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Texans offense still adjusting to loss of Daniels
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When will Steve Slaton regain Gary Kubiak's trust? (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
The Texans lost star tight end Owen Daniels for the season three games ago, but the offense is still struggling to find its way without him.
In six consecutive games prior to losing Daniels, the Texans never scored less than 21 points. In the two games since losing Daniels, the Texans haven't scored more than 17.
"We're adjusting as an offense," said Texans head coach Gary Kubiak after practice Wednesday. "Obviously losing (Daniels), there's been an adjustment period for us in what we're doing."
It was obvious during the Texans Monday night loss to the Titans that quarterback Matt Schaub was missing Daniels. The tight end is an important 'go-to' position in the Texans offense but Schaub completed only three passes to Daniels' replacements James Casey and Joel Dreessen.
As far as the current tight end situation goes, Kubiak is optimistic but admits they aren't where they need to be.
"I think [the tight ends are] a work in progress," said Kubiak. "But (Dreessen) has been a consistent performer for this team for a long time, (plus) I was very impressed with (Casey) the other night, I think he's only going to get better."
Of course the root of all the Texans offensive problems is the lack of a consistent and effective running game.
The Texans have been a revolving door at running back since Steve Slaton's fumbles became what we call a red risk. Ryan Moats got a start but put one on the ground himself two games ago at Indy. Chris Brown started against the Titans and there's scuttlebut that he'll start again this week against the Colts.
Kubiak seems to prefer the less explosive Brown over Slaton because he's the 'safer' choice in the backfield and because he's been doing well in blitz pickup. By starting Brown over Slaton, you're trading a more explosive player and better runner in space for one that's far less flashy but not as high of a fumble risk (although we do remember the Jags game in Week 3).
Slaton has been nursing a shoulder issue but it appears that he hasn't regained the full trust of his head coach.
Said Kubiak: "Obviously we're playing a bunch of backs as we search for the one to step up and do the most consistent job for us. But regardless of who's playing, what you're doing, you've got to find a way to move the ball and score some points and like I said, we'd like to get more than we got the last couple of weeks."
With the 10-0 Colts coming to town, they all need to get better real soon.
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