.

Cincinnati at Carolina

It’s obvious that I don’t have a good feel on either of these teams so far. Cincy is proving to be at least decent. Decent enough to give fans hope only to crush them but at least decent. And Carolina needs a QB right now. I’m going to have to go with Cincinnati on this one.

Cleveland at Baltimore

Wow Baltimore. Remember when everybody used to think you were good. Like two weeks ago? Ooooh burn. Seriously though, two weeks ago everybody and their mother thought Baltimore was going to the Super Bowl and now we don’t even know if they can win their division. Luckily enough God has smiled down upon Baltimore and given them a chance to bounce back this week by beating the snot out of Cleveland. Baltimore wins this and if they lose by any chance we know that God hates them.

Dallas at Houston

Quick note I didn’t mention earlier: Dan Fouts and that Ian Somethingorother guy that called the Washington/Houston game last week were horrible. They almost ruined watching a really good game for me, CBS why did you send in the B-Team for my game…?

Anyway, this is the game I’ve been looking forward to for a while. If you are like me and you were an Oilers fan and now a Texans fan you hate Cowboys fans. Cowboys fans are repulsive to me. I hate that team with so much passion and I do admit some of it does come from jealousy. Houston is like the quiet honors student without a homecoming date to Dallas’ pretty cheerleader homecoming queen. But guess what, Sunday is like a high school reunion where the honor student is now very successful and has grown into her looks and the cheerleader is stuck in her life ten years ago when she was popular. The Texans should win this one. The Texans offense is amazing and the defense is decent and despite the stats I believe improving. While the Cowboys are in a funk, have coaching problems and a tendency to beat themselves. Reliant Stadium should be rocking and give the Texans a great home field advantage. This game will be great for Texans everywhere. A good football rivalry is always great and the Texans making the Cowboys 0-3 should make Cowboys fans despise the Texans almost as much as we Houstonians hate the Cowboys. Rivalry time!

San Francisco at Kansas City

This might be my pick for most entertaining game of the week. (For fans outside of Houston.) Kansas City has been showing up to games and San Fran is a good team that can’t afford to lose again. My gut tells me to go with KC at home but I think the 49ers have the edge on the coaching front. This will be a good game but I think Singletary and the 49ers go all out to win.

Detroit at Minnesota

Detroit. I’m going with Detroit here. Shaun Hill is not a horrible quarterback and the Lions are looking pretty good. Minnesota does not look good at all. They might as well just hand the ball to Adrian Peterson on every down. It just might work. I’m picking this as might upset this week.

Buffalo at New England

When will Buffalo win a game? Not this week. New England wins.

Atlanta at New Orleans

Why does this pick seem so easy to make? Atlanta is supposed to be a good team right? New Orleans at home just seems like a sure win against Atlanta. Is Atlanta bad or am I not being fair to them? Only time will tell. Or Sportscenter.

Washington at St. Louis

Donovon McNaab looked good and that Kyle Shanahan offense looks great. I hate Clinton Portis and the running game though, however a bad running game didn’t stop the Shanahan offense in Houston. Washington should win.

Philadelphia at Jacksonville

Vick is back and looks almost better than ever. Poor Kevin Kolb didn’t even have a chance. I hope he gets a chance somewhere because I doubt it will be in Philly now. The Jags are good but I don’t think they can stop the Vick fueled Philly offense. I say Philly wins this one but don’t get on the Philly bandwagon yet.

Oakland at Arizona

Here’s this weeks battle of somebody has to win. I’m going with Oakland because they are actually better than Arizona. That’s right Oakland is better than at least one team in the NFL.

San Diego at Seattle

Seattle might be under-rated and San Diego might be over-rated but I don’t think that equates to Seattle winning (even at home). San Diego should win this one by a couple of touchdowns or they don’t deserve to go to the playoffs.

Indianapolis at Denver

Denver does not have what it takes to beat the football robots from Indianapolis. I doubt Denver’s offense can keep up with Peyton-bot.

