Our opening night matchup is the especially intriguing....Texans vs. Bengals. Two pretty evenly matched teams, both led by good-but-not-quite-good-enough quarterbacks who have extremely talented wide receivers to throw at. Both teams are coming off somewhat inadequate seasons last year - the Texans finished last in the AFC South and 6-10, and the Bengals, although doing quite well in conference play, didn't make it out of the arguably very difficult AFC North, finishing with a 7-9 record. Both teams are pumped up and ready to play. They've looked pretty good in the preseason, with the Texans spanking the Bills somenumber to anumberthat'salotless, forcing Trent Edwards to throw 7 picks, and the Bengals just had six tough games against the Broncos, winning two, but keeping it very close and competitive in the other 4. This should be a good one.
Annnnnnnnd... they're off!
1st, 2:22 - The Texans take the opening kickoff and Matt Schaub picks apart the Bengals defense for about 80 yards, only to get picked off in the end zone. Oh well.
1st, 2:18 - Carson Palmer tries his best, but immediately squanders all the momentum his defense gave to him, throwing a pick on his first play. Oops.
1st, 1:22 - Matt Schaub makes the Bengals pay for not making the Texans pay for throwing a pick in the endzone by throwing a non-interception completion in the endzone. Texans 7-0.
2nd, 1:38 - After lots of 3-and-outs for both teams, the Texans put together a good, balanced drive and kick a 44-yard FG. Texans 10-0.
2nd, 1:23 - Tip drills! Texans LB (Morlon Greenwood? Never heard of him) tips a swing pass and after a few more tips, manages to grab it for another interception. The Bengals are not having a good offensive game.
2nd, 0:33 - A couple runs by Ahman Green (now at about 60 yards, averaging 5+/carry), Schaub connects with Andre Davis on a short out route. Texans 17-0.
2nd, 0:07 - The Bengals finally put together a decent drive, and grab a FG before the end of the half. Texans 17-3.
Halftime: Except for their last drive, the Bengals have looked anemic on offense, entirely unable to move the ball at all down the field. Palmer's been forcing passes left and right, and he's only tried a few riskier deep balls to Chad Johnson. The Texans, on the other hand, after a shaky beginning, are looking extremely confident on both offense and defense, racking up 179 total yards and 3 scores in 10 minutes and holding the Bengals to 61 (about 61 of which came on their last drive of the first half.) Maybe the Bengals are feeling those 6 games in 2 days they just finished playing. Let's move onto the second half...
3rd, 3:27 - The Bengals come out really pumped up and immediately drive 80 yards, right down the Texans throats with good running by Rudi Johnson and some great catches by Houshmandz and Johnson. They stalled a bit before punching it in, but completely throw off the Texans secondary with a great play-action fake. Texans 17-10.
3rd, 0:25 - The Bengals defense is bending but not breaking. After allowing the Texans about 4o yards, they force a missed FG, only to have Carson Palmer throw another pick on ensuing play. Tsk, tsk.
4th, 5:00 - This time Kris Brown makes it. Texans 20-10.
4th, 4:02 - There was just a graphic about time of possession. The Texans are out-possessing the Bengals, 11:30 - 4:30.
4th, 3:04 - The Bengals are going for it on 4th and 9. This is exciting. Anyone want to wager on a pick thrown here?
4th, 3:01 - Hard to throw a pick when you're on your back. Turnover on downs.
4th, 2:03 - The Texans probably could have run the ball (and the clock) for the rest of the game, but instead of handing it off to Ahman Green (19 for 90, 4.7yds/rush) on 3rd and 2, Matt Schaub throws a pick, letting the Bengals back in it (maybe).
4th, 1:51 - Carson Palmer doesn't want to be let back in the game, and promptly tries to force a pass to Houshmandz in quadruple coverage. Then overthrows Chad Johnson. Then - wait for it... - throws a pick. Oops. Let's see if the Texans learned from their last mistake.
4th, 1:41 - Well, they ran the ball. But, they gave the ball to Steve Slaton. Anyone want to guess what happened? Yeah, he fumbled. Well, I guess not; it just got overturned. They have to punt, anyway. Bengals will get the ball with about a minute left, down 10 with one timeout.
4th, 0:59 - HAHAHAHA. Demeco Ryans picks off Carson Palmer. CP's 5th of the game, landing him with a solid 23.6 QB rating. The Texans will kneel this one out.
End of Game: Texans 20, Bengals 10.
Well, what a game. The Texans showed a lot of life, the Bengals did not. Especially Carson Palmer, who looked like utter shit. The Bengals managed to keep it close, no matter how hard Palmer tried to give it away, and the Texans just weren't able to take advantage of the miscues often enough to really run away with it. Schaub and Green both had really good games, and the Texans defense matched up very well against the Bengals, only allowing a few big plays and keeping everything in front of them. If it weren't for Chad Ochocinco (henceforth, I'm going to call him Ochocinco, I mean, that is his real name) and Houshmandz, I think this game would have been far more out of hand. Instead of 173 total yards, I'd say the Bengals would have somewhere around 50. And I doubt that against tougher competition, especially in their division, the Bengals bend-don't-break defense will not hold up well.
I mean, seriously, even the Browns are "good" in this game.
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