Looking toward the future

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December 24, 2007

By Jerry Coon The Huntsville Item Mon Dec 24, 2007, 06:00 PM CST

With the season pretty much in the books for the Houston Texans, it has now become time to look ahead. After a 38-15 loss to the Colts on Sunday, the Texans, at best, can finish the season 8-8.

A win away from my prediction, I still can say this team has made a very strong move in the right direction.

A season ago, the Texans looked as if they might never get it together. Now, Houston finally has a team they can look forward to watching.

At the beginning of the season, I made a few predictions for what I thought this season could bring. Looking back, I hit the right topics, but might have been on the wrong side of the ball on some of them.

"Mario Williams has something to prove." And boy did he. Williams is going into the final game of the season leading the NFL with 14 sacks.

It still boggles me that he isn't going to the Pro Bowl, however, the Pro Bowl is a joke of a game anyway. But we have watched Williams go from what many claimed as the biggest mistake in NFL draft history, to the best defensive end in football.

"They aren't giving the ball away." Of course, that was the preseason. And now the Texans are the league leader in giveaways. You have to think to yourself though, with that stat haunting them, the Texans still had a legitimate shot in each game, with the exception of the first game against the Jags and the Colts game on Sunday.

"Houston we have a quarterback." Well maybe. It is hard to say what the ceiling for Schaub is yet because of his injury-plagued season. I was getting ready to say there might be a quarterback controversy until I watched Rosenfels against the Colts. If Schaub comes in next season and shows a little bit of consistency and decides to not be made out of Play-Doh, then the Texans could be a contender.

"The offensive line might actually be able to block someone." The Texans offensive line has given up 21 sacks, which is tied for sixth best in the NFL. I would say we learned two things from this: One, that they are actually able to block someone, and two, that the previous seasons were all of David Carr's fault. Look I haven't taken a shot in three weeks, I had to.

"After the preseason Jacoby Jones is having, there is no question he will line up in that second receiver spot." Okay, so I was way off with this one, and I might have called for his release two weeks ago. He just doesn't have "it" like he did when it didn't count for anything. Jones did teach me to not get excited about something that isn't proven yet.

"The Texans have a running game with Ahman Green." And they might have had one, had we been able to see Ahman Green play. Gotta love that injured reserve.

And now the Texans finish the season off at home against the playoff-bound Jacksonville Jaguars. Although it should be pretty tough, and the Texans struggled the first time against them, I think they will come out strong to finish the season at .500.

My Prediction: Texans 21, Jaguars 20.

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