Bring On The Texans!

Kudos to him, although really it’s the run game that won it, he kept his poise and didn’t make mistakes. I don’t think we should really look too much at the fact that he is a rookie and started the season third string. There was a point when training camp open a few years back that I recall a depth chart that had Kyle Boller and Troy Smith over a nearly drafted Flacco and it looked like Boller was going to start the season before one of them was injured and the other got sick, suddenly Flacco was the number one guy and look how far we made it that year.

If they can stifle the run as they did yesterday, we might have some problems, but we do have a corps of talented recievers, Dickson, Pitta, Boldin, Smith, hopefully Evans can step it up too. And that also makes me nervous, because we might try or need to rely on Flacco. But we’ve seen him get it done. We have beaten an even more dominated defense (Pittsburgh), it’s the type of football Baltimore thrives on and will be up to us to turn the tables around on Houston next week.

Also great job by the Saints last night too, 626 yards on offense. You know, it just occurred to me, something in the air is reminding me of a baseball season back in the late 90’s, when you had hitters just blasting homerun after homerun. Now every one of them was implicated in steroid use. I hope we’re not on our way to another huge scandal in football like we had a few years ago, but there is parallel there as records are just being completely smashed by these high flying teams. Maybe it’s just my imagination.

Always expected them to win this one and we should beat them still, but they are as dangerous as they seemed, even with Yates. Arian Foster was on fire and their defense was stout.

They won’t be able to run the ball and our O-line at home already proved once that they are more than capable of handling the Texans defensive front. Flacco was sacked once in the first meeting and just barely at that he was not pressured much all day. I’m not afraid of facing a one dimensional team in at their house in the playoffs much less in Baltimore.

WE WILL SEE NEXT WEEKEND!! BOTH TEAMS ARE BUILDT BASICLY THE SAME GREAT DEFENSE RUN 1ST OFFENSE. A.J. WILL BE THE DIFFERANCE MAKER. TEXANS 24 RAVENS 17

They will not get the same push in M&T as they did in Houston. I expect a huge game from our defensive front with JJ and Suggs setting the edge (the biggest reason why Cincy had trouble with Foster is that they can’t set the edge) and Ngata, Redding, and Cody stuffing the middle. Yates in 3rd and long situations should cause nightmares for Houston fans. While I don’t expect many sacks, I do see plenty of bad passes. All it takes is one to land in our defensive players hands and I can see that being the play that seals the deal.

When clearly neither of us will do much scoring. I would be shocked if one of us got over 17 points. Both defenses are just too damn good to let Rice, Foster, Flacco, or Andre get anything significant.

However, at the end of the day, I see our defenses as equal and our offense being more well rounded than your offense. I’ll break it down by position.

At tailback, you have Rice who is more explosive than Foster but not quite as good as an all around back. In space, I would take little Ray all day, but in terms of a back that can take nothing and turn it into 30 yards, there is no question that Arian is superior. Both are good pass catchers out of the backfield, but there is just something about the way Arian glides through holes, and jump cuts past the backside pressure on a zone scheme that makes him magical. Advantage Texans.

At quarterback, we have a rookie 5th round 3rd stringer with barely any experience. He is poised in the pocket, but is prone to rookie decision making in the face of pressure. Ya’ll have Flacco, who is decent, but nowhere near elite. He has good games and bad games, but it seems like most of his yardage on his good outings is more due to his receivers helping him out on his famously long bombs than Flacco getting it done with his own talent. If your TE’s get separation and Smith shows up, he might have a good to great outing. If not, then I don’t see him being able to will this team to the championship by himself. He’s just not that good…yet. However, at least he has a lot of winning experience. Advantage Ravens.

At receiver, you have Aquan Boldin, who in his own right is a middle to high tier stud, but not quite all-pro material. You also have Torrey Smith, who is quickly turning into one hell of an outside burner. His only problem is that he is very inconsistent. He will have monster games, and then just completely disappear the following week. You also have Evans, Pitta, and Dickson. Evans is a decent outside guy, but doesn’t seem like his old self this season. Pitta and Dickson are a pair of great young tight ends, and their potential has justified you letting Heap go in my mind. Overall, that equates to a very balanced receiving corps that can, on a good day, hang with some of the best passing offenses.

