Sunday Football Afterword: Texans vs Colts

The glory didn't last long for Case Keenum on Sunday Night Football. His three first half touchdown passes went for naught in Houston's loss.

Cory Puffett

It’s an overused cliché, one that I’ve used at least once already this season. But there is no getting away from it, Sunday night’s AFC South showdown truly was a “Tale of Two Halves.”

Case Keenum tossed three touchdown passes, all to Andre Johnson, all in the first half. His excitement was evident in his ecstatic fist pumps after each throw

 Johnson did most of the work, though. Broken coverage by Indianapolis let him get open for the first touchdown. The second TD pass was overthrown but Johnson’s height allowed him to extend and haul it in. The third pass was on the money, but great coverage almost kept Johnson from wrestling it away. In all, Johnson scored nearly 40 fantasy points in the first half.

The Texans held a 21-3 lead entering the half. As he was leaving the field, Houston Head Coach Gary Kubiak collapsed. Though he was conscious and alert, he was in a lot of pain and was transported to the hospital.

Perhaps that distraction led to Houston’s struggles in the second half. The Texans managed just a field goal while Andrew Luck, who had just three completions for 56 yards in the first half, put together an impressive fourth quarter comeback.

All three of Luck’s touchdowns came in the second half, and all three went to T.Y. Hilton, Indy’s new no. 1 receiver now that Reggie Wayne is on injured reserve.

The victory keeps Indianapolis in the driver’s seat in the division as they prepare to host St. Louis, who Tennessee beat on Sunday, next week.

Houston, meanwhile, drops to 2-6 and is unlikely to make the playoffs in this second consecutive “Super Bowl or bust” season. They will visit Arizona next Sunday.

Final Score:

Indianapolis Colts – 27

Houston Texans – 24

Sunday Football Afterword: Texans vs Seahawks

In a defensive battle, the Seahawks defense won. They sacked Matt Schaub
five times and Richard Sherman left his shoe behind while returning this
interception for a score late in the fourth quarter.

Saswat Misra

In a game that lived up to the hype, the Seattle Seahawks prevailed against the Houston Texans on the road in comeback fashion.

The Seahawks trailed by as many as 17 points, were down 14 points to start the fourth quarter. But, as they did many times last season, they came back due to some timely defensive plays. Down 7 with less than three minutes to go, Richard Sherman intercepted a Matt Schaub pass and returned it for a touchdown.

The game went into overtime and after a few good defensive possessions by both teams, Steven Hauschka nailed a 45-yard field goal to win it.

This is a huge win for the Seahawks as many questioned if they can beat good teams on the road. Seattle is almost unstoppable at home but this big road win should be enough to show that they are a legit contender and possibly the best team in the NFL. This win also keeps the Seahawks two games ahead of San Francisco in the NFC West even though it is still early.

Houston is still showing how inconsistent they can be. Their offense couldn’t put the game away in the fourth quarter and they have yet to have a great performance this season, as their wins have been very close. If they can’t get it together soon, look for the Colts or even the Titans to challenge them later in the season for the AFC South crown.

Final Score:

Seattle Seahawks – 23

Houston Texans – 20 (OT)

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Sunday Football Afterword: Ravens vs Texans

Defense, Special Teams, and Ray Lewis' induction into Baltimore's
Ring of Honor highlighted their matchup with Houston.
Photo credit to The Washington Post.

Sean Kennedy

This Sunday we saw a classic Ravens game: no offense and a great defense and special teams score all the points. Houston started out strong and then went flat after the first quarter. The Ravens took advantage of turnovers and put a few scores on the board before Houston could recover.

The defensive line did an excellent job containing the run and forcing Matt Schaub to make some risky throws. Flacco looked pretty average in the first half, but made some pretty nice throws late in the game.

Ed Reed was not too much of a factor against his old team, only recording three tackles.

Houston now needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get the offense going.

Baltimore looked crisp on defense but the offense needs to find ways to put some points on the board. Relying too much on the defense to force turnovers and score points will not last forever. Otherwise, it was a great win by the Ravens.

Final Score:

Houston Texans – 9

Baltimore Ravens – 30

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2013-14 Postseason Picks, Part II: AFC Playoff Picks

Yesterday I published my predictions on every team’s final regular season record. So today, I’m here to tell you who will represent each conference in the 2013 playoffs, starting with the AFC. I talked briefly about these picks on Wednesday’s podcast of The All-Sports Crew. Here are a few more details about my picks.