NY Jets at Miami

I don’t have a good feeling about this game. Not in a strange ominous way where I think something evil is going to happen but I don’t know who has a substantial advantage. It all depends on which Mark Sanchez shows up to play this week. The average Mark Sanchez or the horrible Mark Sanchez. Nonetheless I’m going with the Jets on this one because I think they have the defensive edge.

Green Bay at Chicago

A good classic old school NFL rivalry…that seems a bit boring at the moment. Monday night seems to bring out the best in teams though. Green Bay will win this one. But what I’m really hoping for is the return of Mike Martz vertical passing game. This would be the perfect time for Martz’ offense to return to form. We’ll see.

The Cowboys looked terrible, which made me really happy until I realized I picked them to win.

I take the bad things I said about San Diego/Kansas City not being a good game. That game was good and it looks like KC might actually be a good sleeper this year. (Or at least like Denver last year.)

The Jets offense looked bad (just like I said it would). I think the Jets are good, just not as good as everyone is making them out to be. I’ve said that since the Jets became media darlings last season. Enough chit-chat let’s get to the picks.

Pittsburgh at Tennessee

The Titans were lucky enough to play the Raiders in week one but this game is going to test them for real. The Steelers look good, Dennis Dixon…not so much. I still think Dixon is a solid back-up but I obviously retract my “people will love Dennis Dixon” after his week one performance.  I feel a low scoring game here with a stout Steelers D and a most likely lack luster offense against the Titans. However I think it’ll be easier for Tennessee to get on the board.

Miami at Minnesota

Both of these teams had an unattractive week one. Minnesota got embarrassed on the season opener and Miami made me  wonder if the Bills were a good team. That does not bode well for Miami fans. The Dolphins are better than that but hey they still got the win. I’m going with Minnesota at home and with an angry Favre. P.S. How many more games does Favre have in him? A side bet to make with friends.

Arizona at Atlanta

Arizona barely got by the Rams and now have to travel to Atlanta. Atlanta’s offense looked pretty back but I think they’ll get back in the grove this game. And maybe the Atlanta defense can get some confidence against Arizona. Atlanta wins.

Baltimore at Cincinnati

The Bengals might be able to get some passing yards against the suspect secondary in Baltimore. Yeah right now Baltimore is 1st in passing yards allowed but that’s just because the played the Jets. And the Bengals ate up yards in the air last week. However I think the Ravens are better and will not lose this game. Another close game for Baltimore this week? The return of the Cardiac Cats? I think so.

Kansas City at Cleveland

I think this is an easy pick (depending on whether a not KC is a fluke). KC looked good in the late night MNF and last week Cleveland looked like…well Cleveland. And there are reports the Jake Delhomme is questionable and not practicing. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing for Cleveland. I still think KC can win this and show they’re a good team now.

Chicago at Dallas

This is a tough call because it’s really tough to peg these teams for me right now. I’m going with Chicago because Detroit is not as bad as they have been and Chicago put good D on them and had a decent offensive outing. And Dallas really likes beating themselves.

Philadelphia at Detroit

The battle of the backups. Michael Vick is starting his first game since 2006 which will be either very disappointing or very exciting. It’s like when Quentien Tarentino came out with the Grindhouse Double Feature. You knew it was going to be great or it was going to be a huge tease. On the other side there’s Shaun Hill, filling in for Matthew Stafford. Shaun Hill is actually 10-6 as a starter and is a decent QB. But he has as much appeal as that Legends of G’Hoole owl movie.  As much as I want the Lions to win this one I have to go with the Eagles.

Buffalo at Green Bay

No Ryan Grant for Green Bay but the good news is they have a week to figure out how to run the ball. Playing Buffalo is a free pass for Green Bay to find out what works for them without Grant. This would be a tough win for Buffalo on the road, I’m going with Green Bay.

Tampa Bay at Carolina

I smell a game with a lot of rushing yards here. It’ll be a close one with Carolina getting the edge.

