A Watchful Eye

Two nights after the Colts suffered a painful defeat to the Green Bay Packers, the Houston Texans squared off against the Dallas Cowboys in a heated state rivalry. With new running back, Arian Foster, now behind Matt Schaub, and cornerback, Kareem Jackson, replacing the talented, Dunta Robinson, the Texans have several key positions with new faces. Both Foster and Jackson are set to make their starting debuts in a couple of weeks against the Colts, and each has been receiving high words of praise from head coach Gary Kubiak. With the two playing at such crucial positions for the Texans, their play in week one may have an enormous impact on the game. Although it is only preseason these two did put on nice performances that may have Colts fans getting a little nervous.

The Cowboys have been pegged by many as Super Bowl contenders, and favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. However, with all of the offseason attention and praise the Cowboys looked awful against the Texans, and a large part of that can be attributed to the fantastic play of Schaub and company. Coming into the season everyone knew that with Andre Johnson, Jacoby Jones, Kevin Walter, and Owen Daniels the Texans would have one of the premier passing attacks in the league. The question’s surrounding the Texans centered around their defense and rushing attack, and both looked very formidable Saturday night against the Cowboys. Arian Foster earned 18 carries for a tremendous 110 yards and one touchdwon, clearly positioning himself to be the starting back from day one. Foster’s success on the ground opened up the play action game for Schaub, who was able to find Jacoby Jones in the endzone on a long play action bootleg. The Texans did sputter a few times in the redzone, but had it not been for penalties Foster would have added at least one more touchdown to his already impressive night.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Texans were able to get a consistent pass rush, which played nicely into the hands of rookie cornerback, Kareem Jackson. Jackson had one interception on the night that he almost took back for a touchdown, but most impressive about the pick was Jackson’s positioning and patience. He did not jump the route or try to make the big play, he simply let the play come to him and he put himself in the right position. With Mario Williams terrorizing quarterbacks, the Texans will be relying on Jackson to lock-up the opponents number one receiver for a short period of time each play.

The Texans seem to be headed in the complete opposite direction of the Colts this preseason, and while it still is only the preaseason, you would like to see the Colts playing a bit better. The Texans are hitting on all cylinders, and will be headed into the season as a well-oiled machine. The Colts on the other hand, have been anything but midseason form, and this team clearly has kinks left to work out. Although the Texans will be without Brian Cushing, they could be thankful that they are coaching the Colts in week one. If the Colts continue to struggle and if key players, such as, Dallas Clark, Charlie Johnson, and Jeff Saturday are still out, then this team could look very rusty in an important week one matchup.