America’s Team gets an H-Town beat-down

HOUSTON - A record pre-season crowd of 70,725 rocked Reliant Stadium last night as “America’s Team” blew into town along with a CBS television network crew with the intention of beating the lowly Houston Texans while an admiring nation looked on.  Oops. The Cowboys found much more than they could handle and a national television audience got the opportunity to see that the Texans are for real.

The Cowboys must have loaded onto the team plane last night for the short flight home faster than a pack of scalded dogs heading for the river still stinging from an all-out spanking at the hands of a fired-up Texans team. Will the Cowboys obsessed fans take note? Will the national media? Probably not.

The spin has already begun. It swirled around Reliant Stadium last night like peanut dust as those in attendance wearing number 9 Cowboy jersey’s shifted from their initial contemptuous, “How ‘bout them Cowboys” arrogance to a “yeah well, just wait until the regular season” whine.

Why all the whining? Several reasons: Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, Mario Williams…you know. The Texans.

The final score on the Texans victory was 23 to 7, but it was never that close. The starters for both teams played until well into the third quarter and it was all Texans, all the time as the home team outscored the Cowboys 23-0. The Texans’ starters scored on five out of six possessions making the Cowboys look more like the Cowgirls and sending Romo and company reeling.

"A lot of teams, they don't respect us," strong safety Bernard Pollard said. "But I think at the end of the day, or I know at the end of the day, when you come to play us, we're going to show you. We're going to take your respect. You're going to know you played the Houston Texans when you got done, when that clock hits zero. You're going to know it and you're going to understand: We're going to hit you in the mouth."

The Cowboys might agree today and may actually believe they just went 12 rounds with Muhammad Ali in his prime because they did get punched in the mouth, a lot.

Texans QB, Matt Schaub was 18 for 29 on the night with 183 yards and one touchdown. He tossed a 24 yard strike to Jacoby Jones in the first quarter.

"I thought we were efficient," Schaub said. "We went out and executed. Our offensive line really played well against a good front seven. The running backs ran well. Our receivers continued to make some plays for me."

Pro-bowl, all-world, wide receiver Andre Johnson pulled down seven completions last night for 70 yards and running back Arian Foster provided the Texans with that long elusive running game chewing up 110 yards.

Houston’s defense was excellent, while most of the national media is asking, “What’s wrong with the Cowboys?” how about asking, “What’s right with the Texans”? The Texans’ defense held the Cowboys to -1 yards of total offense in the first quarter of last night’s game.  Dallas QB, Tony Romo, managed only 1 first down in the quarter.

The Cowboys were dominated and man-handled by the Texans with most of the attack coming straight up the middle, the strength of the Cowboys offensive line.  The Cowboys made it into Houston territory and into the red zone during the 2^nd quarter only to cough up the ball big time when Romo tried a pitch-back to Felix Jones who seemed to have no idea the ball was coming and just watched it fly past him.  DeMeco Ryans recovered and instead of points going on the board for the Cowboys, the Texans drove the ball 58 yards in 12 plays and ended the scoring in the first half with a field goal.

The Texans opened the second half with an 80 yard drive on nine plays culminating with another TD. Texans 20, Dallas 0.

Romo then proceeded to throw an interception to Texans’ rookie cornerback Kareem Jackson which resulted in a field goal. Texans 23, Dallas 0.

The Cowboys offensive starters ended the night with Romo going 13-for-18 with 148 yards. The Cowboys running game was shut down completely by the Texans.  RB Felix Jones managed only six yards on three carries. Marion Barber fared worse losing two yards on four carries.

NFL fans take note. The Texans are for real.