AFC Postseason

1.            Denver Broncos (13-3) – AFC West Champion, Home Field Advantage

The Broncos are a pretty easy choice to win 13 games or more. Even if Von Miller is suspended for a few games, and even with Elvis Dumervil signing with the Ravens, they have one of the better defensive units in the AFC, and their offense will be the best in the conference. That, mixed with another easy schedule, will make for an easy road to home field advantage.

2.            Miami Dolphins (11-5) – AFC East Champion, 1st Round Bye

I can see a million ways the Dolphins can screw this up, but they have a team that can compete with New England this year, and they have a slightly easier schedule than their division rivals.

3.            Houston Texans (9-7) – AFC South Champion

The Texans can win as many as 12 games in my opinion. But with their focus seemingly shifted to finishing the season, we likely will not see them make as long an early-season run this year as we did in 2012. They will get caught up in a tough early- and mid-season schedule, but a strong finish will net them a third straight division title.

4.            Cincinnati Bengals (8-8) – AFC North Champion

This one came down to the final two weeks of the season, and I expect Cincinnati’s home game against Baltimore in Week 17 to be flexed to Sunday night, where I think home field gives the Bengals an edge and the AFC North title.

5.            New England Patriots (10-6) – 2nd Place AFC East, Wild Card

The Patriots can certainly win the AFC East, but it will have more to do with what the Dolphins do down the stretch than it will what the Patriots do. I respect Tom Brady’s game, but he doesn’t usually perform well with receivers that he isn’t familiar with. He has lost too many weapons this offseason, and it will be a struggle even to win 10 games. But it’s Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, so I can’t very well push them to fewer than double-digit wins.

6.            Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) – 2nd Place AFC West, Wild Card

The Chiefs had one of the best bad teams in 2012, with multiple pro bowlers. They kept Dwayne Bowe in house and added a quarterback who will be able to get the ball to their second-best offensive player. With Alex Smith in house to open up their aerial attack, Jamaal Charles could have a bigger year than ever on the ground.

Other Contenders

In the AFC East, the Bills have a lot of talent at running back, but I’m not going to bank on Ryan Fitzpatrick getting back to his early-2011 form.

The Steelers are a better team than the 6-10 record I predict for them, but they have a rough schedule and I’m not expecting to see much better than the disheveled Steelers unit of 2012.

Out West, the Chargers should be playoff contenders, but they won’t.

The only other three serious contenders I see are the Ravens, Colts and Raiders. The Ravens lost a lot of pieces this offseason, but they got Vonta Leach back, which is huge. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will be enough to make up for all their departures and the devastating loss of Dennis Pitta for the season to a hip injury.

The Colts also have a tough schedule. The have plenty of playoff talent on the team, but losing Bruce Arians may be bigger than anyone wants to think.

As for the Raiders, I love their addition of Matt Flynn at quarterback, and I expect him to wind up winning the starting job. However, I have only gotten to see him play one regular season game and some limited preseason action, so I can’t pick the Raiders with any confidence just yet.

Preliminary Playoff Predictions

This is only the second year I am doing this. I got one playoff game correct last preseason, when I predicted the Ravens to win in Denver (though I picked the opposite the week of that game). I also picked the Patriots to beat the Ravens last preseason. Everything else got pretty shot out since the Texans were the only other team I correctly predicted.

Here are my 2013 playoff predictions.

AFC Wild Card

Kansas City Chiefs @ Houston Texans

As much as I like the Chiefs to improve drastically this season, they can be suspect at times and I think the Texans focus on finishing will carry over into some strong postseason performances.

New England Patriots @ Cincinnati Bengals

The Patriots have a better coach and better players. New England has had some playoff struggles the past several season, save for 2011, but the Bengals aren’t ready to take the next step.

AFC Divisional Playoffs

New England Patriots @ Denver Broncos

I have New England winning their regular season showdown in Foxboro, but in Mile High, I think Peyton Manning delivers the first playoff victory for his new team. 

Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins, like the Bengals, don’t look to me like a team ready to make the next step to playoff success. Mike Wallace is a welcome addition to the offense, but it isn’t enough. Houston wins a close one.

AFC Championship Game

Houston Texans @ Denver Broncos

Houston says this is a ‘Super Bowl or Bust’ year, but I don’t think they are a Super Bowl-ready team. Manning gets his third Super Bowl appearance.

Like last year, I will predict the Super Bowl victor in my NFC post.

