What About Schaub?

After another all too lengthy lay-off, I'm back with another entry in a blog which Jamie Mottram himself has inducted into the Pigskin Bloggers HOF. He has since been fired, as his propensity for compulsive inducting had become too severe a danger to the reputation of PB.

He may not have actually been axed, but it's true; our gathering of blogging faithful is seeing a changing of the guard. While we leave the bosom of the only blogfather we've ever known, so long as we stay diligent in our posts and our prayers, fate will be kind. Or something, I dunno. Let's get to the football.

Despite a 1-3 record, the anomaly that has statheads everywhere double and triple-checking their references continues. Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, and Marc Bulger are familiar faces near the top of the league's QB rating system, but through Week 5, the man perched at the tip-top is still David Carr, with a rating of 108.9. The legitimacy of this accomplishment is somewhat tarnished by the fact that Damon Huard (he of the nine career starts at age 33) is second, but nobody can argue the impressiveness of a QB with little help from the running game logging a 7/2 TD/INT split and completion percentage of 73.

Also making geniuses of risk-taking fantasy football owners everywhere has been Andre Johnson, whose 102.5 receiving yards per game are pacing the NFL. Felled by injuries last year, 'Dre has lived up to his hype as one of the physical freaks of the game, registering 30 receptions and 19 of the team's 73 first downs, which equates to an eye-popping 26%.

The running game continues to sputter. Vernand Morency was traded to Green Bay for Samkon Gado, and Ron Dayne was signed off waivers from Denver. Dayne has since ascended past Gado and rookie Wali Lundy to the starting job, but has not impressed with it, as his sluggishness and inability to get yards after first contact have led to 3.3 ypc average. David Carr has the only rushing TD of the year for the team.

The defense has been tossed around quite a bit, but the opposition wasn't exactly a joke. Facing guys like McNabb, Peyton, and even Brunell -- particularly when he's playing to keep his backups on the bench -- tend to lead to ugly pass defense figures. Houston draws another capable passing offense this week, when they drive up to Dallas to face Bledsoe, Terry Glenn, and.. yeah, you already know who. Houston will not win this game, but the following week has them at home for Jacksonville, a team the Texans always play well against. Jacksonville has also lost prized defenders Reggie Hayward and Mike Peterson for the year, so it definitely plays like a trap game that Houston could squeak out a victory in.

The final score in the win over Miami was deceiving. Houston won the battle upfront on both sides of the ball, which is surprising, considering Miami's pass rush is still elite. The fact that Miami nearly tied the game in the final seconds was only possible because Houston has no experience putting teams away. The Texans dominated that game for 50 minutes, easy. Just how big a positive that is is hard to decipher, though, because Miami has shown they're not the team they were expected to be, as they have sunk to last in the AFC East. If Houston makes a game of it in Dallas this Sunday, I would say they've made quite an improvement since the Redskins trounced them on Texas turf. I don't care what he did in the Mesazoic Era -- screw Gibbs!

Before I cut this choppy passage off, I'd like to talk about my persevering underdog of a fantasy football team, the Pylonmaniacs, who, despite being the lowest-scoring team in the league, have somehow pieced together a 4-1 record. The emergence of David Carr and Rex Grossman, and Bernard Berrian, along with the waiver wire snags of Marc Bulger, Roy Williams (Lions), Marion Barber, and Brandon Jacobs have turned a team destined for a 1-13 year into a contender. However, I've got a pair of 4-1 teams in my division, so I'm in third place!

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