Texans-Ravens Game blog, BAL 41-13, 4th Q

(3:00pm)
The 41 points they allowed also pushed the Texans to last in the AFC in points allowed at more than 28 per game. They also drop to just 3-2 at home. This season is over.
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(2:49pm)
An interception by Rosenfels on back-to-back possessions. Texans now lead the league in interceptions. They rank last in the league in turnover margin. Here were the predictions for today's game in the Baltimore Sun which I referenced during the pregame show. Bravo Jamison Hensley. Just an awful performance by Rosenfels - and this comes on a day where he knew he'd get the start over the next couple of weeks. He's been sacked only once and that came on a coverage sack. Dreadful.
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(2:27pm)
Just as quickly as the Texans drew to within 6, their defense must have thought it was Christmas as they treated the Ravens to a season of giving. The Texans committed three penalties one the Ravens ensuing 9-play touchdown drive, giving the Ravens 24 yards and wiping out strong plays on each one of them otherwise.

For the day the Texans have now been penalized 10 times for 76 yards. By comparison, the team was penalized 78 yards combined over their first 5 games!! (BAL 27-13, 4th Q)
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(2:14pm)
Naturally the next Texans offensive play after the got a hand on a Ravens missed 50-yard field goal attempt, Kubiak calls a pass play. But this one is a crossing route to Kevin Walter, who turns a 20 yard catch into a 60-yard touchdown. Walter now leads the AFC with 6 TD receptions.
(BAL 19-13, 3rd Q)
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(2:01pm)
Who was the idiot that said the Texans would win the turnover battle? Oh yeah, that was me. I am an idiot. Rosenfels was moving the Texans down the field for the 4th consecutive drive. (The 1 play drive for a safety notwithstanding). He gets hit as he throws (maybe?) and the ball goes right to Ray Lewis, not a Texan within 15 yards of him.
When will they learn. Kubiak has called only 11 running plays, but 23 pass plays. For a guy who claims he wants to be a running team, he sure doesn't play-call like it. They're even averaging 4 yards a carry and Kubes still elects to have his turnover prone QBs throw the ball around.
(BAL 19-6, 3rd Q)
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(1:26pm) HALFTIME, BAL 12-6
You'd think after 40 games as an NFL head coach Kubiak would recognize that NFL games are timed events. He manages the game as if he doesn't know that. Last possession of the half, they snap the ball from their 22-yard line and complete a throw to David Anderson for 18 yards to the 40. The Texans have all 3 of their timeouts but elect not to use one and throw an incomplete pass. I'd say they wasted about 20 seconds there and thus the drive ended with a field goal.

So in just one half of football, The Texans lost 7 points on their interception in the end zone on a first down play. They gave the Ravens 2 points on a holding penalty in the endzone and took potentially 4 points off the board by not using their timeouts properly at the end of the first half.

They sure do make it easy for the other team.
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(1:09pm)
More mistakes for the Texans. A Ravens punt goes out of bounds at the 5 and a penalty on Joel Dreesen has the drive start inside the 3 yard line. The mistake comes when Kubiak calls for a 1-wide out set (Johnson) and has Rosenfels drop back to pass. Of course he is standing in the endzone and when Duane Brown tackles Terrell Suggs in the endzone. That is a safety.
The formation was a mistake. The execution was a mistake. They are doing a fine job of making it easy on the Ravens.
Then in the free kick, Matt Turk manages to go offsides. That's right the punter was offsides on his own punt. It costs the Texans 13 yards on the re-kick. (BAL 9-3, 2nd Q)
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(12:55pm)
The Texans are among the least penalized teams in the NFL, yet they had a touchdown wiped off the board by penalty. Owen Daniels was called for holding well away from the play, on Steve Slaton's swing pass turned touchdown. A couple of great moves by Slaton, yet the points come off the board. Ultimately the drive ends in Kris Brown's 11th field goal of the season.

The Ravens haven't done much today, but they as usual have avoided the big mistakes. The Texans on the other hand have thrown a pick in the endzone and had a touchdown called back by penalty. Those are normally the things that turn games from wins to losses. We'll see today.
(BAL 7-3, 2nd Q)
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(12:33pm)
The Texans do not learn from their mistakes. They have lost one fumble all season from a non-quarterback and none from a running back. But on 1st and goal from the 1 yard line, following a pass interference call on Ray Lewis, the Texans call a pass play. Rosenfels has his pass tipped and picked off in the endzone by DT Haloti Ngata. That's Rosenfels 3rd interception on just his 71st pass attempt and the third interception the Texans have thrown in the red zone in the last 5 quarters.

That was just dumb, dumb, dumb. Coach Kubiak has left dozens and dozens of points on the field this year with poor play calling in the red zone.
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- Everything was fine for the Texans' defense on their first 9 plays allowing just 28 yards and recording a sack. On the 10th play, Yamon Figurs ran right down the middle of the field and Joe Flacco had all day to float a 43-yard TD pass his way that split the safeties, Eugene Wilson and Nick Ferguson, mainly because neither one of them was anywhere near Figurs. (BAL 7-0, 1Q)
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- Sage Rosenfels getting his 2nd start of the season. Also his second start against the Ravens in his career. His first start ever came back in January of '05 against the Ravens in the last game of that season. He threw for 264 yards and a 76-yard TD pass on his first throw of the game. Also threw 3 picks and his Dolphins lost.