Check back shortly for my NFC playoff picks and be sure to follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

2013 Offseason Needs: AFC South

This week and next, between Tuesday and Friday, I am going through the NFL division-by-division, writing about what each team needs to address this offseason. I have covered the bases in the AFC East and AFC North, so today I move on to the AFC South.

I won’t pretend to know every detail of what each team needs, but am open to comments from those who may know better what their teams need.

Houston Texans

I like Houston in 2013. J.J. Watt stepped up in a huge way this year and I expect more of the same. Brian Cushing will be back, too, so I have no doubts that the defense will be ready to carry this team at least as far as it went this year.

The offense is what concerns me. Arian Foster is a premier NFL back, and they have one of the best receivers in the NFL in Andre Johnson. Matt Schaub just does not look good when they go up against anything better than a mediocre defense. Cincinnati’s defense, which was little more than ‘up-and-coming’ this year, made him look incompetent in the postseason.

There is no expectation that Schaub could be out in Houston, but he needs to find his mojo, which he lost sometime around 2010, because this is a Super Bowl contender doomed for Divisional Round exits if he doesn’t step his game up.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts underwent a total overhaul last offseason and found themselves in the playoffs, so they have to be feeling very good about what just a few changes could bring in 2013.

Bruce Arians is out as he takes over head coaching duties in Arizona, but the Colts were quick to bring in one of Andrew Luck’s coaching from Stanford, so we shouldn’t see the loss of Arians affect him too much next season.

The big name among Indy’s free agents is Dwight Freeney, but losing him won’t be as big a blow as fans want to think it will be. Freeney is getting older and isn’t what he was during the mid-2000’s when the Manning Era looked like it may never end.

The offense is just about set, all Indy needs is a lineman or two who can protect Luck better than the unit did in 2012. On defense, the pass rush was a weak point for Indianapolis this season, but mostly because receivers were getting open too quickly down the field. The top priority needs to be the secondary, then the Colts can look to add a linebacker and replace Freeney if he does, in fact, leave.

Jacksonville Jaguars

I’ll tell you right now, the Jaguars will not be turning any heads in 2013. This team looks hopeless right now, and teams that look like that don’t turn things around in one offseason. Nobody likes to hear this, but what Jacksonville needs to do is treat this process as a multi-season thing. If they look for a quick fix, not only will it fail but it will make the process of turning this team into a contender take much longer than it has to.

The Jaguars have the second pick in the draft, and they need players on defense. They need offensive weapons, too, but defense was their weaker point this season. Of course, drafting that pick could help more because then they can add players on both sides of the ball.

Gabbert needs to be Jacksonville’s man, and they need to get him the offseason work he needs. They have to make sure Maurice Jones-Drew is fully recovered and they might want to get a decent backup, because they didn’t have anything this season once he went down.

The defense needs a total overhaul, each part needs to be replaced or refurbished. If the Jaguars can do enough to notch six wins in 2013, then next offseason could hold brighter tidings in the crystal ball.

Tennessee Titans

Chris Johnson needs to get back in his groove next season to take the pressure of Jake Locker, who came on strong this year but is still too young to trust as much more than a game manager.

Offensively, I like where Tennessee is going. They are slowly looking more and more like the Titans of the late 90’s, a team I thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Defensively, the Titans need work. The line and secondary are clearly the biggest areas in need of improvement, depth at linebacker is important, too. They lost Colin McCarthy, a very good young linebacker, to ankle and concussion injuries for most of the 2012 season and nobody was there to step into his role.

Tomorrow I will go through the AFC West, looking at each team’s offseason outlook just like I did for the AFC South today. Keep up with new posts as I publish them by ‘liking’ my Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

2012 Postseason Rewind: Divisional Playoffs

The Divisional round, my favorite round of the postseason, certainly did not disappoint this year. The Ravens and Broncos kicked things off from Denver where the weekend began with a bang, or maybe a different pun would be better. Trindon Holliday took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.

There would be a lot more scoring, however, as Baltimore’s defense played pretty well for the most part and Denver’s defense did not. All day it was ‘hey diddle-diddle, Ray Rice up the middle’ for a yard on first down and two more on second down. Despite all those third-and-long attempts, Baltimore still scored 28 points on offense to force overtime. Peyton Manning threw an interception late in the first overtime period and Justin Tucker won the game for Baltimore in double overtime.

After beating Minnesota, Green Bay ventured to Candlestick Park to take on the 49ers, who snuck out of the regular season with the NFC’s second seed. The game was very good during the first half, and Green Bay even tied it up early in the third quarter, but Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore left the Packers in their dust, scoring 21 unanswered.

