Uneven effort dooms Bucs in Houston: Texans roll 28-14

Quarterback Luke McCown was unable to reproduce the magic from last week's game in New Orleans, largely due to an aggressive Houston pass rush, and the Bucs dropped a key road game to fall to 8-5 on the season. A win would have clinched the NFC South for the Bucs.

Turnovers set up most of the scoring, allowing Houston two short TD drives along with one for the Buccaneers. The Texans returned the opening kickoff in the second half for a touchdown, extending the home team to a 21-7 lead at the time.

Defense:
The Bucs defense actually played very well for the most part, holding Houston under 3 yards per carry rushing and only allowing one extended touchdown drive. On the other hand, Texans second-string quarterback Sage Rosenfels put up gaudy passing numbers when he wasn't fumbling the ball to the Buccaneers--defensive end Greg White, a player originally drafted by the Houston franchise, registered three sacks on the day, twice stripping the ball from Rosenfels. DT Jovan Haye recovered both fumbles for the Bucs.

Offense:
The offense struggled to run the ball and to protect McCown from Houston's pass rush. McCown was sacked four times on the day. Though McCown did not throw an interception, the offense lost the ball on a premature snap deep in Texans territory. Earlier in the game WR Ike Hilliard fumbled the ball after a catch and run. Hilliard missed the rest of the game. The game announcers gave credit to the hit, but it was apparent to me that a helmet-to-helmet hit gave Hilliard a "stinger"--his whole arm probably got lit up with pain and tingling leading to the loss of the football. The announcers later called it a "shoulder injury" even though the camera had clearly shown Hilliard grabbing his hand in pain and later massaging it on the sideline.

Tough loss if Hilliard doesn't make it back for the playoffs.

Special Teams:
The special teams played great except for one play at the beginning of the second half. That's all there is to say about that.

Conclusion:
This was a trap game for the Bucs, but the team played well enough to win if a break or two had gone their way. The kickoff return for a touchdown was an inch or two from going out of bounds. The Hilliard fumble probably only happened because of the injury on the play. McCown missed WR Joey Galloway by a step on a deep pass that would have been a touchdown. Football often comes down to the breaks, though, and Houston made the most of them while playing stout defense. The kickoff return for a TD was probably the key play of the game, however. Greg White had a terrific game (3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles). White has 8.5 sacks on the year. Not bad for an Arena League guy.

Next Up:
The Atlanta Falcons pay a visit to RayJay. Atlanta's defense isn't as good as Houston's--and their offense isn't as good either, come to think of it. Bucs by 8 if Garcia's healthy and starts. Bucs by 2 if McCown plays and turns the ball over <3 times.

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