Seattle at Denver

Seattle’s win over San Fran was not all that impressive on their part. I think Denver is the better team and will be ready to win this one. Maybe I just hate Pete Carroll.

St. Louis at Oakland

I don’t know where to begin with this one. I’m thinking Oakland but it’s almost too close to call. You really would like one of these teams to come out of the NFL cellar but last week did not look good for either team. The team that wins this could gain momentum to…almost hit 500 but the team who loses is verifying their spot in the cellar. I’m going with…sigh…Oakland.

Houston at Washington

Will Arian Foster have a repeat performance? No. Will Arian Foster have a good game? Yes. One thing about the Texans though is they have an incredible passing game that was not unleashed last week. I’m thinking the pass attack comes full force here. This should be a very pass happy (Kyle Shanahan) game but I’m going with Houston to win the shoot-out.

New England at NY Jets

This game should be fun. In one corner we have a team loved by the media who is showing it’s flaws and had a horrible week one. In the other a team that is not well like outside of it’s own fan base, has been written off this season, however had a great week one. The Pats look good and I don’t think the Jets have what it takes to stop them. Sub-plot of this game is whether or not Randy Moss gets stranded on Revis Island.

Jacksonville at San Diego

I don’t want to pick one here because I feel like I’ll be jinxing one of them. This is an important win for both of these teams in terms of momentum. I think the Chargers are a better team and they are playing at home. San Diego will win but the Jags might be able to prove that they’re to be taken seriously.

NY Giants at Indianapolis

The battle of the Manning’s. Here’s the way it works. Indy is a better team. Indy has now lost the Super Bowl and a game vs. the Texans they historically win. Indy is a football machine that wins games. Indy will beat the Giants.

New Orleans at San Francisco

The Saints are in back-to-back prime time games here. The Saints looked really good last Thursday and have had plenty of time off to rest and prepare. San Francisco on the other hand had horrible offensive woes last week and have a really tough opponent here. New Orleans should win this game hands down.

While we could sit here and play the blame game, which I’m sure myself and many other fans will do in the off season, I’d like to look at some positive.

First the defense.  After last seasons miserable excuse for a defense we made a new hire in DC, Mr. Frank Bush. Frank Bush’s defense had a rocky start, but as it started to gel with the hardcore tendencies of Brian Cushing and the acquisition of Bernard Pollard. The linebacking core was amazing and as the year went on the defense only got better.

Second, Matt Schaub started 16 games and silenced all doubters. With a little more leadership and charisma the guy should be a pro bowler next year.

Third Arian Foster. The main reason we even won the game against the Pats was the rushing effort on the new guy. He might not be the answer but he was a Godsend for the closing of our first winning record.

The season shouldn’t have ended like this yes. (Relying on other teams to win games instead of letting our record speak for itself.) We only have to look at the first game of the season and think that if we would have beat the lowly Jets we would be in the playoffs right now.

As for playoffs, we in Houston can but dream. But the AFC wildcard chase is more crowded than an elevator holding the Patriots offensive line. This might be the best last week of the season in a while. I can’t wait to watch some hardcore, heartfelt football on Sunday.

For those people hoping Belichick will play a soft game against the Texans on Sunday can keep dreaming. There’s no way Mean Ol’ Belichick is going to let another playoff contender just waltz their way to a win. Maybe he might rest the starters if they’re ahead but probably in the fourth quarter. People claim he did it in Miami a couple years back but Miami wasn’t going to the playoffs and Nick Saban is part of the Belichick mafia. Gary Kubiak won’t be so lucky. Kubiak is going to have to outwit the Pats. He’s going to have to play aggressive. He’s going to have to prove that he’s the coach that can lead this team into the playoffs. This is the defining moment of Kubiak’s coaching career in Houston. Houston fans will remember this game win or lose. If he losses, he might be back next season as head coach but no one will respect him and the whole season would be just waiting for him to mess up to kick him out of town. If he wins, he lives to see another day and he might be a hero if we sneak into that last wildcard spot.

Indy over Buffalo.

New Orleans over Carolina.