Atlanta hosted Seattle for the early game on Sunday. The Falcons jumped out to an early lead and poor coaching decisions and even worse clock management kept Seattle out of at least 6 points in the first half, which ended with Atlanta leading, 20-0.

Russell Wilson put up a solid fight in the second half, as Atlanta’s defense went into prevent almost immediately out of the intermission. After concluding their comeback by taking a 28-27 lead, Seattle did the worst thing it possibly could. They went into prevent defense with one of 2012’s best 4^th quarter quarterbacks on the other side. A couple solid throws by Matt Ryan put the Falcons in field goal range and Matt Bryant clinched their first playoff win since Michael Vick was in Atlanta.

The final game of the weekend was also the least exciting. Houston played it fairly close for a while, but they were never really in it. Arian Foster nearly reached 100 yards rushing for the fourth straight time in the postseason, but that’s where the good ended for the Texans. Matt Schaub was shoddy at best and New England dominated Houston’s defense in all aspects.

Tomorrow I will recap the AFC and NFC championships. Saturday I will briefly preview the Pro Bowl because I have nothing better to do. Keep up with new posts by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

2012 Postseason Rewind: Wild-Card Playoffs

The postseason kicked off in Houston, where the AFC South champs took on Cincinnati. Houston was at the top of the conference for the whole season, but a Week 17 loss opened the door for Denver and New England to sneak past them for the top two seeds and a bye straight through to the divisional round.

Houston never looked like they were playing with much confidence on offense. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, their offense was even worse. The Bengals’ only touchdown of the contest came on an interception. The Texans only scored 19 points, but it was enough, barely, to advance.

Green Bay hosted Minnesota later that evening. As NFC North rivals, they had already played each other twice this season, most recently in Week 17, just one week before. Minnesota won that game at home in a shootout. The loss kept Green Bay out of the NFC’s #2 seed.

This time, they met in Green Bay and Christian Ponder was unavailable. Joe Webb started for him and looked great running the ball as a compliment to Adrian Peterson on the first drive. Poor passing stalled the drive, forcing a field goal, and that’s all they would get until garbage time. Good defense kept the Packers from running up the score, but the 24-10 final is even closer than the game was.

Sunday’s first game featured Indianapolis in Baltimore. The Colts had won 9 of their last 11 and was coming off a win against Houston. Baltimore hadn’t beaten a good team since before their bye week.

In Ray Lewis’s return from injury, the Ravens dominated Indianapolis on defense and Anquan Boldin made a few very impressive catches down the field to give Baltimore’s offense a lift. The Colts never had a prayer.

Just minutes after that game, a few miles down I-95, the Redskins were set to host the Seahawks. The Redskins had won seven straight, including a game against the Cowboys a week earlier to decide the NFC East Champion. Washington got off to a hot start, quickly building a 14-0 lead on their first two drives.

Robert Griffin III was hurt some time during the second drive and was noticeably inaccurate the rest of the game as Seattle slowly mounted their comeback. In the fourth quarter, RG3 took a bad step attempting to recover a botched snap and hurt his knee badly – he would have surgery on his LCL and ACL a couple days later. The Seahawks, meanwhile, completed their comeback, aided by the Redskins not scoring again after their first two possessions.

Tomorrow I will recap the divisional round, followed by the AFC and NFC championships on Friday. Saturday I will briefly preview the Pro Bowl because I have nothing better to do. Keep up with new posts by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Divisional Round Afterword: Patriots vs Texans

Shane Vereen had a rushing touchdown and two receiving touchdowns,
including this 33-yarder in the 4th quarter to put the game on ice.
Photo credit to The Boston Globe.

For the second consecutive season, New England will host Baltimore for the AFC Championship. Yesterday I reviewed how Baltimore advanced past the divisional round. Now it is time to look at the Patriots.

New England earned the #2 seed in the AFC and so did not have to play in the wild-card round. Houston, who beat Cincinnati to advance to the divisional round, was not given much chance to beat the Patriots. By the time it was 38-13, we knew why.

Houston scored a couple garbage time touchdowns and New England added a field goal to make the final score 41-28, but the game was never even that close.

Arian Foster came within 10 rushing yards of his fourth consecutive 100-yard playoff game. He also gained 63 yards on seven receptions.

Matt Schaub actually had a decent game, completing 34/51 passes (66.7 completion percentage), for 343 yards, two touchdowns and one pick.

