Raiders, Texans Try For Second Win

NFL News - September 29th, 2009 - Written by John

Raiders at Texans -- Neither of these teams have started the way they planned (it's safe to say no team plans to start 1-2). Houston was supposed to be a contender in the AFC South but lost last week to Jacksonville, putting them in a big hole at the bottom of the pack. Oakland was hoping that JaMarcus Russell would finally snap it together and the combination of skill position players taken in the last three first-rounds of the draft would reap benefits. So far, not so much. Russell's rating and completion percentage are both below 41, Darren McFadden has fumbled four times and Darius Heyward-Bey has exactly one catch in three games. The Raiders only win was against the 0-3 Chiefs.

If they didn't have enough on their mind, head coach Tom Cable is back in the press after specifics of his August 5th scrum with an assistant coach came to light today. The police report the assistant coach told them Cable struck him and broke his jaw.

The Raiders would probably be underdogs anyway, but a poor start to the season coupled with disarray will give them a ton of points on the road. Listed on BetUS, Houston is giving up 9 1/2 this week as they attempt to right the ship. The over/under is 41.

Houston has been unable to get their ground game going consistently this season and, thus, relied on the arm of Matt Schaub. And despite a rough outing in Week One, he has delivered. The Texans rank ninth in the league with 262 yards per game through the air. Schaub has seven touchdowns and only two picks. But it's when he gets Andre Johnson in the game that the team really clicks. Johnson's size and speed make Houston's vertical attack hard to defend at times. Case and point, the only time he's had 100 yards, the Texans won.

Oakland beat the Texans last year at home, part of their 2-1 record to finish the season. It was a small stretch, but something to build on heading into this year. But that momentum hasn't carried over. The offense only got one first down in the second half last week in their loss to the Broncos, and that came via penalty. The Texans have dominated the series overall, however, winning four of the last five.

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