Displaced Cleveland Fan

These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 12 game here.

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I typically post these recaps early Monday morning, even though there is still a game yet to be played on Monday night. But this week, I wanted to wait because of the game - New Orleans vs. New England. The Saints were trying to stay perfect against an always tough Patriots team.

What did we learn from last night’s game? The Saints are legit.

If there was ever any doubt, even after winning their first ten games, it was erased after their eleventh. The Saints piled up 480 yards of offense. Much of that came off the arm of Drew Brees who was 18 for 23 (78.3%) for 371 yards and 5 touchdowns.

When you have a team that plays this well against another one of the league’s top teams, especially this late in the year, you have to be thinking about their Super Bowl chances. If this team stays healthy, watch out. They’ve got to be the favorites right now.
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These are stories from around the league that I thought were worth noting. You can read my recap of the Browns week 7 game here.

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Could the Houston Texans be headed for a wild card berth?

The Texans jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead Sunday against the 49ers. San Francisco pulled back into the game in the second half. But in the end, Houston prevailed with a 24-21 win. They are now 4-3 and in 2nd place in the AFC South.

Looking at their first seven games, two of their wins came against pathetic teams (Oakland & Tennessee) and two came against good teams (San Fran & surprisingly Cincinnati). Of their three losses, two of those games were only lost by one score. Only one had a lopsided final score (24-7 against the Jets in week 1). Not great. But not bad either.

Over their last nine games, they have three tough games (New England and Indianapolis twice) and three that look like they should be easy games (Buffalo, Tennessee, St. Louis). If they lose the tough games and win the easy games, that will make their record 7-6. Their other three games are against Jacksonville, Seattle, and Miami, which have a combined record of 7-11. Could Houston win 2 or 3 of those games. Perhaps. It will be interesting to see if they can continue or if they fizzle out at the end.

The big surprise to me, and many I believe, has been the play of quarterback Matt Schaub. This week against the 49ers he threw for 264 yards on 20 for 30 passing (66.7%) with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Through seven games he’s passing for 65.5% for almost 300 yards per game with 16 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions.
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