A day late, and perhaps a dollar short, here are my Keys for a Texans Victory.  This week has been very hard to watch the replay of the Texans v. Raiders game.  It is like watching a blockbuster movie before anybody else gets the chance, then going to the theater with your lady friend only to know the ending sucks. There are a couple reunions happening this weekend; Leach, B Pollard, and maybe even a little Derrek Mason.

Again I haven't had the time to fully watch Baltimores previous games, so I will just make instinctive decisions on the Keys for a Victory.  So If some of it seems a bit lousy, then Bleach you. 

I do have many friends from the Baltimore area, most of them are pretty reasonable people/fans. They also like my home team the Texans, so there is a little friendly camaraderie this week. The last meeting is only topped by what happend last week, maybe, both were pretty gut wrenching. Both had spectacular plays right before the kick in the groin.   Enough re hashing lets get to the Bacon and eggs.  

Offensive Awesomeness

•  Protect Shaub This seems like a pretty regular key for me, as Shaub is the one who turns the ball over it is important every week. Last week Shaub was tormented by the Raiders front 4 rotation, this week will be more Linebackers blitzing. The offensive line had a huge let down last week, couldn't open running holes, or stop water from flowing uphill.  They must do a better job this week for the Texans to have a chance.
• Play Smart The Texans have been known to kill their own drives, with stupid penalties. Granted there have been more terrible calls against our team then any previously remembered years. To have success against a successful defensive team, they must play flawless or damn close.
• MOAR TD Again this has been popping up this year, the red zone production is a joke. What 21 red zone appearances  5 TD's? This has to be corrected for the Texans to have a positive result at the end of the season.       Late Edition    Texans are dead last in Red Zone scoring.  

Defensive Destroyers 

• Filling Mario's Canyon  Wade will have to be creative, and two steps ahead without the Mushroom eating, Fireball spitting, Fox tail killing Machine known as Super Mario. Brooks and Neading will need to play solid games and most probably get 1 sack between the two. 
• What ever they did last week for the First Half  Against the Raiders in the first half the Defense looked the best in the league, Six straight drives that go 3 and out (One four and out). That is going to be impossible to reenact, but anything simliar will keep this team around with a shot to win. 
• Stopping the Run The Ravens use their run game to open up the field, Ray Rice is used in screens and dump passes as much as Foster is. I think Cush and Meco are ready to bust Vonte up. The Ravens O line has been pretty solid this year, but have allowed Flacco to get hit. If the Raiders who only allowed 2 sacks in 4 games gave up 4 sacks in one game. Then expect Flacco to hit the turf.  

The Texans have been a very solid road team during the tenure of Kubiak, I hope this continues this week. Also, the last two games  between these teams have come down to the wire; OT last year and a couple years previous they lose in the 4th quarter.  I don't expect this game to be much different.  

Prediction

Houston 17- Baltimore 20
This is the first losing prediction I have made, I can only hope I am the loser this week.   LETS GO