Houston beat the Colts for only the second time in 17 meetings and showed that they might be a serious contender not only in the AFC South division but also for the Super Bowl. A lot of the credit for that win goes to Texans second-year running back Arian Foster, who rushed for a team-record 231 yards and three touchdowns in what will be remembered as his breakout game. Foster took over the starting job at the end of last season from the struggling Steve Slaton and finished with 257 yards and three scores, which he nearly duplicated in the season opener.
That type of success on the ground was a first for Houston and is surprising considering quarterback Matt Schaub and wide receiver Andre Johnson did not put up their usual dominant numbers to balance out the offense. Schaub finished with 107 yards on 9-of-17 passing with a touchdown for the Texans while Johnson made only three catches for 33 yards after leading the NFL in receiving yardage each of the last two seasons.
Washington already experienced how to shut down a high-scoring offense though after beating Dallas 13-7 last Sunday night. The Redskins had a bit of luck on their side at the end of the first half and the end of the game, as stupid plays by the Cowboys essentially handed them a victory.
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo should have simply run out the clock at the end of the second quarter but instead decided to pitch the ball to running back Tashard Choice, who fumbled and allowed Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall to return it for a touchdown. Then Romo thought he connected with wide receiver Roy Williams on the game-winning 13-yard touchdown pass only to have offensive tackle Alex Barron called for holding, negating the score.
Regardless, the debuts of new head coach Mike Shanahan and quarterback Donovan McNabb were still successful and resulted in a nice win for Washington. McNabb completed 15 of 32 passes for 171 yards but was pressured throughout by the Cowboys defense. The Redskins played very well defensively despite the drama surrounding defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who did not start the game and finished with one tackle on 16 plays.
An interesting coaching sub-plot to this matchup involves Shanahan and former offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, who is trying to finally reach expectations as Houston’s head coach. Kubiak worked under Shanahan in Denver and shares similar offensive philosophies.
The Texans are trying to improve to 2-0 for only the second time in franchise history, but they have dropped the previous two meetings with Washington both straight-up and against the spread. The UNDER is 9-1-1 in Houston’s last 11 road games and 12-4 in the last 16 home games for the Redskins. We have released NFL picks for this Sunday and this game happens to be one of the premium picks we sent to our members. We feel we have the right side in this game and you should too. Also included in the Sunday package is our 20 unit AFC East Game of the Year, a very strong play for us. You can follow these plays and get them via our nfl spread picks page of the site. We are hot so use the best handicappers for week 3 NFL.
