The Oakland Raiders host the Houston Texans on Sunday in their second home game of the 2010 season. The Raiders look to rebound from a heartbreaking loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week. The team will be a facing a strong Texans offense and a tough defensive unit. "You have a good running back, good receivers, a very good receiver of the bunch, and you have a quarterback that can make everything on the field, and you have a good offensive coordinator calling the plays," explained CB Stanford Routt.
QB Matt Schaub who, in Week 2, threw for 497 yards, leads Houston's offense. "He's managing the offense. He's doing a good job," said Defensive Coordinator John Marshall. "If you give him enough time, he's going to complete balls. If you don't hold the edges they're going to run that bootleg and throw deep routes on you. He's an excellent quarterback. He's kind of one of those quiet excellent quarterbacks. He's really a solid quarterback, and [Head Coach Gary] Kubiak has gotten the right talent around him in the talent positions to really help him now."
The Raiders defense will also have to contend with the NFL's rushing leader through Week 3, RB Arian Foster. Foster, a 2009 undrafted free agent out of the University of Tennessee, is proving his skills in the NFL after spending a majority of last season on the Texans practice squad. "This running back is big and he's fast," said Coach Marshall. "You can't arm tackle him. You got to put your body on him or he'll run right through you. Like I said, he's got great, great vision. He sees where he needs to go and he puts his foot in the ground, plants and goes."
In addition to stopping a strong running back, the Raiders defense will look to contain WR Andre Johnson. "He's fast, he's strong, he's big, he's physical, he's not afraid to go across the middle," said Routt. "He has everything you'd want in a receiver, everything." In Oakland's 2009 game versus the Texans, the Raiders defense was able to hold Johnson to two catches. They look to repeat this success this weekend.
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders offense will face a Houston defensive line that has worked together consistently. "The same six guys up front have been there for about three or four years," said C Samson Satele. "They have good chemistry and they're playing tough."
The Oakland Raiders spent the week preparing for Houston and look to have a .500 record by the end of the weekend. "We're playing a good football team this weekend so we have to be clicking on all cylinders," said QB Bruce Gradkowski.
The Raiders will host the Texans at 1:05 P.M. this coming Sunday. Fans can follow the action live on Raiders.com, the Raiders Facebook page, and Twitter.