Houston, on the other hand, has Andre Johnson. We all know who he is. 9 years into it and Dre, when healthy, is still the king. Calvin might be Calvin, but there is no substitute for Andre’s level of play. If Yates had to throw it more than 20 times, than Andre would have had more than 100 yards easily. He is too good for any corner not named Revis, and if you don’t put two men on him all game then he will destroy you. There is just no way around it. As a compliment to him, we have Jacoby Jones, our own burner who also returns punts and has explosive outside speed. He has his drops here and there, but this year he hasn’t had too many horrible mistakes (except against the damn Raiders). We also have Walter, as sure handed a possession guy you can have, and two great tight ends in Daniels and Dreesen. Daniels is an all-pro and catches everything, and Dreesen is a fantastic red zone threat at 6"6’. The Ravens have a great receiving corps, but I trust the names and experience of Houston more than Baltimore. Advantage Texans.

At offensive line, you guys do have a lot of talent, and your run blocking is very, very good. not to mention Vonta Leach, who we as Texans fans are very aware of his ability. That being said, our offensive line literally is the best in the league. We have Chris Myers, who is widely considered to be the best center in football right now despite not being selected to the pro bowl, even over Mangold. Duane Brown at left tackle, who has had a fantastic year and shut down vaunted pass rushers such as Dwight Freeney, James Harrison, and John Abraham all year long. Eric Winston also had another pro-bowl caliber year, and as a unit our whole line was far and away the best run blocking unit in football. Pass protection was good, but not the best, but we could literally run on anyone. You caught us the first game off of Mario Williams and Andre Johnson injuries, so do not expect the results to be similar. When this line is hungry, and they are, nobody can stop them. Advantage Texans.

Overall I don’t think many points will be scored in this game, but if I had to bet on one of our offenses to get it done, I’ll take Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, and our o-line over anyone, any day. Texans 17-13.

these texans fans on here are nuts. I said it last night. Them along with the Texans are gonna be riding such a high coming off their first playoff win in franchise histroy. Arian Foster said it in an interview that the city is electric. Way too much excitement going on for a wildcard playoff game.
All this talk i been reading about Owen Daniels, sounds like he might have a broken hand. Tough to catch with a broken hand.
Andre Johnson. Won’t be much of a factor when we shut out Foster, and i don’t wanna hear we can’t shut him out. Last game 15 rushes 49 yds. His big game against Cincy. You can attribute alot of those yards to some weak, such weak tackling on that 40+ run he had. Chris Crocker looked like he was playing two hand touch. We see that same zone blocking scheme everyday in practice which is why we were able to contain him last game. Now back to Andre. With Foster out what can he do when Yates is getting pressured all game.

Kubes (6 Super Bowls), Dennison (5 Super Bowls) and Wade (27 playoff games) are some of the best play-callers around. Thoughts?

and i will say too i think ravens fans earned the right to be cocky being the only team the last 4 years to make the playoffs. welcome to the dance texans. it truly begins next week after the cake walk you had

IF you remember, texans led 14-13 before torrey smith abused kareem jackson, and boldin had that 55 yard catch.

Yes, but a football game is 60 minutes long, and those things happened. I think 37-10 is a bit much, and I’m not going to make a specific prediction, but I have to go with my home team, at home after a bye week, against a the type of team we’re very familiar with, I go with Ravens by 3.

Texans are now playing with house money !! They got nothing to lose and will be playing with confidence. On the other hand, Ravens will be out of sync and tight – with ALL the pressures on them NOT to lose the home field advantage of the “AFC championship game”.

I can see the Ravens being distracted, looking past the Texans (just like all their fans) and with Flaco and Rice having one of their “Jacksonville” game.

Houston 23-16 ..

I put the AFCG in quotes … Ravens fans were talking about Pittsburg/Denver beating Pats so y’all can host it .. sounds like looking past to me ..

We played in louder stadium like Heinz Field before, so no big deal.

“It was all "P-Burgh beating NE" in the hope that P-burgh might be able to knock off New England.”

So why do you care about the Steelers, the team that knocked you out the last 2 times, if you weren’t thinking past the Texans ?? Nuffs said …

I just wanna say that this game is gonna be a lot of fun to watch. I’m not gonna get into predicting scores and who wins because we ain’t playing. I can see this game coming down to whoever has the ball last and wouldn’t be surprised with a 3-6 score. I believe that both teams have enough respect for one another that every down will be played till the whistle blows. Here’s to a great game and hoping the winner ends up in the Super Bowl.