Come out to The Loading Dock Bar and Grill Located at 504 25th st Galveston TX 77550 and enjoy the Texans VS Ravens with Premium Gera Vodka, "Partners Texans Radio Network" click here Both teams are off to fast starts in 1st place in their respective divisions. Statistically both teams are very impressive and balanced.
Ravens - 2nd in PPG 3rd in PPG allowed
Texans - 6th in PPG 7th in PPG allowed
Both teams are great at running the football. Arian Foster and Ray Rice are two of the best backs in the game and they're both having awesome seasons.
The biggest question for the Ravens defense will be who covers Andre Johnson? Will they split the assignment amongst their DB's? They don't have one standout CB but rookie CB Jimmy Smith has made quite the early season impression. Teams have done a decent job in containing A. Johnson to this point but this has opened the door for TE Owen Daniels. He leads the team with 18 receptions 310 yards and 4 TD's.
The most alarming stat that either of the teams have is the Ravens pass defense. They rank 28th in the NFL allowing 265 passing YPG. Is this a result of the Ravens stout run defense(3rd in the NFL) or is the Ravens secondary vulnerable? Do teams just concede the fact that they can't run on Baltimore with? We could find that out this week.
Key Matchup
Texans Passing Offense vs Ravens Pass Defense
It's awfully tough to run on the Ravens with Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs in the front 7. Fortunately for Houston, Ray Lewis is out this week so that help their chances.
Houston will have to air it out. They have the weapons to do it. Baltimore has been average at best in defending the pass this season. Some of it is due to the higher amount of passing attempts like I previously mentioned, but 28th is still very bad for a team that is supposed to have an elite defense.
The Ravens pass D will be put to the test when Matt Schaub and his 101 QB rating come to town.
Schaubthrew for 220 yards on 17-of-24 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions, giving him a passer rating of 78.5 for the day.
DE Antonio Smith notched his first sack of the season and forced a fumble. The forced fumble was the seventh of his career and his first since 10/3/10 at Oakland.
RB Ben Tate’s 116 yards were the most by a Texans running back in his debut for the team. Stacey Mack rushed for 89 yards in the season opener at Miami on 9/7/03.
Tate made his NFL debut after missing his rookie season due to injury and gained four yards on his first career carry.
Tate scored his first career touchdown on a 2-yard run in the first quarter.
RB Derrick Ward made his first start as a Texan and his first since 9/27/09 vs. the New York Giants when he played for Tampa Bay.
Ward scored the Texans’ first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run in the first quarter. It was the 11th of his career. Ward has scored in consecutive games dating back to the 2010 season finale vs. Jacksonville (1/2/11).
Ward surpassed 2,500 career rushing yards on his 1-yard touchdown run, his sixth carry of the game. He entered the season with 2,476 career yards.
DE J.J. Watt recovered a fumble in his NFL debut, falling on a fumbled snap in the first quarter. Watt finished the game with five solo tackles and one quarterback hit.
OLB Mario Williams picked up the 50th sack of his career when he dropped Collins for a nine-yard loss in the fourth quarter. He entered the game with 48.0 career sacks.
Williams picked up his first sack of the season on Indianapolis’ first drive, dropping Colts QB Kerry Collins for a nine-yard loss.
Williams’ two sacks were the sixth and seventh of his career on opening day. He had 1.0 last season vs. Indianapolis, 2.0 in 2008 at Pittsburgh and 2.0 in 2007 vs. Kansas City. Although he officially had one sack in last season’s opener, he actually registered a pair of half-sacks, giving him four multi-sack efforts in six season openers.
Williams registered his 12th career multi-sack game and his third on opening day. He also had 2.0 sacks in 2007 vs. Kansas City and in 2008 at Pittsburgh.
Williams forced a fumble on his second sack of the day. It was his 11th career forced fumble.
The team voted on season-long captains Friday. The offense elected WR Andre Johnson and QB Matt Schaub, while the defense elected ILB DeMeco Ryans and DE Antonio Smith. K Neil Rackersis the special teams captain.
DID YOU KNOW?
NFL players from the Longhorns: Texas Leads The Way With 40 Players
