Giving up third downs like they're candy.

3rd and 1 - Vikes get 4 - ball at the Vikings 32.

Favre on the crackback block on Wilson. 15 yard penalty.

Big hit by DeMeco on screen pass.... Helluva game by DeMeco...

12 men in the huddle against Vikes. 2nd and 21.

3rd and 11. Pass is deflected. Vikes to punt.

Is it just me or does McCain play a lot bigger than Quin? Quin has several inches and 30 pounds on McCain but McCain seems to play a lot bigger. Has anyone else noticed this?

Farve throwing an illegal crack back block to wilsons knees.

Man, Demeco is a tackling machine tonight.

What are they coaching over their in Minnesota?

Now they got Farve throwing illegal blocks.

The Texans need to get nastier if they are ever going to be a champion.

When our QB gets cheap-shotted, they don't retaliate and now when their QB cheap-shots our safety, they don't retaliate.

The message the Texans are sending is that they don't defend their own. If they are ever going to step up, that has to change.

Demeco is making all the tackles because no one else can. where in the hell is diles and adibi

JJ wrapped up about the Texan 35 yd line on the punt.

Slaton for 2 or 3 on a sweep.

Pass to AJ is 1 yd short of the 1st down.

Brown gets stood up - 4th down and 1.

Texans to go for it.... Orlovsky sneaks for the 1st...

Start of 4th quarter.

I agree, our guys need to get nastier out there, we gotta beat these guys.

DAMN! Almost had it.

C Brown takes dump off for about 5 yds. Ball at midfield.

Orlovsky airs it out to AJ but just overthrown.

On 3rd down, DA catches pass but is a yard short of the 1st down.

Texans punt on 4th and 1. Punt goes into the endzone. Touchback, ball at the Vikes 20.

Punting the ball into the end zone is simply an unpardonable sin. I have no idea why a "special teams coach" would allow a punter (or coach a punter) to do that. There is TWENTY YARDS OF SIDELINE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE FIELD.

Jackson in at QB for the Vikes.

Vikes moving the ball... ball currently at their own 45.

DelJuan offsides - 1st down Vikes. Ball at midfield.

Buster Davis with nice BTL (behind the line) tackle.

Vikes to punt. Punt rolls to the Texan 13. Penalty gets the Texans 5 more yards. Ball at the 18.

It's Scrubs City...

Texans go 3 and out and have to punt...

Get.Off.Favre's.Nuts.

BFPN has lost interest and now they're just hazing Gruden.

Vikings return the punt to their own 34.

Rosenfels in at QB for the Vikes.

Hey, there's still hope! Rosenchopper is in to protect the lead! :eek:

First team OL, second team OL, same story. The team's running game sucks.

Also, I think that Jacoby is going to make the team over Glenn Martinez and I think that is a huge mistake.

Vikes have a 3rd and 18.

Pass and penalty give the Vikes a 1st down. Ball at the Viking 45.

DelJuan with TFL (tackle for loss).

3rd and 13. Vikes come up short - have to punt.

ok, I think JJ is better than Martinez. Hope JJ makes the team. JJ looks much more confident this year than last year. not saying Martinez is all bad.

anyways, lots of difference in the game now that third stringers are in. Sage looks rusty.

Wow. Arian foster breaks through for an amazing nine yard gain!!!

JJ wrapped up about the Texan 12 on the punt.

Brink in at QB for the Texans.

Nice gain by A Foster - about 9 yards.

Martinez for about 10 via pass.

Dump off to Foster good for another 1st down.

Not much Foster on 2nd down. Brings up 3rd and 10.

Screen goes inc. 2:18 left

Texans go for it on 4th down - ball sails - Vikes ball.

did ya'll see the block Foster put on LB trying to blitz, pretty good.

Vikes moving the ball - now at the Texan 21. 2 minute warning.

Vikes to kneel it out.

Final Score:

Viking 17, Texans 10

Take away Peterson's big run and the defense not all that bad.... certainly better than last week which is somewhat encouraging...

Well, if you wanted to know about your 2009 Houston Texans now you do. They're not nearly good enough to beat a good team. They should beat bad ones and be competitive against average teams. That's what they are, an average team.

