Texans need for consistency comes next; Castillo stays w/ Mets

One of the first things I said during the SportsRadio 610 Fan Feedback immediately following the game was that all things considered that was probably the best game the Texans defense has played. (I do remember the 2 flukish dominant performances against the Bears (24-5) and Steelers (24-6) during the Dom Capers era, but those games were played against Chad Hutchinson and Tommy Maddox.)

Make no mistake the Saints offense is no pushover, they came into the game ranked 6th in the league in yards per game. The only touchdown allowed by the defense came after Adimchinobe Echemandu fumbled and gave the Saints just 41 yards to paydirt. Not surprisingly that was Echemandu's last appearance in the game. The first Saints possession actually began with an even shorter field after the horrific fumble call that left Owen Daniels with a broken nose. (He said after the game he looks hideous.)

But the D showed immediately what kind of day it was going to be. They forced a long field goal attempt after stuffing Reggie Bush on two carries and pushing Brees into an incompletion.

They picked off two passes and forced three fumbles and also stopped the Saints on 4th down twice. They did all this with a secondary that was without Dunta Robinson for the first time since he started his first game as a rookie 4 years ago. Fred Bennett was outstanding for the 2nd week in a row as a starter. Von Hutchins had one of the INTs and had 9 tackles. Dexter Wynn was elevated to the nickel corner and he, too made plays throughout the day. I still am not sure what took the coaches so long to push some of these guys past Petey Faggins on the depth chart, but now that it's finally done, the secondary as a whole, for the future does not look quite so bad.

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Mario Williams played his best game as a Texan. The Saints did have to account for him on every play and he was still able to get into the backfield nearly the entire game. He was in on 6 tackles, the Saints yardage on those plays went like this:
- Bush for no gain
- Bush for 2 yds
- Bush for no gain
- Brees sacked for 10 yd loss & forced fumble
- Bush for 3 yds
- Stecker reception for 2 yds

Like the rest of the defense, consistent performances like this one is what has proven most elusive. For that reason I ask, what is more likely next week in Cleveland? Texans produce multiple turnovers and Williams spends the afternoon in the Browns backfield or Browns QB Derek Anderson has all day to throw the ball and throws for multiple touchdown with no turnovers?

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Now let's have some fun with numbers.
Andre Johnson in 3 games has 20 receptions for 382 yds and 4 TDs.
Johnson's per game average: 6.7 rec., 127.7 yds, 1.3 TDs
Randy Moss in 10 games has 66 receptions for 1052 yds and 16 TDs.
Moss's per game averages: 6.6 rec., 105.2 yds, 1.6 TDs
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Tom Brady threw 5 more TD passes vs. Buffalo in week 10. He now has 38 with 6 games to go. He's on pace to set the new mark with 2 games to spare.
Only 5 players in NFL history has ever had more than 38 TD tosses in an entire season. Can you name them? (answer below).
Assuming he leads the league in TD passes, it'll be his 3rd time to lead the league. If that doesn't sound impressive it should, only Brett Favre & Steve Young have done it more, 4 times each. Other all-time greats you ask? Marino-3, P. Manning-3, Montana-2, Elway-0.
ANSWER:Manning-49, Marino-48, 44, Warner-41, Favre-39, Culpepper-39
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Reggie Bush averaged less than 3.5 yds per carry against the Texans. That's the 7th time in 10 games this year he's been that unproductive.
Bush has 67 receptions after his 12 catch day vs. Houston. He's yet to average even 8 yards per catch in a game this year.
Bush has touched the ball 204 times this year. On just 4 occasions he's produced a play of 20 yds or more - none longer than 25 yds. Just so you know, Ron Dayne has 109 touches, his 20 yd run on Sunday gave him 3 on the season, including a long of 39.

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No surprise at all, 2B Luis Castillo resigns with the Mets. I'm glad Ed Wade made a phone call, but at 4 yrs, $25 million that is nonsense for the Astros. He'd be an upgrade this year, but at 33, 34 & 35 over the next couple of years I doubt he'd be worth that contract here in Houston. The Mets can spend willy-nilly, the Astros can't do that.

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Now that should keep you for awhile. Don't worry though, we've got the show tonight out at Timeout #1 off Fuqua , the Grand Prix of Houston promo team will join us there as will Miss Grand Prix 2007, also the Face of Champ Car 2008 Angela Saltzman. You all know that the Monday nighter features Vince Young and Titans taking on the Broncos. Before then I'll post our results from the weekly pick'em contest and some other stuff from inside the Texans lockerroom and thoughts from Gary Kubiak's Monday afternoon press conference.
----------- WEX

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