Week 5 G.O.A.T.s: Disappearing Plays And The Re-Emergence of Brice McCain

Despite the gloomy clouds of Minneapolis rain and Brian Cushing's apparent ACL injury, I cannot help but feel good today. No, it is not because I just picked the photo for this article and scrolled through the New York cheerleaders or a hilarious headshot of Stuart Scott that reminds me of something else. It is because your Houston Texans are 5-0. The Texans are undefeated. The Texans are the best team in the AFC. The Texans have not lost a meaningful game in nearly nine months. How can that not make you smile?

Need more cheering up? How about that J.J. Watt fellow? As the esteemed Rivers McCown would say, he is pretty good at the football. Another sack, another three defensed passes, and a guy who is disrupting game plans with relative ease. No one can stop the Unstoppable JuggerWatt, and that makes watching games fun.

Are we feeling better now, Houston fans? Should I throw in a sentence where I mention cornerback Kareem Jackson and his career season? Did you know he has three interceptions in five games? Did you know he was the best cornerback on Houston's roster last night? Well, arguably the best. Some may argue in favor of someone else...but we will get to that in a moment. For now, let's get to some criticism.

Get On The Case Of The Missing Play-Action Passes
Remember that beautiful opening drive from your Houston offense? Play action left, play action right, run play here, play action again - the offense was firing on all cylinders and had the Jets on their heels. It was a masterful display of Matt Schaub at his finest, culminating in that 34-yard touchdown pass to Owen Daniels. After that, it was as if head coach Gary Kubiak lost that page of his play-calling sheet.

No play-action passes to be found from an offense that is built off that play-action/zone stretch movement. Is it any wonder that the offense stalled so many times? The epitome of this lack of play-action would come in the 4th quarter after three straight Arian Foster runs. It was 3rd-and-1 and everyone knew Houston would run as they tried to eat up the clock. If ever there were any time to pull out the play-action bootleg pass, Houston's bread-and-butter play, this was that time. Instead, Kubiak called for a run that New York was waiting for. It was a play-not-to-lose call as a opposed to a play-to-win call. Of course, the Texans would win, but it often felt in spite of their play-calling. If the Texans want to play in that game in February, they cannot forget what kind of offense they are.

Get Off Brice McCain
We all knew he would regress after last season. I mean, he essentially played slot cornerback to perfection last year. The slot receiver, the NFL's new sexy toy, was shut down when Brice McCain was on the field. The only place quarterbacks could go were checkdowns or to see if Jackson and Jason Allen would weeble and wobble. Regression was going to happen, but fans were still shaking their head at his play. Then, last night happened.

McCain's interception, off a Watt tipped pass, was a 6-to-10 point swing before halftime and kept New York from entering the locker room happy. The former Utah Ute also added a timely half-sack, with Bradie James, to force New York into 3rd-and-long and defensed another pass. It was easily Brice McCain's best game of the young 2012 season and Houston needed it, as Johnathan Joseph looked completely off his game. If McCain's found his 2011 form, the Bulls On Parade just got that much better.

Those are my G.O.A.T.s this week, BRBers. Time for you to get on or off a Texan in the comments.

P.S.: 5-0, 5-0, 5-0.

Texans vs Jets coverage | Texans vs Jets boxscore | Gang Green Nation