Already 50 % of the win total from last year. Keep it up! Something to cheer about in 2014.

It's too bad Matt Schaub isn't starting against the Texans on Sunday but I'm eager to see how our defense performs against the rookie Derek Carr. I'll be keeping a close eye on Whitney Mercilus as he starts in place of Jadeveon Clowney. I feel good about J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed playing like hungry wolves and dominating like they did against the Redskins.

Hopefully Brian Cushing has a strong game and continues to play his way back into shape. As far as the offense goes I would like to see Ryan Fitzpatrick trust his deep passing a little more. Don't be afraid to take some chances. He played way too passive in the first game but as a game manager I guess that's his job. Not to lose the game for us.

It would be nice to start the 2014 season with a 2-0 record and instantly match last year's win total. LOL

And oh yeah, keep handing the ball off to Arian Foster 20-plus times a game. I wouldn't even complain if he has 30 or more touches. Time to ride that horse a lot. He has barely played the past two years so he should be fresh and ready to carry the load in 2014. He's pretty much the heart and soul of the offense.

Are the Texans really favored to win at Oakland? I currently see the Texans -3 on the official Vegas Insider spread. Shouldn't the home team be laying the three points between two evenly matched teams? Especially when you consider how the Raiders came into Houston last season and beat us despite being 9.5-point underdogs.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Texans should win this game, quite convincingly in fact, against a rookie quarterback like Derek Carr. But we did lose Jadeveon Clowney and you never know what type of pass rush we're going to get if they succeed in double blocking J.J. Watt. Brooks Reed and Whitney Mercilus have to cause some havoc on the outside. Reed was fantastic against Washington so we'll see.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Sep 10 2014 01:00pm

Seeing Chris Long out 8-to-10 weeks and Robert Mathis out for the season - two defensive leaders and overall beasts - it makes me feel a little better about Jadeveon Clowney only being out 4-to-6 weeks. The Texans can still do great things defensively without him if Whitney Mercilus and Brooks Reed step up

Brooks Reed was awesome in that first game (looked like Clay Matthews). I think Cushing is about to dominate as he gets back into game shape. And of course J.J. Watt will lead the way. The Texans defense doesn't really lose a whole lot without Clowney because he hadn't established himself yet. Hopefully he'll be hungry and ready to become a difference maker when he returns during the middle of the season.

I'm more worried about the Texans offense going into the Raiders game on Sunday. We need more long scoring drives.

The Texans snapped their ugly 14-game losing streak from a year ago and now it's all about halting a seven-game road skid. There is probably no place better to do that than in Oakland against a rookie QB like Derek Carr, who has probably seen Watt in his nightmares all week.

The All-Pro defensive lineman, who recently signed a new $100 million contract extension which included $51.8 million guaranteed, is almost impossible to prepare for because he lines up all over the Texans defense in an effort to exploit any favorable matchups defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel feels exist.

That means none of the Raiders offensive lineman can rest easy because they might find a 6-foot-5, 300-pound menace lined up opposite them at any time.

"The goal is always to be underpaid," Watt said, flashing his legendary mentality on work ethic."You never want to be that guy that people say, 'He got money and shut down.' So I want to go out there every single day and prove that I'm worth it."

Jadeveon Clowney's presence was expected to make things even easier on Watt and his absence for 4-to-6 weeks will hurt but Houston is deep at the position with former first-round pick Whitney Mercilus, the starter before Clowney arrived, pegged as the next man up.

"Jadeveon is a resilient kid," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "He's been a good teammate since the day he walked in the door. He's disappointed but he'll be back next month. I feel confident in what Whitney Mercilus can do and he's been making positive strides each day in practice working with Crennel and Vrabel."

"(I need to) make sure that my technique is right," Mercilus said. "Make sure that I stay consistent throughout the game."

Still 13 hours until kickoff. I can't even sleep thinking about this must-win game.
This is huge for the Texans. First road game of the season and a chance to go 2-0.
Also Clowney would only be out 3-to-5 more weeks following this game. It buys him more time.
We're going to need a beast like Clowney at 100 % health to make a playoff run late in the season.