So why was the game never close? Houston’s defense was absolutely embarrassed in Foxboro for the second time this season, that’s why. Whereas Houston did not have a single 30-yard completion, for New England, the longest reception for three different receivers was more than 30 yards.

It was a fairly clean game with just one turnover. Houston fumbled three times but recovered each of them. It truly was big plays that ultimately killed the Texans’ postseason run.

New England hosts Baltimore on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on CBS. The winner advances to Super Bowl XLVII.

Divisional Round Preview: Patriots vs Texans

Game 4:

Sunday, January 13, 2013

4:30pm – CBS

Houston Texans @ New England Patriots

Arian Foster (23) and Ben Tate (44) each had 46 rushing yards in Week 14,
but Foster had Houston's only rushing touchdown.
Photo credit to isportsweb.com.

Join me on a trip to Foxboro, back in Week 14, when the Patriots blew out the Houston Texans, 42-14. It was Houston’s second loss of the season, but it was a turning point for the worse.

Tom Brady had four touchdown passes in the game, despite not topping 300 passing yards. If Houston wants to win this postseason rematch, they have to force New England to settle for some field goals.

New England’s defense has been shoddy at times, but one thing they have excelled at is forcing turnovers. Matt Schaub has had some trouble with turnovers in the past several weeks, and if he doesn’t protect the football I give Houston no chance at winning. Tom Brady may have struggled in the last game or two of the season, but he is still Tom Brady and he will hurt you if you give him extra possessions.

The Patriots have a solid ground game this year. In their Week 14 meeting with Houston, Steven Ridley and Shane Vereen combined for 112 yards on 26 carries. Houston’s defense is usually very good, and last week’s effort against Cincinnati was no exception. They will have to repeat last week’s performance and shut down New England’s ground game in order to effectively rattle Brady with pass rushing.

Bottom line, I don’t trust Houston’s offense right now. They have so many weapons that on paper, Houston has the ability to blow out the Patriots. But they are finding themselves in too many third down situations and they are turning the ball over. I think the Texans’ defense will keep it close, but I don’t expect their offense to take advantage.

Puff’s Pick:

Houston Texans – 14

New England Patriots – 20

MVP: Tom Brady

Wild-Card Afterword: Texans vs Bengals

Arian Foster (23) ran for 140 yards and a touchdown on
32 carries, but fumbles twice in a 19-13 wild-card win.
Photo credit to The Washington Post.

It didn’t have the typical feeling of a game played in a playoff atmosphere, but the score was close throughout and that mostly made up for it.

I expected the Bengals defense to play well, but I didn’t expect the Texans’ offense to perform so poorly. On the other side of the ball, things went about as I expected for both teams.

Houston’s defense dominated, giving up just two field goals to Cincinnati, while the Bengals’ lone trip to the end zone came on an interception return by Leon Hall. It was an amazing play and it’s better seen than explained, so you can watch that replay here.

The Texans’ offense, on the other hand, was sporadic to put it kindly. Their game plan was just short of awful. They had a few drives where they ran good plays, and those were the drives where they put points on the board, as you would expect. But they had too many drives where they ran bad routes and run plays in passing situations.

Arian Foster gained nearly 150 yards on the ground and is the first player in NFL history to have over 100 rushing yards in each of his first three playoff games. I’m not sure how much weight this stat has, though, as Houston faced 17 third downs and failed to convert exactly as many times as the Bengals, who were 0/9 on third down.

Matt Schaub made his first career playoff start – T.J. Yates started both playoff games for Houston last year – so I chalk some of his struggles to nerves. But he didn’t really seem to play much differently than he has over the past five or six games this season.

I’ll look more closely at the matchups later in the week, but I’d be very surprised if I come up with any result other than a big win for New England when the Texans travel to Foxboro next weekend.

For the Bengals, Andy Dalton missed a wide-open A.J. Green in the end zone with less than three minutes to play. That score would have given Cincinnati a one-point lead and forced Houston to drive the field for a field goal. But Dalton overthrew his star receiver and Cincinnati could not come up with a stop on Houston’s ensuing drive and the Texans just ran the clock out for a 19-13 victory.

It is the second straight year Cincinnati’s season ends with a wild-card loss in Houston and Marvin Lewis is now 0-4 in the postseason. I don’t expect him to be fired like several other NFL coaches were this season, but that kind of futility in the playoffs have led to more surprising firings in the past.