Houston Texans 2009 Preview

NFL Preview – Is This The Year For The Texans Breakout?

There is a lot of optimism buzzing around Reliant Stadium in Houston but there is also a lot of pressure. Both head coach Gary Kubiak and quarterback Matt Schaub know that if they can’t put everything together, then they could both be looking for work elsewhere in 2010.

With the glass-half-full approach, the Texans have one of the most explosive offenses in the league and a solid young defense that is developing. With the glass-half-empty approach, the Texans have been injury-prone and haven’t performed well under pressure. The NFL odds makers are cautiously optimistic that it’s the former.

The good news for fantasy players is that the Texans are loaded with fantasy football riches and whether they win or not in real life, you’ll want to pay close attention to many of their players as draft day approaches.

Offseason Transactions

The Houston Texans had a relatively quiet offseason as far as transactions go, which is a good thing.

The Texans roster is talented but and it just needed some supplements.

First-round pick Brian Cushing is going to solidify an up-and-coming linebacking corps whilethe signing of defensive end Antonio Smith might cost the Texans more than they would like, at least he brings some needed experience.

Offense

The Texans have an embarrassment of riches on their offense, which is why sports odds makers are already adjusting their weekly totals and bumping them up. Fantasy players should take notice that the sharp eyes in Vegas are expecting this to be a high-scoring team.

The trigger man, Schaub, will be the key. If he’s healthy all season, he will easily surpass 4000 passing yards and could throw in the range of 25-30 touchdowns. The problem is that he’s only played 22 of a possible 32 games over the last two seasons.

The wide receiving corps is fully developed now as Andre Johnson is a Top-5 wideout in the NFL, Kevin Walter is an underrated No. 2 in both fantasy and reality, Andre Davis and Jacoby Jones serve as deep threats while David Anderson will work the slot.

On top of that, Pro Bowl tight end Owen Daniels is another underrated weapon. He caught 70 passes last year for 862 yards.

In the backfield, Steve Slaton is a good home run threat and there is little reason to believe he won’t build on 1282-yard nine touchdown season.

For the first time in franchise history, the Texans return all five starting offensive linemen, which is great news for this offense.

Defense

The defense is likely what is dragging this team down on the Super Bowl odds, mostly because there aren’t a ton of brand names on it.

But the truth is the Mario Williams is one of the best defensive ends in football, DeMeco Ryans is a Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker and Dunta Robinson is a franchise cornerback when healthy. The Texans do have a gamebreaker at each level.

While this defense won’t be smothering anyone, they should be improved over last year’s squad. There is plenty of talent around.

For fantasy purposes, they might be worth avoiding because the Texans figure to be in a lot of shootouts.

Outlook

There’s no question that the Texans have the talent to make the playoffs, even in the tough AFC South. The real issue is how will this team perform under pressure.

In the last few years, the Texans lost games when they’ve been in the hunt and won games when the pressure has been off in December. They have to prove they can compete with the big boys or it might be Kubiak’s head.

Follow us on Twitter: @GridironExperts