It is with glee that I come to you with the latest PGB tonight. After yesterday's dramatic win...on the road...at the most hallowed site in all of football...your Houston Texans are a game under .500 after starting out 0-4. In other words, the good guys are 6-3 since this, a moment that could have cratered a team of weaker men and served as the signature moment of a crushing 2008 season, happened.

Instead of crumbling, the Texans rallied. The naysayers can point to the ongoing disasters that are the Lions and Bengals as the perfect tonic for what was ailing a reeling team, and I'll readily admit that Houston was fortunate to play those squads (at home, no less) instead of the Giants and/or Patriots in October. And yes, the Jags and Browns have appeared to be unwilling or unable to shoulder the burden of greatness that many predicted for them in '08.

All of that is true. I don't care.

Say what you will, but don't doubt that these Texans refuse to quit. I can't say enough about the heart this team has shown in battling back from a winless first quarter of the season. The sad truth is that the players get paid win or lose. While it's despicable to see professionals roll over, it happens. The check clears regardless of the team's record, so the only thing(s) keeping guys on a losing team striving for excellence is (1) pride and/or (2) respect. From what we've seen, it's clear to me that these players have an ample supply of each, both for each other and Kubes.

I have no idea what's going to happen during the remaining three (3) weeks of the season. I only know that we can be proud to support a team like the one we saw in Green Bay yesterday. While I'm sure a great portion of this goodwill will dissipate if the Texans lay eggs against Tennessee, Oakland, and Chicago, I'm going to focus on the fact that our squad has put together two (2) three-game winning streaks this season when a single such streak had never been achieved in the previous six (6) seasons of the franchise's life. After a game like yesterday's, we should revel in the positive. On to the specifics:

1. Despite the moronic ramblings of a pathetic wannabe psychic, The Schaub did not look like a dude who'd missed the last month with a knee injury. 414 yards (a franchise record, but you knew that), 2 TD (the scoring pass to 'Dre was as good a throw as a QB can make), and a game-winning drive is all I need to say about his excellence.

2. I will vote Vonta Leach to the Pro Bowl on the basis of that fourth quarter grab alone. Unbelievable catch that completely changed the complexion of Kubes' strategy; if Vonta doesn't make that catch, Kubes starts running Slaton into the pile and takes his chances in OT. Instead, the Texans win in regulation.

3. Speaking of big catches on that last drive...Owen Daniels, huh? Yes, he was sort of by himself. And yes, that fumble at the goal line was wretched. We won't remember either of those things in a year. Quite the homecoming for the former Badger.

4. Ignore Kevin Walter at your peril, NFL. After yesterday's 6 catch/146 yard/1 TD performance, K-Dub is very quietly averaging 15.5 YPC with 8 TD this season. Not bad for a seventh round draft pick from Eastern Michigan.

5. The offensive line, in particular Eric Winston and to a lesser degree Chris Myers, dealt with some adversity yesterday. On balance, however, the OL was nails. That unit has gone from mediocre to very good. Alex Gibbs is a witch.

6. I am MAYBE one week away from composing an original love song about Steve Slaton.

7. Matt Turk could walk up to me on the street, slap me in the face, and call me a nancy boy, and I could not get angry at him after he turned a sure blocked punt into a momentum-stealing first down.

8. When do we all officially decide the Jacoby Jones is too much of a liability to trust him in the return game? When he's right, he's brilliant. But those flashes of brilliance seem like they're canceled out all too often by flubs. His muffed catch of that punt was as ugly as it gets.

9. On the other hand, did anyone doubt that Kris Brown was going to nail that game-winning FG? Even after the earlier miss? Brown's as clutch as it gets.

10. A special tip o' the cap to Clark Harris, who made his first start on the road while making Bryan Pittman's struggles earlier this season even more inexplicable.

11. I think the Houston DBs made more plays on the ball yesterday than they have in a single game all year. Dunta's pick was monstrous, but Fred Bennett and even Jacques Reeves managed to knock a couple of balls away while looking like somewhat credible cornerbacks.

12. I said "somewhat." I'm still not sold on Reeves, and I remain perturbed that the Fred Bennett looked infinitely better as a rookie than he has this season.

13. The secondary really, really missed Nick Ferguson. Brandon Harrison is not anywhere close to being in Ferguson's league, and Ferguson is not exactly Ed Reed.

14. 2008 Eugene Wilson is 2007 Will Demps. Pulled off the street in early September and making big plays after being inserted into the starting lineup, Wilson's been a real find. Let's hope that 2009 Eugene Wilson is more 2008 Eugene Wilson than 2008 Will Demps.

15. Tim Bulman's timely sack on third down in the second quarter gives him four (4) sacks on the season, which places him second on the team behind a certain demigod that played collegiately at North Carolina State. If Richard Smith continues to refuse to start Frank Okam, why not use Bulman at DT? Or better yet, put Bulman at DE and let him be the bookend to Super Mario?

16. If I was Aaron Rodgers, I'd still be hearing Mario's footsteps today. No sacks for the franchise DE, but man...he was so close so many times that it had to have taken a toll on Rodgers.