Cleveland over Jacksonville.

Houston over New England.

Minnesota over Giants.

San Fran over St. Louis.

Atlanta over Tampa Bay.

Pittsburgh over Miami.

Chicago over Detroit.

Philly over Dallas.

Kansas City over Denver.

Baltimore over Oakland.

Tennessee over Seattle.

San Diego over Washington.

Green Bay over Arizona.

Cincinnati over Jets.

I want to leave you with a clip from quite possibly my favorite Christmas movie. Enjoy Michael Caine flex his acting muscle around felt. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, take care.

This season has been full of heartache and indigestion for me. All of our losses have been winable. All of our losses have been within 7 points. (With the exception of the Colts loss last week, we lost by 8.) I keep coming back to this because it is my biggest complaint: Gary Kubiak is a bad game manager. He might be an ok player manager (I doubt it though, look at all of the penalties) but he cannot manage a game to save his life. Stupid play calls (A Chris Brown option…what?), poor clock management (not taking a timeout in the fourth quarter of the first Indy game) and settling for field goals when a touchdown will win the game (has anyone told Coach that we have a potent offense?) Say what you want, but Kubiak should instill confidence in our offense by putting the game on their shoulders. Let Schaub take us to the promise land and win a game with some big passes. That’s telling your offense, ‘I believe in you guys, win the game for us.’ Trying to tie the game instead of winning it is saying, ‘Our offense can’t score, let’s just settle for three.’

But then again, maybe that was a good decision. Poor Kris Brown is on suicide watch. Kris Brown is an original Texans and has been a clutch kicker his entire career. But putting so much pressure on a kicker when he’s in a bit of a slump is making him the scapegoat and writing him a ticket out of town. Maybe Kubiak wanted a scapegoat for the season. I’d hate to see Kris Brown have a Brad Lidge meltdown of confidence but that could happen. Brown might be in another jersey soon even though these games shouldn’t have been on him to begin with.

And speaking of men named Kris Brown, let’s move on to the other: Chris Brown. What a stupid option play to call. Every Texan fan died a little bit when that play was called. You never, never, never let a running back have an option of throwing the ball…because they’ll THROW IT. 99.9 % of the time a running back will go with the option to throw instead of run because it’s in all of our natures to want to be the quarterback. We aren’t a wildkat team, Kubiak. Did you call that play on a dare?

Here’s a dare: Andre Johnson, I dare you to stick around. Andre said in an interview earlier this season that he wanted to stick around and make this team great. Andre Johnson is the best receiver in the league. He’s tough, has great hands, unselfish, not a media hog, or a lunatic, and he’s fast! That’s the perfect receiver for a franchise. I’ve heard so much talk nationally and locally about Johnson’s future. I believe Andre when he says he wants to stick around, but we have to prove that we want to be a winning team.

Gary Kubiak wants to coach a winning team, but I don’t think he’s a head coach. He’s not a bad coach. Gary Kubiak brought the Texans into contention. The Texans can compete with any team. The thing is the Texans beat themselves. Gary Kubiak is vanilla. He’s mediocre. And because he’s mediocre the player are mediocre. The Texans might be the biggest group of underachievers this year. I don’t see Kubiak turning this around. We need to move on. Which is ridiculous of me to say because I subscribe to the give the coach a chance to get his system going philosophy.

I just don’t see this working out. I see a good offense system. I see a defense that’s improving. But I do not see the leadership that takes it to the next level. I’m afraid we suck this year, again. We’re worse than a bad team, we’re a good team that can’t play like a good team.

Texans Notes

First and foremost I’m about to jump on the get Kubiak out of town bandwagon. I believe in patience with a guy but he is way too vanilla. This guy had a good amount of time and two timeouts towards the end of the game. Kris Brown missed a game tying field goal in Indy and missed one earlier in the night. DON’T LET THE GAME REST ON HIS SHOULDERS! Kris Brown needs to work through some things and it isn’t the time to let him work them out.

