What can Brown do for you? Texans dump Chiefs, 16-10
Written by davemundy, Sunday August 16 2009
Brown – that would be running back Chris Brown and placekicker Kris Brown – took care of the scoring as the Texans debuted their 2009 edition with a 16-10 pre-season victory over the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday.
There’s a marketing gimmick here that somebody in the Houston Texans front office really needs to pick up on soon.
What can Brown do for you?
For Houston, Brown – that would be running back Chris Brown and placekicker Kris Brown – took care of the scoring as the Texans debuted their 2009 edition with a 16-10 pre-season victory over the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday.
Granted, no one’s going to be mistaking the Chiefs as anything more than a team which has won only six games in the last two seasons. But the Texans have to be just a little bit pleased with the win.
“It was a very sloppy night weather-wise, and whoever plays the best defense and whoever does better on the ground finds a way to win in this league, so I was glad that we did that,” Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said.
The Texans saw some flashes of brilliance in the midst of a driving rainstorm and answered several key questions:
Is the offense as good as it was a year ago? A definitive “Yes.”
Is Chris Brown the guy the Texans need as their short-yardage specialist? Definitely.
“He's a big back in the redzone, and gets the ball going downhill,” Kubiak said. “That's what we need him to do, and he looked like his old self tonight so felt very good about his time."
Is the draft emphasis on defenders going to pay dividends this year? An unqualified “Yes.”
"We have probably a few little things here and there we can improve on, but for the most part, we've just gotta keep going out there and playing hard and fast,” linebacker Zac Diles noted.
Will the improvements the Texans have made in the front seven enable them to get by with a defensive backfield that is very young and inexperienced even if Dunta Robinson continues his holdout? A qualified “Yes.”
"The young guys, they stepped up and did well,” middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. “A lot of those young guys stepped up and did a great job, so it was definitely good to see them out there in live action for the first time, going out there and showing some good things."
Quarterback Matt Schaub was 7-for-7 passing during his two series and, along with Brown, led a nice 12-play, 94-yard touchdown march which set the tone as Houston built a 13-3 halftime lead.
“The offensive line did a great job giving me time, and you can see we were able to run the ball effectively, especially down in the red zone,” Schaub said. "We've got a lot of weapons. We've got guys we can distribute the ball to, and they can all make plays.”
Chris Brown, battling for the spot as the backup to starting RB Steve Slaton, was impressive on the scoring drive, carrying four times for 23 yards and making a key third-down reception of a screen pass for a 16-yard gain. Kris Brown was perfect on three field-goal attempts to provide the margin of victory for Houston.
Neither the Texans nor the Chiefs did anything on their first possession, but the Chiefs looked to have an edge when Dustin Colquitt pinned Houston at the 6-yard line.
Slaton gave Houston some breathing room by ripping a 6-yard gain on the first play, then Schaub found Andre Johnson for 15. Facing a third-and-11 at the Texan 37, Schaub flipped a short screen to Brown which the former Titan popped for a 16-yard gain, stopped when Bruce Flowers got a helmet on the ball and forced a fumble.
Left guard Kasey Studdard, starting in place of the injured Chester Pitts, pounced on the ball to keep the drive alive, however, and a personal foul against the Chiefs advanced it 15 yards more. Five plays later, Brown plowed in from two yards out for a 7-0 lead.
Kansas City’s first-string offense played into the second quarter, but never got anything going behind quarterback Matt Cassel, lured over from New England in the off-season.
The new, more aggressive approach of defensive coordinator Frank Bush paid dividends as Cassel spent his quarter-plus time on the field a hunted man. Rookie Connor Barwin, the Texans’ second-round draft choice, nailed Cassel’s backup, Brodie Croyle, with a sack to kill a second-quarter threat.
Frank Okam came on to lead the charge up front as Croyle had similar problems getting the Chiefs moving, and it wasn’t until third-stringer Tyler Thigpen—last year’s KC starter—came on that the Chiefs finally moved the ball.
Thigpen led a 10-play, 76-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter, capping it with a one-yard scoring pass to Brian Cottam with 5:15 remaining, but cornerback David Pittman ended Kansas City’s chances when he intercepted Thigpen near midfield with 17 seconds remaining in the game.
Dan Orlovsky cemented his position as the Texans’ backup quarterback, meanwhile, in relief of Schaub. He played all but three snaps after Schaub exited and completed 9 of 20 passes for 120 yards. Running back Ryan Moats also looked sharp, finishing as the game’s leading ball-carrier with 52 yards on 10 carries.
One concern the Texans had coming in was red-zone production – and in two trips inside the KC 20 after that long scoring drive, all they could come up with was a pair of Kris Brown field goals.
Croyle and Thigpen, playing catch-up, were finally able to test the Texans’ secondary and had some limited success with wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who caught five passes for 70 yards and looked impressive working against Houston cornerback Matterral Richardson.
Richardson, one of the young players battling for a roster spot, finished with a game-high 8 tackles.
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Dave: Good recap. Look forward to more of the same.