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Texans becoming road warriors?
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All of a sudden, Gary Kubiak's team is winning on the road (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
The Texans win at Buffalo yesterday gave them a 3-1 road record so far in 2009.
Often the measure of a good team is described by how well they play on the road and if Kubiak's boys keep it up, they could post their first ever winning record on the road - in addition to their first ever winning record.
Did it happen after the Indy game in 2008?
The Texans road fortunes seemed to turn during Week 12 of the 2008 season when the Texans won at Cleveland.
Since that point (and including that game) the Texans are 5-2 on the road with victories over the Browns, Packers, Titans, Bengals, and Bills. The losses were to Oakland and Arizona. Prior to that point, the Texans were 4-17 on the road under Kubiak.
For those searching for the ever elusive 'turning point,' you may or may recall that Kubiak delivered his famous "who's with me?" speech a week prior to that Browns game when the Texans were sitting at 3-7 and coming off a tough 6 point loss at Indy.
I don't buy into that rousing speech as the turning point necessarily. I think the main reason for the turnaround is the play (and health) of quarterback Matt Schaub and his supporting cast - plus in the past few games an improving defense.
But will Joel Dreessen and James Casey be able to replace Owen Daniels who was such a vital cog in this offense. Daniels is to the Texans offense as Shannon Sharpe was to the Broncos offense back in the day.
Nothing against Dreessen, who will take over as the starter for Daniels, but my money's on Casey as the player who could emerge and take advantage of this opportunity.
It's just not that simple to do the things that OD did, like the motion, the blocking, coming off the line - fighting through a jam and still beating the linebacker to the middle zone.
As far as that 'road warrior' thing, let's wait a week and see how they perform at Indy. Let's just hope Frank Bush keeps up his aggressive style on defense and doesn't play 'to keep everything in front of them.' That's what Richard Smith did for three years and it doesn't work. As they used to say at Dickinson High, GATA!
Texans - Bills game notes: Click through my Texans - Bills game notes here.
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