Matt Cassel is blowing up in New England and It's his contract year. The guy sat behind Leinart at USC and is proving he can handle the NFL better than Matt. I'm sure you've noticed but our Houston Texans could use a decent QB. So what do you think BRB? Should we pursue Cassel? I'm all for it. I've seen enough of Schaub. He can't stay healthy, he gets rattled easily,etc. This is a situation where Bob McNair should step in and order Smithiak to make a move.

Cassel Contract via Dead Spin

The Texans have reached the halfway point and we're 3-5. This just hasn't been our season so far. If you believe in the football gods, they are angry with us for some reason. Fumbles, red zone interceptions, hurricanes, you name it, it's happened to the Texans this season. You can make a good argument that we could be at least 4-4 if not 5-3, but you are what your record says you are. Let's take a look at the remaining games.

Opponent               Prediction          Comments

v Baltimore             Loss               Physical teams make us look JV

@ Indy                     Loss               Not the same old Colts, but we're the same ol Texans

@ Browns               Loss               We can't win on the road, It'll be cold, Quinn improving

v Jax                          Win                 Reliant will be rocking for MNF, against the hated Jags

@ Packers             Loss              Another road embarasement

v Titans                    Loss            The best team in the NFL lays the smack down, again.

@ Raiders             Loss              Raiders pull out a home win.

Bears                     Loss               Bears battle for home playoff game. We just want to go home

I know the odds of us going 1-7 down the stretch are slim, but that's just the way I see it. Physical teams, such as Baltimore, kick the crap out of us and our guys just take it (see Pitt, Tenn, Vikings). We can't win on the road to save our damn lives. We can't beat the Titans to save our damn lives, or the Colts. We just have to be honest about this. I do think we could beat the Ravens and Raiders. But I just don't see us beating the Titans,Bears, Packers, or Colts. Maybe the Browns, but Cleveland is a very unplesant place to play and they're getting better.

Is a 4-12 record likely? Probablly not. But 6-10 is staring us in the face.

What are your predictions for the rest of the season BRB?

ESPN has posted their AFC Preview and only two brave souls have selected our Houston Texans to make their first playoff appearance. KC Joyner the 'Football Scientist' and Bill Williamson . KC has Indy winning the division and Jacksonville missing the playoffs in favor of the Browns while Bill predicts that Jacksonville will win the division with Houston and the Colts with the Wild Card. 5 out of 16 have both wild card winners coming from the AFC South. Bill and Matt Williamson (scouts inc) both predicted Gary Kubiac will be Coach of the Year. Matt Willamson also predicts Mario will win Defensive Player of the Year. So Matt says we'll have coach of the year and the defensive player of the year, yet we miss the playoffs in favor of the Jets. Huh?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview08/news/story?id=3552727

**edited awful spelling.

So I ran into the "Fan Nation" Team rankings over at the four letter networks' website and I couldn't resist ranking all 32 teams. And well..I have the Texans at number 11. This seems extremely high but when I look at the teams I have ranked below them I can't say that I really feel any of those teams are head and shoulders above us. What say you  BRB? Am I a certifiable homer or do you think that's close?

For the record "Fan Nation" has us ranked at 22. That is just indicative of the national perception of our franchise.

 My Rankings :

1. 1.Patriots
2. 2.Chargers
3. 3.Cowboys
4. 4.Colts
5. 5.Saints
6. 6.Jaguars
7. 7.Giants
8. 8.Browns
9. 9.Steelers
10. 10.Eagles
11. 11.Texans
12. 12.Vikings
13. 13.Broncos
14. 14.Packers
15. 15.Seahawks
16. 16.Buccaneers
17. 17.Redskins
18. 18.Bengals
19. 19.Titans
20. 20.Lions
21. 21.Cardinals
22. 22.Rams
23. 23.Bears
24. 24.Panthers
25. 25.Bills
26. 26.Jets
27. 27.Raiders
28. 28.49ers
29. 29.Ravens
30. 30.Chiefs
31. 31.Falcons
32. 32.Dolphins