The upcoming Bucs game, 11/13/2011

[Arky]

The Texans hit the road this Sunday to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an early game. The Texans (6-3) have won 3 in a row and reached 3 games over .500 for the first time in team history - will they make it 4 games over?

Tampa Bay (4-4) has been in a lot of close games this year - six games decided by 7 or less and have a 4-2 record in these games. Their other two losses were an obliteration by the 49'ers (48-3) in San Francisco and a loss last week 27-16 to New Orleans in New Orleans. Besides QB Josh Freeman (2004 yds, 8 TD, 10 INT, 76.8 rating), others to keep an eye on will be RB LeGarrette Blount (400 yds, 4.4 ypc) and receivers Preston Parker (26/366 yds.) and Mike Williams (37/363 yds.).

Announcers = Marv Albert, Rich Gannon

Favorite = Texans by 3 to 3.5

[HPF Bob]

The Bucs are sort of like the NFC version of the Bengals. They are easy to overlook and never seems to have better talent than their opponents yet they always manage to be their most dangerous when you least expect it.

The Texans have not had to push themselves the past three weeks so I think they will carry good energy as long as they aren't looking past this game to the bye week. I think Foster/Tate has found their confidence behind that OL and if they can establish the run early, they should be able to take out the Bucs.

What we don't know is how well the Texans are in dealing with prosperity. Do they sense the momentum they are building and find another gear or do they get too self-satisfied and become sloppy on the road before the bye? We'll find out some things this week that the Jags and Browns couldn't reveal.

[Arky]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

..............
What we don't know is how well the Texans are in dealing with prosperity. Do they sense the momentum they are building and find another gear or do they get too self-satisfied and become sloppy on the road before the bye? We'll find out some things this week that the Jags and Browns couldn't reveal.

Yep, these are my concerns as well. What's the team attitude? "Pros" would go into the game focused and take care of business. Last year's Texans would surely choke away the game... Have this year's Texans grown enough to be their best all the time? Walter points out quite a few reasons why it doesn't look good for the Texans. I guess we'll see....

[nunusguy]

If the question is are we going to win the division and go to the playoffs,
for the first time ever I'm fairly confidant that we do as I think it's unlikely we lose more than one division game (maybe at Jacksonville) and the
division is so weak and we'll hold the tie-breakers, it's just gonna take a real effort on our part to lose it.
If the question is do we have a pretty good team here, it's about to get answered because the next 3 or 4 games IMO can go either way, including this one.

[NBT]

All True. The thing that concerns me is, the Oline seems to slip sometimes (not lately) when we least expect it. If Kubs cherished run game does not get off to a fast start, then it will be a tougher game than if the run game continues to ramble. I'm more worried about TB than I am about Jax.

[WMH]

I don't think he's a real "factor" anymore, certainly not this week, but I've seen tweets that the Bucs claimed Haynesworth off waivers from the Pats.