Grading the Texans: Hey, any road win is pretty, even against the ugly Browns

November 23, 3:09 PMHouston Sports ExaminerFred Faour

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The Texans ended an eight-game road losing streak. They did it despite two bad second half Sage Rosenfels interceptions, and a bevy of stupid penalties. 

In truth, they ran into a sloppier team than themselves. The Browns played a Texan-like game, doing everything they could to give it to Houston.

The Texans gladly took it and won 16-6. They are now 4-7 on the season, same as the Browns.

As always, we will let the grades tell you what happened.

QUARTERBACK (C-minus) -- Sage Rosenfels did an excellent job of managing the game until the second half. He had two bad interceptions in the second half, including a turnover on a horrible interception that set the Browns up in Texan territory late in the fourth quarter. Fortunately for the Texans, they Browns were even more inept and fumbled the ball right back. Rosenfels had one TD pass, completing 24 of 32 for 275 yards. If he could ever eliminate the untimely, stupid mistakes, he could be an effective quarterback.

RUNNING BACKS (B-plus) -- Steve Slaton (21 carries, 73 yards) and Ahman Green (13 for 39) did not have huge days, but they protected the football and helped the Texans control the clock and take the game out of Rosenfels' hands. Slaton has become an excellent running back.

WIDE RECEIVERS (A-minus) -- Andre Johnson was his usual dominant self, with 10 catches for 116 yards. Kevin Walter had 7 catches for 93 yards. The WRs were the strength of the team.

OFFENSIVE LINE (B-minus) -- Other than a few stupid penalties, they played very well, allowing just one sack. Running lanes were few and far between, but they controlled the game when they needed to do so.

DEFENSIVE LINE (A) -- Mario Williams was everywhere. Even though he had no sacks and just one tackle, he disrupted the Browns backfield constantly and helped force a lot of hurried passes. Anthony Weaver had his best game in years. They were part of a unit that forced five turnovers.

LINEBACKERS (B) -- DeMeco Ryans might have a new running buddy in Xavier Adibi. The duo did a nice job of keeping the Cleveland running game in check. (The Browns managed just 95 yards on the ground).

SECONDARY (B-minus) -- Too many bad penalties, and the Browns helped a lot by dropping a lot of passes while running wide open. Fred Bennett and Jacques Reeves had interceptions. They missed a few plays, too. The Browns' ineptitude had more to do with their success than anything the Texans did.

SPECIAL TEAMS (C) -- Kris Brown missed a couple field goals, getting one blocked. They had a kickoff return for a touchdown overturned by a penalty. Again, more Browns bad play than Texans success.

COACHING (B) -- They did a nice job keeping Rosenfels from losing the game for them, focusing on the run and safe passes. Defensively, they took advantage of the Browns' poor play and had good schemes. They only negative was 11 penalties for 84 yards, many pre-snap penalties, which are on the coaching staff.

OVERALL (B-plus) -- Hard to be too critical about a road win, but the Texans caught a sloppy, struggling team that played worse than they did. The Texans could get a nice run going if they can get Matt Schaub healthy, but they will have a tough time continuing to win games with Rosenfels at QB.