Thanks, Charley Casserly, for putting the team in a ten year hole. And no thanks to you, Bob McNair, for allowing that to happen.

Andre Johnson is going to be on the downside of his career before this team has any real chance of doing anything in the playoffs, if indeed that ever happens during his career. (Or my lifetime.) That is just sad.

DeMeco was showing what he can do when healthy. He played a Hell of a game.
Connor Barwin is going to be out Justin Tuck and I like the way Bush plays him.
The 75-yard run that Peterson started the game with was all Adibi's fault since he overran the play leaving nothing back side. Wilson, Ferguson, Barber, and whoever else we play at the back end of the Secondary is atrocious.
Very happy to see Duane Brown playing well against Jared Allen. I was hopeful that Caldwell would beat out Briesel at RG, but right now, I'm not sure who is worse.
Can't wait to see Cushing play, hopefully that will help DeMeco.

Too much Favre love from ESPN. It made the game that much harder to watch.

Who is #38?

Deltha O'Neal is 38. He made a nice tackle toward the end.
If the D can learn to stay home and not give up the big plays, would help a bunch. hopefully they can coach that up the next week or two.

It's preseason, dude. The Lions went 4-0 last year.

At one time it was AJ Davis but he's showing up as #39 now. Jeremiah Johnson is listed as #38 but he's on IR.... perhaps AJ Davis took back #38....


Edit: roster shows O'Neal as #47....
----------------

Scanning the stats, three things stand out to me (besides DeMeco's awesome performance):

1. Two stupid picks by the QB's. One by Schaub, one by Orlovsky. The QB's gotta stop turning the ball over....

2. No turnovers from the Vikings.

3. Lousy rushing stats - 23 rushes for 61 yards - nowhere to go for the backs...

I liked some of the plays O'neal made. Hope to see more of him next week. Okam and Cody looked pretty good, glad we got something for Travis Johnson.

Ya, I tend to agree... Wait till the games count or like, maybe the end of the season to pass judgement....

Nobody runs against the Vikings. Can't run up the middle with the Williams' and that allows the LBs to cover the flanks. Not to mention Antoine Winfield is a hell of a run-support CB (did anybody see him get off the block of Winston and make a tackle?)

I'm watching the first team on both sides of the ball. If you're not seeing what I'm seeing then you will shortly. Cushing should help the linebackers but I don't see any help for the secondary even when Dunta returns. The safeties are if anything worse than last year.

I can only hope that the play calling will be more creative when other teams sell everything to stop the run. This team is literally going to have to score five TDs and add some FGs to beat a decent team.

Roy - I loved Duane Brown's play, too. He looks very solid over there in pass protection.

Well, yeah - makes for lousy rushing stats doesn't it? ;)

It's a cop out to blame Casserly at this point. The current crew has had more than enough time to turn things around. If we fail this year it is squarely on Smith and Kubiak.

Plus I'm not convinced we can't win. We did something tonight I didn't think we were capable of. Be competitive with a bad offensive effort.

some positives.
-We looked good on both lines against a great DL and a great OL.
-it is some of the best play I have seen from Okoye. He was very active.
-Barwin was a fantastic pick and will be more than just a pass rusher.
-We looked good in the red zone and the 2 minute drill. These are keys for us as we try to make the "top 3 offense" mean something.
-Our LBs looked very good in coverage and while blitzing.

some negatives
-We still have the worst safeties in football. I have been saying this for two years. I still don't know how we drafted a 4-3 OLB, a DE, 2 TEs, and an OL in the first 5 rounds when we have the worst secondary in football.
-One of our Safeties threw a TD springing block against his own man for the 2nd straight week. Who is teaching tackling angles to these guys?
-Our LBs are still too small to fill against the run.
-Schaub was very shaky early. He appears to let a bad play or two get in his head and become bad quarters.
-Our play calling allowed Andre Johnson to disappear. This should never happen. We should never allow drives to go by without plays designed to get him the ball.

Oh I know, I'm watching the first team too, and it was ugly. Preseason is just a different beast though.

The secondary is a major concern, and has been for years, so I don't know what to think of it.

Playcalling will be fine. Kubiak is creative as hell.