The 2-0 Texans versus the 0-2 Giants next Sunday at MetLife Stadium. I can't wait for the game to start.

46 times running the ball against the Raiders for 188 rushing yards. Completely controlling the game clock and snapping a lot of offensive plays. The Texans played a very smart gameplan. Arian Foster had 28 of the carries for 138 yards and 1 TD.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is exactly what the Texans wanted. He's a smart, no-turnover game manager. Very efficient first two games: A QB rating of 129.1 today. 14-for-19 passing with only 139 yards but 2 TDs. On the season he now has 3 TD passes and 0 INTs. A high completion percentage with zero turnovers will usually give you a chance to win when you have a good defense and strong running game.

He didn't throw deep very often but he hit Andre Johnson on a couple of nice first-downs over the middle of the field. Andre Johnson had 6 catches for 74 yards. He is quietly moving up the all-time receiving leader list. Before you know it he'll only be trailing the great Jerry Rice.

Jadeveon Clowney is now out 3-to-5 weeks. I'll be counting it down after every game is played. It won't be long before he returns and the Texans defense can become even nastier and dominating. I still feel like there is room to improve for what is already a pretty good defense. I just don't feel that "pretty good" is going to be good enough to overtake the Colts for the AFC South.

Hopefully the Texans beat the Giants. A 3-0 start is a must if the Texans have any aspirations of making the playoffs.

Glad to have these two wins. Although it feels like they beat themselves rather than us beating them. Redskins had two fumbles inside the 10, and the Raiders had 4 turnovers. Other than the turnovers, their offense actually played well. They had more yards than we did today. I remember last year before the season began I wanted Kubiak to use JJ Watt as a goal line TE, because who the hell can defend him? And BO'B took advantaged of that. Awesome. Loved Nuk's TD. They couldn't defend Andre. Glad Arian's making his haters quiet. Even though we started off 2-0 last year, they were close victories that had to go into OTs, and we struggled in those games. This year seems different. We're also the first team to start 2-0 5 years in a row since the 1990s Dolphins iirc. I think we improved from last week as well. The Redskins had 10 sacks against the Jaguars today, and they couldn't get us once last week. Raiders were unable to bring down Fitzpatrick also.
We're going to need Clowney back ASAP, Brooks Reed or Whitney Mercilus cannot be the 2nd best pass rusher on this team. Seems like we couldn't get much pass rush other than a few QB hits from JJ Watt.

Hopefully Philadelphia will pull out with a win tomorrow night. Give us a good start over the Colts. The Titans struggled big time against the Cowboys. Couldn't stop the run or take advantage of Cowboys' secondary. Jaguars are the same as always.

Texans 2-0
Titans 1-1
Colts 0-1
Jaguars 0-2

NY Giants up next week. I want to beat these guys. We haven't beaten them since our first season in 2002. We're 1-2 all time against them. 3-0 start would do us wonders for this team.

This post was edited by draino on Sep 14 2014 11:07pm

I believe as the season progresses the Texans will improve in all phases of the game but right now all that matters are winning games. Bill O'Brien has the team playing the right way. You win games by winning the turnover battle and the Texans are doing just that. It may not always be pretty but there is a lot to be said about gutting out wins and playing smash mouth football.

I'm very pleased with the win over the Raiders because it was on the road and against a team which spent a lot of their off-season making improvements defensively. When you run the ball 46 times you are imposing your will on the other team. All four running backs played in that game (Foster, Blue, Grimes and Ronnie Brown). The Raiders defense was flat out exhausted by the end of that game. If the Texans needed to they could have scored more than 30 points in that game.

You are right about Jadeveon Clowney being missed but that is why it's so important to win these early games. A win over the Giants and a 3-0 record would signify a Clowney return in 2-to-4 weeks. At that point we're guaranteed to still be "very much" in the AFC playoff race when he comes back. I was initially worried the team would struggle and lose a few games early on. I just want Jadeveon Clowney to return and dominate while the Texans either have a piece of first place in the AFC South or they're in position to lead a wild-card spot.