Texans-Raiders Preview

Thank God the Texans beat the Steelers last week to get to 3-1.  We are incredibly vulnerable the next 3 weeks without Andre Johnson.  Raiders, @Ravens, @Titans.  We could legitimately go 0-3 without Andre, and I wouldn't even be that mad.  You can't salvage 2-5, but 3-4 is doable.  Still, we want to have a winning record going into the bye week, so winning our only home game would be huge.

I would argue Andre is the non-QB MVP basically every year.  I can't think of anyone else that means more to his offense.  Just look at that Dolphins game from week 2.  The Texans were in the middle of their typical collapse when Andre destroyed his DB for a wide open touchdown to give us a 10 point lead that we never relinquished.  We easily could have lost that game without him.  He does something like that in basically all of our wins.  It's going to be really hard to win without him.

Andre went down against the Steelers with 6:20 to go in the 2nd quarter, and our offense never recovered.  Schaub did not complete a single pass to another WR after Andre's departure, and we went 3-and-out on 4 of our final 5 possessions.  The only sustained drive was the amazing Foster-Daniels drive that resulted in the game-winning 42-yard touchdown run by Arian.  How sweet was that when Foster juked out Polamalu?  I know I went crazy.  Arian is the MVP of this team for the next 3 games, not even Matt Schaub.  We need outbursts like his run against the Steelers if we are going to have any chance.

Adrian Peterson is far and away the best RB in the game, but there's no clear number 2 if you ask me.  I would say the race for number 2 comes down to Arian Foster, Darren McFadden, Ray Rice, Chris Johnson, Maurice Jones-Drew, and LeSean McCoy.  There are arguments to be made for each one, but today we get a unique opportunity to get a read on where those first 2 guys stand.  The Texans and Raiders are pretty even, and they are the lone playmakers out there that can really make a difference in the game.  It's time for Arian to step up and show he belongs in that tier of RB.

The Texans are better than the Raiders with Andre Johnson, but without him I would argue we are a little worse.  The home field advantage brings us back to even.  Schaub is much better than Jason Campbell, but Campbell has better receivers to work with.  Not to mention the fact that the Raiders strategy is to run the ball and set up the deep pass.  Are you really looking forward to our secondary defending 4-5 deep bombs this game?  No, you're gonna hold your breath and pray.  The Texans do have Owen Daniels to work the middle of the field, and the Raiders have a bad secondary (22nd in the league) that was not helped by the loss of Nnamdi Asomugha.  Let's just hope Arian can outplay Darren, or else the Texans could be in for a long day.

Prediction: Raiders 28, Texans 24
Campbell throws 3 30+ yard passes

P.S. If anyone doubts Arian Foster's greatness just watch these Youtube videos:
Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z752oTJdwgQ
42-yard TD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3r-MpG_0JU&feature=related
Polamalu juke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfm8dJF7CpY