In case you missed it from being completely dialed in for the Texas vs. Iowa basketball game, the next stop in the Vince Young comeback tour is the fair city of Houston, Texas.
In Houston, you'll commonly find things like:
--Strip clubs, Jim Boheimly zoned next to Catholic Churches (I literally had members of my bachelor party entourage cross the street for confession after the bar closed).
--Mexican gangs that use the Astro shooting star as their symbol. I once mistakenly asked a Zeta higher up if we should trade Lance Berkman for a situational lefty and a kidnapped middle manager of a machiladora. His tattooed tears betrayed his fandom.
--And Aggies. Lots of 'em. The kind of aggie that would rather wear David Carr's white gloves in a starring role at a rub and tug on Westheimer, than see tu's Radio succeed at any level.
And, as any good marketer would, the Texans have decided to have a maroon battle red out for Monday night's festivities.
You know who I'll be pulling for, but here are some keys to the game as I see 'em.
Houston...err...Texans
Pound Steve Slaton and force Michael Griffin to play closer to the line of scrimmage. If Griffin is allowed to play over the top of Andre Johnson and focus on the passing game, it'll be a long night for Schaub. Without Owen Daniels, Matt Schaub looks a little like Matt Jackson off his Lucky Charms box if Johnson is taken away. Slaton and the running game is key here.
Defensively, the Texans need to maintain gap integrity and not let Chris Johnson go nuts. If they can hold Johnson to a bunch of three, four and five yard carries, they can force the game into Vince Young's hands to convert 3rd and 3. The Titans aren't going to have many 10 play 80 yard touchdown drives so containing Chris Johnson is huge.
Tennessee Titans
On offense, Vince Young is going to have to take his shots down the field in the passing game to keep the Texans honest. Houston is going to play a lot of man free or man/zone combo coverages to get more defenders near the line of scrimmage and more eyes on the ball in an effort to take away CJ. The Texans don't fear Young's ability to move the ball with his arm, so deep balls against a lone safety playing centerfield will be available. I fully expect Britt or Washington to catch a go route or two this game. I doubt we'll see a lot of screen game from the Titans, because I suspect the Texans won't blitz much if at all.
Defensively, the Titans have to keep their safeties from having to defend the run game as much as possible. Thankfully Owen Daniels is gone, and that makes this task a bit more manageable, because OD killed two deep zones. There's really no one to punish the Titans in the middle of the field, which frees up Keith Bullock to freelance. I would put Finnegan on the Texans second receiver and bracket Andre Johnson with a corner and a safety.
Look for the Titans to blitz the Texans early and often because Schaub has shown the ability to pick teams apart even when Johnson is taken away.
I expect a pretty high scoring game that comes down to a field goal.
It wouldn't surprise me if Vince Young is the one who kicks it through.
Vasherized has agreed to press his asscheeks firmly against my Texan neighbors living room window if the Titans win. CloseToJumping has sanctioned the event.
Your thoughts on battle red day here in Houston?