On Monday the Houston Texans opted to not use their Franchise Tag, despite the price tag of using it on Mario Williams only being $10.6 million. When given the opportunity to pay one of the most complete defensive players in the league $10.6 million while having the ability to work on a long-term deal, it is highly recommended that teams do it. However, the Houston Texans chose to let their Franchise Tag go to waste, even after signing Arian Foster, which means they are also letting their best defensive player go too.
Nothing has been reported to state that the Texans have been close, or even interested in retaining Mario Williams, at least retaining him while paying him what he’s worth. So unless the Texans and Williams can come to terms on a new contract before March 13th, expect a lot of competition for resigning Mario Williams, and also expect to see him play on a different team in the 2012 NFL season.
Reports from around the league are stating that the Texans starting Center of the past six seasons and perennial Pro Bowler, Chris Myers, is likely heading to Green Bay when Free Agency starts on March 13th. Apparently the Packers have met with his agent Drew Rosenhaus and the interest between the two sides is mutual. The Texans have several key players who are Free Agents this year: Foster, Williams, and Myers.
The Houston Texans are working around the clock to try to get a new contract with Mario Williams agreed to, will be using the Franchise Tag on Arian Foster, and will likely try to retain Chris Myers as well. If the Texans lose 2 of those three players, it could be a huge set back. Set backs like that after they made the playoffs for the first time in their franchise history is exactly what the Texans organization is trying to prevent from happening.
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Houston was locked into their 3 seed last week against the Titans, and had little to play for other than to keep rhythm for the playoffs. Both the Texans and Titans fought neck to neck for most of the game. Houston started the game with T.J. Yates as the quarterback, but was quickly replaced by Jake Delhomme after one series. If the Texans expect to make a run this postseason, it is going to be with Yates at the helm. Delhomme is no longer a serious threat at quarterback, although he did play reasonably well against a Tennessee team with their backs against the wall.
With the Texans down seven and the Titans with the ball, Houston needed a stop or a turnover to get the ball back, and they got the latter on a fumble by Ahmad Hall. With the ball back Delhomme and the offense put together a 31 yard drive for a score and a chance to win. Kubiak chose to go for the two point conversion, which is sensible because there is no reason to force his team to play any longer being that they were locked into their playoff seed. Unfortunately they were not able to convert and ended up losing 23-22, for a season split with the Titans.
Although Cincinnati loss their game to the Ravens, they were still able to make the playoffs with everyone else vying for a spot, losing as well. Houston will host the Bengals at 4:30 on Saturday, which measures up to be an excellent game. The Texans will be favored in the game, but Cincinnati will pose a tough test and should not be overlooked. One oddity in this game will be that there will be two rookie quarterbacks facing off in the playoffs. Expect the team with the better quarterback performance to win, which in my opinion will be Andy Dalton, but anything can happen.
When Houston lost starting quarterback Matt Schaub, after already losing stars, Mario Williams and Andre Johnson, they knew it was going to be extremely difficult to maintain the consistent play that won their division. However giving up a last minute drive to Dan Orlovsky and the pathetic Indianapolis Colts, was almost incomprehensible.
The Texans began this game as they had many this season, with a dominant running game led by Arian Foster. After recovering a fumble by Orlovsky in Indy territory, the Texans were able to score a touchdown on a run by Foster, who finished the day with 158 yards and a touchdown. After starting the game with a touchdown Houston was forced to settle for field goals fro the rest of the game, which was ultimately their undoing.
The teams traded field goals and went into the half with the Texans leading 10-6.
The second half picked up where the first ended with four more field goals being traded by the two teams. After Neil Rackers hit his third field goal of the game giving Houston a 16-12 lead with just a minute and fifty six seconds remaining it looked like the Texans were well on their way to another division win. However it was not to be, with Orlovsky hitting Reggie Wayne on several key plays and eventually the game winning touchdown.
Houston lost their opportunity of getting a first round bye in the playoffs and will be locked into the three seed come next week when they face the Tennessee Titans.
The Houston Texans are achieving what seems like the impossible, which is winning games with their third string quarterback, T.J. Yates. Although, Yates has not played all that bad, the real reason behind the Texans’ continued success is that the defense has played absolutely great with Wade Philips as the defensive coordinator. The defense has improved dramatically since last season when they were one of the worst pass defenses in the league.
Houston’s defense was able to intercept two Matt Ryan passes in the first quarter, while the offense was able to put up 10 unanswered points before the Falcons were able to get a field goal. The Atlanta Falcons were able to tie the game at 10 late in the third quarter. Arian Foster was able to break the tie with a one yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter. Foster gained 111 yards on 31 carries and additional 41 yards receiving.
Coming down the stretch, Houston still has a great shot at getting a first round bye in the postseason. One piece of bad news for the Texans is that Andre Johnson hurt his other hamstring and will miss 1-2 weeks. And despite winning with Yates at the helm, the Texans decided to sign former pro-bowler Jeff Garcia. Garcia had been playing in the UFL, and should be able to fit right in, if called upon. Do not be surprised if Garcia is called upon to be an important part of Houston’s playoff push.
A week after Matt Schaub went down for the season with a foot injury, it became apparent that it was going to take a lot of work for the Texans to make a real run at the Superbowl. Well that labor just got more intensive after backup and former first round pick Matt Leinart got injured in the first half of last weeks game against the Jaguars.
The game started poorly for Houston when Foster fumbled on the Texans’ first drive which was returned by Jacksonville defender Ashton Youboty for a touchdown. Foster was able to make up for his mistake when later in the first quarter he scored a touchdown on a short run.
In the middle of the second quarter, the Texans were driving and finished it off with a beautiful pass by Leinart that found Joel Dreessen in the end zone for a 20 yard touchdown. That touchdown put Houston up 14-10. Later in that second quarter Leinart took a hard hit from defensive end Jeremy Mincey, that broke his collarbone and ended his comeback as soon as it started. With Leinart out, backup T.J. Yates came in and played poorly, but not bad enough to lose the game.
With a couple of field goals by Neil Rackers to end the first half, the Texans were able to hold on to victory without scoring the second half. At (8-3) Houston should ultimately make the playoffs despite third string quarterbacks playing. However making the playoffs is one thing for a franchise that has never done so, but it would be nice if they could win a couple of games in the playoffs. With this in mind it might be a good decision to pick up a quarterback like McNabb who was just released, despite the fact he has looked hideous over the last two years there is no doubt that he is still much better than Yates, and Kellen Clemens.
The Texans travel to Atlanta next week in a match up that definitely favors the Falcons with Houston’s injury issues. This game will be telling for Houston’s future the rest of the season, in that Atlanta is a playoff contender and you would like Yates and the rest of the team play to well in such a game. If Houston gets beat soundly in this game, expect an early exit from them in the playoffs.
Roster Changes, Texans News | Texans360 | 
March 6, 2012 11:40 pm | 
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