Playoff Hopes Still Alive With One Week to Play

I facetiously told a friend ago that I had a better chance of nabbing a Pulitzer Prize than the Texans had of making the playoffs after losing their fourth in a row and falling to 5-7 a few weeks back. But after watching how the stars have seemingly lined-up perfectly in favor of the Texans over the past few weeks, maybe a trip to Columbia University during the month of May just might be in the cards for me after all someday.

With their 27-20 victory over a solid Dolphins team on Sunday, the Texans would still need a minor miracle to advance to the playoff derby in two weeks, but who would have thought that this team would still be playoff-relevant at this point after losing four-straight and appearing listless.

The Texans did everything right early against the Dolphins on the road in Miami, as they jumped out to a shocking 27-0 first-half lead as boos began to cascade prominently throughout Land Shark Stadium. Quarterback Matt Schaub led the Texans to a field goal right out the gate and then followed that score up with three touchdowns, forcing the Dolphins to abandon their ball-control offense for the remainder of the game.

But the Texans, suddenly found themselves falling back into their old habits and almost allowed the Dolphins to get right back into the contest during the second half. Miami managed to score 20 unanswered points to pull within a touchdown, while suffering from a few mishaps that could have actually put them in position to tie the game or even perhaps take the lead. Wide out Teddy Ginn charged past the entire Texans secondary late in the third quarter for an apparent 63-yard score, only to see the play negated due to a questionable tripping call. “That was a big momentum swing for us,' Dolphins’ QB Chad Henne said. “It felt like the whole day was like that. We'd get a big play, but we'd hurt ourselves. We just needed to not make mistakes in big situations and start faster.”

The defeat all but mathematically eliminated the Dolphins from the playoff picture at 7-8 and left player and coaches scratching their heads as to why they came out so flat in a game that they had so much at stake. “We need to find answers,' running back Ricky Williams said. ``Coach [Sparano] said it several times today. It's unacceptable for us to play like that when the season is on the line.”

The Dolphins got a 38-yard field goal from kicker Dan Carpenter in the final minutes to get within seven setting a very interesting on side kick. But Kevin Walter secured the attempt as the Texans then subsequently mustered up one first down on the ground to preserve the win. The Texans caught another big break on the afternoon as the Patriots wrapped-up the AFC East in a victory against Jacksonville and will surely rest battered offensive stars Tom Brady and Wes Welker when they visit Reliant Stadium next weekend. A win assures the Texans their first winning record (9-7) which pretty much guarantees head coach Gary Kubiak a fifth season in Houston.