We can talk about a couple of bad calls by refs, or how the defense played decent. We could talk about Owen Daniels being injured or the fact that both of our offensive guards are reserves. We can make all sorts of excuses as to why we didn’t win this game. We can talk about the two missed field goals by Kris Brown and how with those we would have won. But this is not the first close game we’ve lost. We’ve lost two many close games. Kubiak cannot coach the team win the game is on the line. He is not a good game manager and he doesn’t go for the jugular when he has to. This last game he should have went for it to prove that we are a confident team. That we believe we can win games. This is no time to be vanilla.

This team has no personality. That’s why we’ve been labeled as a finesse team. Kubiak brought a great offense to Houston but he lacks game management, passion and leadership. Everyone will hate Kris Brown for this one but this one’s on Kubiak.

I blame this wacky week on evil forces. Tampa brought back the orange julius jerseys, started a rookie and found a way to win. If that doesn’t tell you foul play was involved I don’t know what will.

This one is going to be interesting. Just from preconceived notions one might think that Baltimore has the stronger defense of the two. So far this season Denver has had a stingier defense. While the Broncos are off to a great season and look better on paper, I think the Ravens will win this one. The Ravens offense is pretty potent and I think this is the toughest challenge Denver has faced this season.

Houston over Buffalo

This game is a must win for Houston. If the Texans lose this game it will prove that they are not ready to be a playoff contender. Right now the Texans are on fire and the Bills have been a fringe team. If the Texans can keep their fire from the last couple of weeks they will win, if they don’t they’ll be the same Texans we saw last year…

Cleveland looses to Chicago

I thought about picking the Browns because  that would be shocking and I’m not sold on Chicago winning this game…but these are the Browns.

Dallas should beat Seattle

The thing is they should. Dallas had a great game last week against Atlanta. Their offense looked good and their defense seemed solid. But these are two flaky teams and it might be the battle of whoever makes less mistakes wins.

Miami over the Jets

The Dolphins almost beat the Saints last week. They completely fell apart but the fact remains that the Dolphins can be spectacular. The Jets are still finding their way. I would be surprised if Mark Sanchez has another bad game and Miami has a stellar offensive game. This game will most likely be close and is a must win for the Jets, but I’m just not too sure about the Jets being for real.

Indy beats San Fran

I want San Francisco to win so badly. If my Texans are to make anything of this season, Indy needs to chill out sooner or later. But the Colts are amazing. Unless Alex Smith can match Peyton Manning the ‘Niners are done for. Who would you pick first if you were playing flag football Smith or Manning?

Giants over Philly

The Eagles need a win but I think the Giants will be too much for them. The Giants can light up the board offensively and their defense is no joke. While the Eagles look like their still trying to get into a good flow.

St. Louis falls behind Detroit

Let’s just call this the most uninteresting game of football ever played. Ok, it isn’t that bad, but it’s like watching a WNBA game. Alright, I’m sorry ladies. This game should be won by Detroit because they have a little more talent. I think the most important thing to come out of this game will be the fact that the Lions will prove they are not the worst team in the NFL anymore. Now their around second or third worst. Movin’ on up.

Oakland loses to San Diego

The last time these teams met we wondered if Oakland was a serious team. Now we no longer wonder, we know that their bad. San Diego seems to be getting their act together and should win this one easily.

The Titans beat the Jags

The Titans should beat the Jags. They have home field advantage and are angry. This should be a good game. I think the Titans finally win and Vince Young will get too much credit for it.

Minnesota losses to Green Bay

That’s right. Listen to this: on paper Green Bay has a better offense in yards per game and a better defense in yards allowed per game. Green Bay’s defense has been looking tougher and they do not want to lose to Favre at home. I’m going with Green Bay in this over-publicized game.

Arizona over Carolina

The Cards are back on the rise and Carolina is struggling to just keep their heads above water. This should be a simple win for Arizona.

The Saints beat the Falcons

The Saints are amazing this year. The Falcons are a contender but I just can’t see them beating the Saints, especially after losses to the Cowboys. Saints remain undefeated.