17. DeMeco's sack of Rodgers late in the fourth took the Packers out of field goal range and provided the opportunity for the offense to win that game. That sack was right up there with Turk's sprint to freedom as the play of the game.

18. Blitzing? Aggressive scheming? Holding the opposition to a 10% success rate on third down? I'm now officially scared.

19. Fake Game Balls: Offense--Matt Schaub; Defense--DeMeco Ryans; Special Teams--Matt Turk. That's right, people. I thought Turk's scramble was more impressive than Kris Brown's game-winning FG as time expired. That's how spoiled we are by Kris Brown.

Now that three (3) game winning streaks are old hat, your Houston Texans have a chance to again venture into uncharted territory when Bud Adams' minions come to town on Sunday. By virtue of what I imagine is some sort of unholy alliance with the forces of evil, they've only lost once this season, and they're indisputably nasty. Can the Texans shock the world?

Go crazy, folks. I'm speechless.

Hopefully, we've seen a seamless first half from a returning Matt Schaub and blitzes out the wazoo from the defense. That, or by this time, I'm already ten (10) beers into the day and asking the Almighty why he does this to me every week.

Keep the dream alive in the Comments below.

For the first time in franchise history, your Houston Texans invade Lambeau today. Although I'm not optimistic, it'd be really cool to be wrong. Prove me to be the fool I know I am, Texans. This would qualify as a gigantic statement that you're a better football team than your record indicates.

Leave your pre-game, in-game, and post-game thoughts, revelations, and egg nog recipes in the Comments below. The second-half thread will post to the main page at 1:30 p.m. CST. GO TEXANS!

I had every intention of traveling up to the Frozen Tundra to watch your Houston Texans on Sunday. Lambeau Field is the NFL's preeminent cathedral, and I couldn't imagine a cooler feeling than braving the elements and watching the Texans play a potentially meaningful December game against the Pack. I was sold the second the schedule came out, weather be damned.

Then Matt Schaub got hurt, and there was talk of him missing the rest of the 2008 season. I was suddenly faced with the very real possibility that Sage Rosenfels would be under center in Green Bay. Memories of the Rosencopter, as well as the two (2) murderous turnovers after the 'Copter, were still fresh in my mind. Wouldn't it make sense to sock away the money that trip would cost? At that moment, I made an executive decision not to go to Lambeau. The idea of watching Sage throw four (4) picks while I lost feeling in my appendages was too much for me to bear. I cracked.

So what happens? Schaub gets cleared to return and is scheduled to start on Sunday. Now I feel like an idiot (moreso than usual, anyway). Instead of watching The Schaub's glorious return to the starting lineup in person in the most famous stadium in the NFL, I'll be watching it on TV and mumbling beer-breathed curses to myself. Neat. Without further ado, three (3) things sure to happen during the three (3) hours I'm beating myself up on Sunday:

1. Schaub's going to look like a guy who hasn't played in a month. Additionally, we're talking Green Bay in December, which isn't exactly Houston in December. Succeeding in that situation is tough for a healthy QB, much less a returning QB who's been plagued by bad decisions in the red zone all season. Schaub is going to make a few really nice throws (I'll say one big one to Andre Johnson and several shorter ones to Owen Daniels), but he's also going to turn the ball over twice.

2. Due to the conditions, Steve Slaton needs to have a huge game for the Texans to have a shot. The superb news in that regard? The Packers are awful against the run, giving up 141.7 yards per game on the ground. It'll be interesting to see how Slaton responds on short rest, but I'm predicting a monstrous game from the RB (say, 109 yards rushing, 31 yards receiving, and a TD) who should be getting serious consideration for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

3. Will Richard Smith continue to employ an aggressive scheme in an attempt to frustrate Aaron Rodgers? Or will we see him revert to the vanilla, we-won't-blitz-so-you-can-pick-us-apart scheme we've come to know so well and despise so much? I think we'll see more blitzing than we saw early in the season, but we won't see as much as what we saw against Cleveland. I hope you've enjoyed winning the turnover battle the last two (2) weeks, because I believe that streak comes to an abrupt end on Sunday.

PUT YOUR NAME ON IT: Any objective fan looking at this game would pick Green Bay, and they'd pick 'em large. Although I'm about as far from objective as it gets when it comes to your Houston Texans, I can't disagree with that rationale. The combination of the elements, a short week after MNF, a rusty QB, and Richard Smith will be too much to overcome. Texans 20, Packers 30.

According to both ESPN and the Chronicle, Bryan Pittman won't be long-snapping for your Houston Texans for the rest of the 2008 season, if ever again. Pittman was one of the six (6) active players accused of violating the league's banned substance policy about five (5) weeks ago; we've been waiting for resolution of his appeal since then. As such, this doesn't really qualify as shocking news.

A simple search of BRB for "Bryan Pittman" will reveal that I'm not exactly broken up about this. Smithiak signed Clark Harris as a contingency plan for this very occurrence, so it hasn't caught the organization off guard. Thus, we're left with Harris getting his first taste of action in the friendly confines of Lambeau Field on Sunday in what's projected to be rather nippy, albeit clear, weather. No pressure, Clark. Here's hoping for an offense that is running on all cylinders, thus minimizing the number of times Harris has to see the field for punt duty.